Liberals for Forests explained

Liberals for Forests
Colorcode:	05A593
Abbreviation:	LFF
Founder:	Keith Woollard
Founded:	3 July 1999
Ideology:	Green liberalism
Registered:	1 May 2001
Dissolved:	2008
Seats1 Title:	Western Australian Legislative Assembly
Seats2 Title:	Albany City Council
Country:	Australia

Liberals for Forests was an Australian political minor party. It contested both state and federal elections between 2001 and 2008, but only ever achieved one elected representative – Janet Woollard in Western Australia. It never achieved representation at the federal level.^[1]

The party was founded in 1999 by Dr Keith Woollard, husband of Janet Woollard and an ex-AMA president.^{[2] [3]} Janet successfully contested a seat at the 2001 state election, and was re-elected in 2005 and again in 2008 as an Independent Liberal.

The party generally professed itself to be ideologically aligned with the centre-right sympathies of the Liberal Party, but was aligned with Labor in certain states such as NSW but with a greater regard to environmentalism.^[4]

Despite its low profile, the party gained a respectable proportion of the primary senate vote in some states. For example, in the 2004 election it received only a few hundred votes less than the Australian Democrats in Victoria.

Name

The registered party name at the Australian Electoral Commission^[5] and the Western Australian Electoral Commission^[6] was "liberals for forests" (uncapitalised), but it was known in newspapers as "Liberals for Forests". By late 2009, Liberals for Forests was no longer a registered political party anywhere in Australia.

See also

• Small-l liberal – a term used by LFF candidates to describe themselves in order to attract the support of mildly disenchanted coalition voters
• Sustainable Australia Party
• Teal independents – a loosely-aligned group of independent and minor party politicians characterised as strongly advocating for increased action to mitigate climate change.

External links

• official site (Internet Archive – snapshot 2006)

Notes and References

1. The Nationals: The Progressive, Country, and National Party 186287526XPaul Davey – 2006 "A group calling themselves Liberals for Forests fielded a candidate, as they did in six other House of Representatives seats. They produced a how-to-vote card on election day, which the Liberal and National parties argued was misleading to.."
2. Web site: Dr Keith Woollard today launched in Kings Park a new political party called Liberals for Forests of which he is the President. . westpix.
3. Web site: Bolt . Cathy . New greenie spits chips . 4 August 1999 . Australian Financial Review.
4. Web site: Worth . David . 2004 . Reconciliation in the forest? An exploration of the conflict over the logging of native forests in the south west of Western Australia . Commons Social Change Library.
5. Web site: AEC redirection page.
6. Web site: Home | Western Australian Electoral Commission . 5 December 2005 . 14 June 2002 . https://archive.today/20020614015812/http://www.waec.wa.gov.au/frames.asp?section=partyRegistration&content=reg_pol_part.htm . dead .