“Modernisation”, meaning moving further to the Left and embracing woke - just like the Socialist Albanese government: moving to a one party system.

The wet Liberals deserve everything they got, and everything they are going to get by listening to people who want them to lose.

“Australians don't like Donald Trump's bombastic style”. Who says? Who knows what Australians want? They don't seem to know themselves. They just vote for whoever gives them them most for ‘nothing’ - too dumb to know that they are just getting their own money back.

An electorate that returned the hard Left Albanese government and thinks that the Liberal Party is too far to the right deserves what it gets. Australians are politically illiterate.

Here is another neo-nationalist conservative claiming the sky is falling, and the poor unfortunate folk need saving from themselves! Dan claims; "The future is a thoughtful new conservatism." News for you buddy! "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" Dress it up anyway you like, but at the end of the day the majority of Australians are comfortable with politicians offering progressive reform, not having a bunch of old reactionary conservatives running the show, wanting to wind back the clock to the "good old days" of Pig Iron Bob!

In the ABC/SMH/Guardian victory laps, the "only answer" is for the Coalition to be as woke as Labor, embracing open borders, identity politics, and the "science" of climate "change".

Looks like the Ley Coalition is listening. Even when Albanese went "Woodside Net Zero" on May 26, obvious nonsense, and clearly having a lend, they had no real response, they didn't want to rock the boat.

The liberal Party won’t have a future UNLESS it embraces ‘Teal Progressivism’.

Voters today want much more than the tired old platforms of anti-immigration, climate change denialism, aggressive militarism and growth-at-all-costs laissez-faire neoliberalism.

I’m no fan of Sussan Ley, but at least she seems to be trying to steer her party into a more sensible and centrist course. The problem for her is that Albanese has well and truly occupied this do-nothing middle ground. He’s bowing to the pressure of the major parties’ corporate and fossil fuel backers with a boot-licking deference that most Liberals could only dream of.

Far from being a ‘hard Left’ government, Albanese is holding us all to a conservative inertia which has left the Liberals with nowhere to go. The Coalition needs to pull its head in for a few years and leave it to the Greens, Teals and Progressive independents to push Labor into finally achieving some real policy reform.

There are those on this forum who disparagingly refer to "woke" as if its something to be despised at all cost! If having a social conscience and a belief in equality rather that a hate mentality is "woke" then like the vast majority of Australians, I am proud to be "woke"! What are you fellas? Racists bigots!

The biggest problem with both sides today is nepotism. Purchasing officers should never know the identity of parties they are awarding government contracts to. The coalition and Labor are no different from the CFMEU in this respect.

I'd be happy to see the conservatives run on a social democracy platform, distinguishing themselves from Labor by ending nepotism, having properly audited expenditure and a workable energy policy.

Hi Fester,

"I'd be happy to see the conservatives run on a social democracy platform" Interesting, then they wouldn't be a Conservative Party, they would be a Social Democratic Party. Conservative thinking doesn't allow for social democracy through a progressive platform of reform, but relies on a free market with such gems as the "Trickle Down Effect" and "Conservative Values" which is support of existing social institutions through a class driven society.

In Australian politics Labor and others have taken the progressive middle ground, and that has marginalized the Liberal's to a non progressive position, without any true policy. The Liberal Party is a party of the 1950's and 60's, in those times they did offer something to an aspirational Australian society through Liberalism, whilst maintaining Conservative values. Today they offer nothing in the way of social reform, and society is rejecting those old Conservative values. In the first Labor government the opposition were laughingly referred to as the "Noalition", with a policy agenda of saying "NO!" to everything, whilst offering nothing in the way of an alternative. In their three years in opposition the Noalition failed to develop any worthwhile policies at all, going to the election with half baked notions, such as an energy policy of nuclear power stations, and a voter bribe of 25c off a litre of petrol. TOTAL FAILURE!

Hi Paul,

I'd be careful about trying too hard to define things. Look at the Russian Federation flying the flags of imperialism, communism and fascism together. Hardly a holy trinity.

The coalition have defined themselves as a do nothing and make no difference party, and have rightly suffered the consequences from voters. That they are staying the course shows them up as complete dills.

Hi Fester,

Australia post war has not had a Conservative Party in the British Tory model of any magnitude. The Liberal Party had great post war political success through a mix of mild Liberalism and Conservatism Menzies seen to that. Labor in the 1950's hit the self destruct button with a ideological push to the sodalist left, with internal wrangling to add fuel to the fire. It was Whitlam who made the Labor Party relevant once more in the 1970's.

The centre of politics in Australia is not static but dynamic as social attitudes and asperation change. With their defeat in 2022 the Liberal Party failed to see the writing on the wall, as to their future. Dutton was the wrong person to lead the Liberals back into government. Looking at the parties diminished ranks today, I fail to see anyone with the strong leadership credentials necessary to resurrect the parties fortunes, over the next 6 years. They are virtually zero chance of winning the next election in their present state.

Hi Paul,

Yes, I agree. Neither policy nor leadership. Just pathetic. Stand for something. Believe in something. They just blow in the wind. Totally irrelevant.

Fester

Agree with your comments regarding the Coalition ... and with Paul’s.

I do not however agree with your observation that Russia is 'flying the flags of imperialism, communism and fascism together’. Really it’s flying none of those.

At best, the communism flag is part way up the flagpole, really only kept there through the West’s insistence on demonising it as a communist country. In reality, Russia today is a democratic republic with a market-based economy.

Nor is it a fascist country. 27 million Russians died in their country’s defeat of Nazi Germany in WW2. Russians have a deep intolerance of fascism and nazism. It’s one of the reasons they took their military operation into Ukraine ... to denazify the place.

And nor does Russia today have imperialist ambitions. It’s not trying to take over Ukraine or any other European nation. It’s protecting its borders from NATO encroachment and defending the Russian speakers in Ukraine’s border regions, nothing more. Once again, the imperialist label is just another way the West demonises Russia.

Bandying around throwaway lines like this is easy. Doing some research and getting your facts right takes a bit more work.

Bronwyn,

I was thinking of events like this:

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/71450/photos#

It is Russia's history, but quite conflicted and contrary. You might also consider the pulp fiction being produced by the Kremlin that glorifies Nazism. Truly crazy stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCI6es9G0oo

A country run by amoral criminals sadly.

Like it or not, Australia is now a left-wing, or socialist, country, the same as the Scandinavian countries that more enlightened then than now Australians used to sneer at.

"The Liberal Party's future can't be teal progressivism"?

What a joke! The Liberal Party doesn't have a future. Nor does Australia have a future worth anything. Voters saw to that at the election. Too be fair to voters though, they didn't have much choice; and if they were not forced to vote, I doubt that more than about 40% of them would have bothered, such is appalling state of the political class.

Dont vote. I await my fine with joy and thanksgiving for individual foresight!

Fester

The three flags?? Okay, I see the tenuous connection in your brain wiring!

Yes, there were three flags at that flag-raising ceremony in 2023 ... that of the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation. The first two iterations could indeed be described as imperialistic, but the third and current is not. Russia honours its history carefully ... that’s all this was ... nothing at all to suggest it has resurrected its old imperialist ambitions.

Regarding your ‘pulp fiction’ claim, yes, most countries in the world contain a nationalistic movement, including our own. A country waging a military operation and one demonised by pretty much the whole of the Western world (which let’s not forget is little more than 10% of the total global population) is particularly likely to have such a movement. It’s largely (but not exclusively) driven by young males from the Right of the political spectrum. This doesn’t mean it’s being orchestrated by the Russian government.

The Kremlin does use the term ‘pulp fiction’ to dismiss some of the more fantastical claims levelled at it by the West, eg that it would blow up its own gas pipeline, as the West accused it of, when it was they themselves that had sabotaged Nordstream. There are so many other examples of Russia being scapegoated for crimes it hasn’t committed. The Kremlin now simply denies them or dismisses them as pulp fiction, propaganda, lies or some such term. It knows its truth can never prevail in the face of the mighty Western propaganda machine. Its dignified denial is its usual recourse.

TBC

Fester

To describe Russia as a 'country run by amoral criminals’ simply demonstrates how completely you’ve bought into the simplistic narrative of goodies and baddies which the West resorts to in order to maintain its position of world dominance. Russia doesn’t get it all right, nor does China, Iran, North Korea or any other country the West perceives to be its enemy. But they do get a lot right and deserve far more respect than shown them by the West. The main commonality these countries have is that they all stand up to the West and refuse to be pushed around by it.

"The three flags?? Okay, I see the tenuous connection in your brain wiring!"

Indeed Bronwyn. My brain does not shut down when I see contradictions in a narrative.

"To describe Russia as a 'country run by amoral criminals’ simply demonstrates how completely you’ve bought into the simplistic narrative of goodies and baddies"

I don't see that it differs greatly from Nazi Germany, or East Germany for that matter. The thought experiment for a free nation is whether you would feel comfortable and not face persecution for expressing an opinion. That isn't even the case in Australia. Personally, I think that the freedom of people to hold and express differing opinions is fundamental to a healthy civilisation.

One million Russian casualties and counting. Putin could withdraw the invading army from Ukraine and Russia would be in no danger of foreign invasion, so why doesn't he withdraw his army?

Putin is trying to get Zelensky to negotiate a lasting peace settlement which addresses the root causes of the current conflict and can bring it to an end.

So far, Russia has attempted to do this through the 2014/15 Minsk Accords (which were broken by Ukraine and the Western signatories), the draft peace treaty it presented for discussion with the West in 2021 (which was totally ignored by the West) and with the draft treaty Russia and Ukraine were close to signing in Istanbul in March 2022 (until the West stepped in and told Zelensky to walk away and keep on fighting).

At the start of this month Russia presented its proposed memorandum for ending the conflict. It’s a comprehensive document with plenty of scope for negotiation. Both sides have to make concessions. So far, Zelensky has refused to do so, even though he comes to the table in a much weaker position than Russia. The Ukrainian draft proposal presented to Russia is different to the one presented to Western media, which only confirms that Zelensky is a capricious and unreliable negotiator.

Zelensky wants all Ukraine's south eastern territories returned, even though their citizens were being killed and discriminated against by Kiev and as a result voted overwhelmingly to reunite with Russia. He wants to join NATO and have NATO troops and missiles permanently located along Russia’s borders. Russia will not return the five territories and once again leave their citizens at the mercy of Ukrainian force. And Russia will not allow predatory Western forces along its borders. Why should it? What Western country would put upon with that?

This conflict is a proxy war with the West. The West is using Ukraine to bring about regime change in Russia and to once again establish a pliable government like those it had under Gorbachev and Yeltsin. This conflict wouldn’t exist if the West hadn’t begun its destabilsation of the region in the early 2000s in response to Putin's stepping up and reclaiming of the Russian economy from Western exploitation. You have to understand that history to understand the current impasse.

Bronwyn's post makes me think how America & Nato would react for Russia to go back to Cuba or Russia having a base in Ireland or on Malta !

Indyvidual

<< Bronwyn's post makes me think how America & Nato would react for Russia to go back to Cuba or Russia having a base in Ireland or on Malta ! >>

Spot on!

The US has around 400 military bases surrounding China and routinely surveils China's territorial boundaries with huge and threatening warships and intrusive spy planes. It has around 800 bases worldwide, many of them projected at Russia. You are correct. If Russia (or China, Iran, North Korea or any other of America's designated enemies) did a fraction of any of this to the US, they’d be bombed to smithereens.

And right now, the self-appointed and completely out-of-control global chief is about to bomb Iran. God help us all!