High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Commonwealth Liberal Party (CLP, also known as The Fusion, or the Deakinite Liberal Party) was a political movement active in Australia from 1909 to 1916, shortly after federation. In 1909 Alfred Deakin, the leader of the Protectionist Party merged with the Anti-Socialist Party of Joseph Cook to form the CLP on a shared platform of opposing the Australian Labor Party. It was defeated by Labor at its first election held in 1910.