In state politics, however, the reverse applies: the Liberals and Nationals are in opposition in all Australian states and territories.
Throughout their history, the Liberals have been the party of the middle class (whom Menzies, in the era of the party's formation called "the forgotten people"), though such class-based voting patterns are no longer as clear as they once were.
One effect of this was the success of a breakaway party, the Australian Democrats, founded in 1977 by former Liberal minister Don Chipp and members of minor liberal parties; other members of the left-leaning section of the middle-class became Labor supporters.
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