The Liberal Party of Australia (Liberals, or LIB for short), in coalition with the National Party of Australia (Nationals, or NAT for short), is a center-right party that is one of the two main political groups in Australian politics (the other being the Social DemocraticAustralian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberals/Nationals are the more conservative of the two main parties. It was founded by Sir Robert Menzies in 1944. They lost government to the ALP in the Australian federal election held on 24 November 2007. This was after 11 years in government under the previous Liberal leader, John Howard.