Max, Sir Robert Menzies did a good job of articulating Liberal principles, which likely still apply. From: Whither the Liberal Party? by Bill Muehlenberg, Quadrant, October 12, 2009.

"He went on to say that “Human nature is at its greatest when it combines dependence upon God with independence of man”. It is the individual, not the state, which must be promoted and applauded:

“The idea entertained by many people that, in a well-constituted world, we shall all live on the State is the quintessence of madness, for what is the State but us? We collectively must provide what we individually receive. The great vice of democracy - a vice which is exacting a bitter retribution from it at this moment - is that for a generation we have been busy getting ourselves on to the list of beneficiaries and removing ourselves from the list of contributors, as if somewhere there was somebody else's wealth and somebody else's effort on which we could thrive.”

He continued, “To discourage ambition, to envy success, to have achieved superiority, to distrust independent thought, to sneer at and impute false motives to public service - these are the maladies of modern democracy, and of Australian democracy in particular. Yet ambition, effort, thinking, and readiness to serve are not only the design and objectives of self-government but are the essential conditions of its success. If this is not so, then we had better put back the clock, and search for a benevolent autocracy once more.”

Sounds like values and principles to me.

The vast majority of people will be voting for one or other major party on the basis of their feeling for who is the slightly less repulsive option.

Other well-meaning but naïve people will vote for a minor party or independent, not realising that with the disgusting compulsory preferential voting system, their vote will almost always end up counting for one of the two major parties, even if they specifically wish their vote to NOT count for either of them.

And practically no one will simply be submitting a blank or otherwise nullified ballot paper…. which quite frankly would be the ONLY honourable thing to do!

The Abbott campaign is a disgrace, how can anyone advocate coalition.
Labor are the party that governs in tough times, not liberal.
Abbott is a dangerous and disruptive agenda.
The most negative of oppositions of all times. Kennet was a mongrel, saying he will be there for the rest of the century, got voted out big time.
Abbott has the same agenda, attack the worker and take their shoes away.
Abbott is for Abbott.

@Ludwig,

<<Other well-meaning but naïve people will vote for a minor party or independent, not realizing that ...their vote will almost always end up counting for one of the two major parties>>

OR, you could look at it the other way around.
What about all those well meaning people who voted for the ALP, only to wake up the day after the election and find they had really voted for the Greens.

@ 579,

<<Labor are the party that governs in tough times, not liberal>>

Every time Labor governs it’s tough times -- tough times for the Oz populous, but boom times for people smugglers.

'In the end John Howard lost government not so much from proved incompetence, as from the cumulative effect of policies the public found morally distasteful.'

What ignorance. After being elected 4 times people felt secure after such good governance. What they did not anticipate was the complete incompetent of Rudd followed by the complete deceit of Gillard. As far as competence is concernede Labour is far far worse. Whether it be border control, economic management or honesty they are miles ahead of Oakshott, Windsor and Gillard.

No, Labor is the most worst. This author has more excuses for Gillard's behaviour than she has herself. Not a lie, but a broken promise?! More like multiple guarantees made in an expedient manner which could be broken later simply because gaining power was the only objective in the first place.

Truth and sincerity has no place in the Labor model, yet the author feels this is OK.

Apparently a lie by the Left is not really a lie. Doublespeak is alive and well.

Also, the author repeats the blind commitment to 'équality' often touted by the Left as an ideal. Yet it is indefinable and elusive and therefore never actually achieved. Its a feelgood idea with no basis.

The author is insulted and stunned that the Labor Govt is a miserable failure and is attempting to doublespeak his way out of reality.