Liberals for forests (l4f) is an Australian pro-forest party. It is not connected to either the Liberal Party or the Australian Greens, and does not preference either highly. The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian liberal conservative political party. ... The Australian Greens is the national Greens party in Australia. ...

It was founded in 1999 by Dr Keith Woollard (ex- AMA president) to harness the votes of the many Western Australian social conservatives who wanted to reform forest management in that state. 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Australian Medical Association (the AMA) is the doctors and medical students. ... Motto: Cygnis Insignis (Distinguished by its swans) Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Governor Premier Const. ...

In the following 2001 WA state election, they received 10% of the vote in the seats they ran in, winning a Legislative Council seat (for by Dr Woollard's wife Janet Woollard). This support, and the support shown for other parties with similar forestry policy meant that reform did take place. Political types and environmentalists all over Australia took notice.

l4f groups formed in each of the mainland east coast states. In most if not all cases, these were run by members of the Liberal Democratic Party. Liberal Party is the name of dozens of political parties around the world. ...

In the 2004 election, the NSW campaign was headed by Glenn Druery. Glenn was most famous for causing the "tablecloth ballot" of the 1999 NSW state election. In that election he helped a number of minor parties run candidates, and then got their preferences for his Outdoor Recreation Party candidate. He got elected with just 0.8% of the primary vote. This time Glenn was the candidate. The Outdoor Recreation Party is a minor a political party in Australia, that never won a seat in a federal election. ...

As before, Glenn skillfully organised a host of pragmatic preferences. Additionally, unlike every other state, l4f ran a number of candidates in a number of marginal House of Representantives seats. Many forms of deception were alleged by various sources including the Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey, the Northern Rivers Echo, and the National Party. Most of the alleged deception involved l4f staff pretending to be working for the Liberal Party of Australia. The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian liberal conservative political party. ...

Overall, it received nearly 1 in every 100 senate first preference votes cast in the 2004 election.

It did particularly well in Victoria where it came within a thousand votes of the Australian Democrats and the Family First Party. Considering that the ALP preferenced l4f higher in this division than Family First, if l4f had got just one more vote than Family First, they would have won a senate seat. The Australian Democrats (in regular parlance, just the Democrats), is an Australian social liberal party formed in 1977 from the earlier Australia Party by Don Chipp, who left the Liberal Party of Australia to do so. ... The Family First Party is a political party in Australia. ...

This Victorian success was despite the party having almost no profile in the state. This contrasted greatly with the huge effort made in NSW for little result.

In the 2005 WA state election Janet Woollard, now running as an "Indepedendant Liberal", retained her seat.

External Links

Official Site

Connected Groups

Teachers for Forests - shares Victorian organisers
Doctors for Native Forests - shares Victorian organisers
Doctors for Forests - Tasmanian group founded by l4f founder
Liberal Democratic Party - shares many people with the east coast branches

News

1999

The founding of l4f

2001

Party Profile
l4f WA Candidate Liz Davenport
l4f in Tasmania
Preferencing in the Aston By-Election
Janet Woollard's Inaugural Speech

2004

NSW strategy media release?
SMH view of l4f Sydney "Dirty Tricks"
Crikey view of l4f Sydney "Dirty Tricks"
Northern Rivers Echo view of l4f Northern NSW "Dirty Tricks"
Nats' view of Northern NSW "Dirty Tricks"
NSW preference analysis
l4f 2004 More NSW preference analysis
l4f preferences effect in Sydney

2005

WA pre-election analysis