24 May 2022
The Liberal Party Lost By Standing For Nothing
Rather than pander to a loud and privileged elite in teal seats, the Liberal Party must start asking itself what it believes in and seeking support for policies that reflect those beliefs. If its behaviour in the three days since it lost the 2022 federal election is anything to go by, the Liberal Party is going to spend the next few years
12 May 2022
Liberal ‘Broad Church’ Is Now An Inter-faith Dialogue
Robert Menzies didn’t start the Liberal Party to fight for the forgotten people living in harbour mansions. In a speech he made when he was prime minister, John Howard famously described the Liberal Party as a “broad church”, accommodating the political traditions of both classical liberalism and conservatism. Subject to some minor qualifications Howard’s analysis was accurate. But that was
22 August 2018
Peter Dutton Will Not Solve The Existential Crisis Of The Liberal Party
Tuesday’s Liberal leadership ballot settles nothing. Malcolm Turnbull’s victory margin of 48 votes to 35 practically guarantees another challenge to the Prime Minister, if not from Peter Dutton than from any number of contenders. Neither does yesterday’s vote settle the fundamental question the Liberal Party has been been grappling with since the retirement of John Howard and Peter Costello. For a decade the
19 June 2018
Comfortable and Relaxed with Conservative Populism
The last time identity played such an outsized role in Australian politics, then opposition leader John Howard famously stated his ambition for a country in which people should feel ‘comfortable and relaxed’ about the past, present and future. Howard’s phrase has been remembered because, for detractors and supporters, it captures something deep and resonant in the conservative idea of government.
