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The Forum > Article Comments > A Liberal Party in the 21st Century > Comments

A Liberal Party in the 21st Century : Comments

By Sean Jacobs, published 21/10/2019

The 2019 expectation-defying coalition victory offers optimism for a party that places the highest premium on individual and private sector initiative, basic freedoms, strong communities and a thriving parliamentary democracy.

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The limp Liberals will do just fine as long as they stay that teeny weeny bit to right of the Labor party. The 'bit' more to right is not enough to save Australia, but it has a psychological effect; and there is is nobody else, given that we are now bereft of any conservative politicians.
Posted by ttbn, Monday, 21 October 2019 8:54:33 AM
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Able to find a lot to agree with and endorse here!

One of the rarest commodities in today's parliaments is commonsense and so rare as to be almost invisible and hardly common at all!

Unions no longer serve the purpose they were created for!

And need to be replaced by something more worker-friendly rather than something which merely manipulates and uses the workers and their income! Albeit that critique doesn't necessarily include industry super funds!

The replacement model for unions in protecting worker's wages and conditions is, cooperative capitalism!

Moreover, this is the very template we need to restart our stalling economy and remake this nation into the biggest and best!

We can't be frozen with fear by new untried idea or those coming from the other side of the political divide! But need only judge them on merit alone!

That's why we need to return to an earlier model of vastly less expensive, more affordable childcare and the derivatisation of selected industries, i.e., power and water, which would be better managed as cooperative enterprise rater than sovietized as they used to be?

We need to junk/remove the ideologues and their often idiotic ideological imperatives! And via preselection! Can no longer be left to the usual suspects and ultra-powerful, backroom power brokers and factional chiefs! Otherwise emerging talent and new workable ideas will, as they do now whither and die on the vine!

Little wonder then that there is a veritable exodus from this country of our best people and their better ideas and our predilection for allowing ancient retired troglodytes to much say and influence inside political establishments and the allegedly free press!

I mean, why do we not already have a thriving nuclear power industry and with it, the lowest power prices in the world!?

I rest my case!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Monday, 21 October 2019 9:17:24 AM
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Footnote:

As "new labour" moved to the right, to take up the middle ground the coalition moved even further to the right! So much so they created a space for the ultra-conservative and those of extreme right persuasions not seen since 1938!

Who virtually self identify by being totally tin-eared, extremely autocratic authoritarians!

A liberal party of the 21st century?

Ok, I give up. Where the hell are you hiding!

Who in one breath critique the hell out of communism then bend over and kiss its butt as they try to engineer a free trade agreement with it and other equally authoritative totalitarian administrations!?

And hold on to power with blatant pork barrelling and a string of "non-core" promises and pork pies!

And if the cap fits?
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Monday, 21 October 2019 9:31:23 AM
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Now, why did the "CONSERVATIVE" COALITION win this time against all the odds and soothsayer predictions?

Well, it was virtually handed to them by, Labor, who chained an unpopular leader to its neck then went totally overboard with a big target reform agenda!

However, their ideas weren't all bad just too much too soon!

They could have kept negative gearing reform but limited to 5 properties per individual to remove policemen and nurses etc., from their target list!

And those who pay no tax shouldn't get a tax return or a bag of cash handed to them by the rest of the real taxpaying community!

Those on pensions could have their retirement benefits protected by a more generous income test! Especially as they've been frugal during their working lives to save for retirement.

That said, some 'pensioners can seem to afford an international holiday every year, live in veritable mansions and spend a veritable fortune on the pokies as their daily dose of enjoyment!?

Yet claim to be and expect all the TAXPAYER FUNDED advantages accorded real struggle street pensioners, who may have worked a dam sight harder and enjoyed fewer or none of the breaks of the better off! If we are t keep an affordable social service?

Then some of these blatant rorts and rorters need to be removed from it! And a better waste of scarce government money (ours) than chasing dirt poor single mums for veritable pennies in comparison!
Alan B
Posted by Alan B., Monday, 21 October 2019 9:58:06 AM
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So, what does that make the electorate look like when the parties feel forced to make those moves in order to get the votes ?
Not very encouraging at all !
Posted by individual, Monday, 21 October 2019 9:58:35 AM
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So this is the same Liberal party that..
...Takes a "big stick" to power companies under the mantra of "cheap and reliable "power! Market intervention?
...Invests and encourages coal powered power stations which will leave totally stranded assets in the rapidly approaching future; not picking winners policy?More market intervention!
...Believes in personal freedom but introduces draconian issues to silence "inconvenient whistle blowers"!
...Still believes in trickle down economics whereby huge tax cuts for corporates some how makes the middle and lower classes wealthy?? No evidence anywhere that this works!
...Treats the unemployed as third class citizens and miscreants when their industries collapse and leave older worker unemployed and mostly unemployable! Newstart is a "gift" to the leaners according to LNP?
...Crafts legislation (for discussion) that entrenches religious bigotry as main stream law to "get revenge for same sex marriage"!

This is not the Liberal Party that Menzies envisaged nor many other LNP governments prior to the Howard era.
Posted by Peter King, Monday, 21 October 2019 4:16:36 PM
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Re the curse of identity politics.
In my opinion it is the principal form of politics in this time and place - and has essentially always been so.
Everybody votes according to their various identities.
Whats in it for me my family/relatives, my ethnic/racial and/or "religious" background,
my village/town/suburb/city/region, my state and country.

Even worse of course is the fact that the principal parties (liberal/labour/national) tailor their policies via the extensive use of FOCUS groups, which of course by their very nature, emphasize the whats-in-it-for-me syndrome.
Posted by Daffy Duck, Monday, 21 October 2019 4:21:02 PM
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More on identity politics.
Morrison was of course using the (sectarian) "religious" identity game when he was featured "worshiping" at his church during the election campaign.
Howard and Costello did the same when they attended/addressed the "religious" gabfests put on by Hillsong and (perhaps) the Australian Christian Lobby.
So too with their proposed "religious freedom" legislation.

Meanwhile the now everywhere use of social media has changed how the process of election politics now works.
The various political parties can now tailor their whats-in-it-for-me/you propaganda according to any and everyone's social media profile, especially their "religious" and ethnic/racial identities.

This process is now used all over the world, especially in the USA via the social profile data collected by Cambridge Analytica
Posted by Daffy Duck, Monday, 21 October 2019 6:28:31 PM
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One Nation + the Shooters, Fishers & Farmers party are now the sensible centre of Australian politics. Let that sink in & think about it for a while.

The Labor-Green Socialist Alliance is as extreme left as it gets.

The Liberal-National Closet-Communist coalition is only slightly less left wing.

Queensland has local & state elections coming up next year. The anti ALP-LNP vote will probably be even higher next time.
Posted by imacentristmoderate, Saturday, 2 November 2019 3:57:34 AM
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