I'd probably lean toward Liberal, although I agree with the National Party's platform as well.
Does any Australian on the boards think the two parties will merge?
Party registration is by state, so, for example, there is the Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales) Division, the Liberal Party of Australia (Victoria) Division, etc. Each one is technically a separate party, although all are affiliated and pay an annual subscription to the federal division (at least, that's my understanding of how it works). The merger would need to be put to a vote of members in each state division. This has already happened in Queensland, where the parties merged a few years back. I don't think any other states are currently considering this. I believe the LNP is affiliated federally with the Liberals, rather than the Nationals but I could be wrong. MPs and Senators choose (or are allotted?) a party to caucus in federally (although obviously all sit in the joint Coalition Party Room, it's just for the split party room meetings where it matters).
It's worth noting that the state parties run candidates in both federal and state elections; this is different than Canada, where provincial parties are separate from federal parties (although they may be affiliated). This confused me for a while.
