Dale HughesLiberals lose their way
February 20th 2008 12:22
Category: No Category
In the wake of a devastating electoral defeat panic has set in for the Liberal Party. Confused and rattled after a voter backlash on some of their key policies, they have abandoned some of their long held values in a desperate attempt to win back the voters they've lost.
Their eleven year stance on AWA's was put to the dust bin yesterday in the belief that any attempt at blocking the new Labor legislation would be politcally foolish. For more than a decade they refused to ratify Kyoto and refused to apologise to the Aborigines. Yet in the wake of an election defeat they've backflipped on three key policies that separated them from Labor.
What is sad about this is that Australian politics has become more about pragmatism and political gain rather than sticking to core beliefs and political affirmations. It is not possible that in the space of only four months Parliamentary Liberal members have had a sudden change of heart. They are changing policy because they believe it will appease the voters, they are not acting in their parties interest.
While this practice is understandable, it does beg the question......exactly what does the Liberal Party stand for these days? It's social conservative agenda has suddenly been watered down, reflected in their recent apology to the stolen generations. Their conservative industrial relations agenda has been abandoned since they will refuse to even seek an amendment to Labor's new legislation.
So after 11 years they suddenly believe in saying sorry? After 11 years they believe in scrapping AWA's? After years of uncertainty they believe in climate change issues and ratifying Kyoto? It was ironic that in Question Time they are suddenly questioning Environment and The Arts Minister Peter Garrett on Climate change issues, something they have traditionally been quite skeptical of until recently.
What is worrying about these trends is that the party seems to believe the academic think tank declaring last year's election result as a defeat of conservative politics in Australia. Malcolm Turnbull seemed to panic in the wake of the loss, declaring the parties policy mistakes in regard to issues mentioned above.
Too much panic and not enough affirmation. What's true about the election result was that the Howard Government had outlasted itself and its industrial relations policies were extremely unpopular among working families. Under the Coaltion it was 'Howard's battlers' who put him in for four terms and it was those same 'battlers' who he alienated. This was a key factor in his government's end..
Another was the image Kevin Rudd projected to the voters. A fresh face offering little different to the current government, yet enough difference to warrant a change. The similiarity of his policies with Howard during the campaign and the voters endorsement of them hardly seemed like the radical shift in political thought throughout the electorate that was trumpeted by some political commentators.
The fact that Rudd won the election based on Industrial Relations policy and voters tiring of an age old government is hardly a result that could be labelled a 'defeat of conservative politics' in Australia.
This is why the latest trends among the Liberals are disturbing. They should stick to their core beliefs and not abandon policy agendas that were the centre of the party for so long. If they continue to follow Labor trends as they have done in recent months they will further reduce themselves as a weak opposition with little alternate policy ideas to the government.
It is fair that with a new leader comes a new agenda. So it's no shock that with a rejection of Howard comes a rejection of some of Howard's policies. But at the moment it is hard to pinpoint exactly where the party stands or where they are headed. It's only early days in opposition yes......but the 9 per cent approval rate for leader Brendan Nelson in the latest news poll shows that his political pragmatism isn't doing wonders for them.
Their eleven year stance on AWA's was put to the dust bin yesterday in the belief that any attempt at blocking the new Labor legislation would be politcally foolish. For more than a decade they refused to ratify Kyoto and refused to apologise to the Aborigines. Yet in the wake of an election defeat they've backflipped on three key policies that separated them from Labor.
What is sad about this is that Australian politics has become more about pragmatism and political gain rather than sticking to core beliefs and political affirmations. It is not possible that in the space of only four months Parliamentary Liberal members have had a sudden change of heart. They are changing policy because they believe it will appease the voters, they are not acting in their parties interest.
While this practice is understandable, it does beg the question......exactly what does the Liberal Party stand for these days? It's social conservative agenda has suddenly been watered down, reflected in their recent apology to the stolen generations. Their conservative industrial relations agenda has been abandoned since they will refuse to even seek an amendment to Labor's new legislation.
So after 11 years they suddenly believe in saying sorry? After 11 years they believe in scrapping AWA's? After years of uncertainty they believe in climate change issues and ratifying Kyoto? It was ironic that in Question Time they are suddenly questioning Environment and The Arts Minister Peter Garrett on Climate change issues, something they have traditionally been quite skeptical of until recently.
What is worrying about these trends is that the party seems to believe the academic think tank declaring last year's election result as a defeat of conservative politics in Australia. Malcolm Turnbull seemed to panic in the wake of the loss, declaring the parties policy mistakes in regard to issues mentioned above.
Too much panic and not enough affirmation. What's true about the election result was that the Howard Government had outlasted itself and its industrial relations policies were extremely unpopular among working families. Under the Coaltion it was 'Howard's battlers' who put him in for four terms and it was those same 'battlers' who he alienated. This was a key factor in his government's end..
Another was the image Kevin Rudd projected to the voters. A fresh face offering little different to the current government, yet enough difference to warrant a change. The similiarity of his policies with Howard during the campaign and the voters endorsement of them hardly seemed like the radical shift in political thought throughout the electorate that was trumpeted by some political commentators.
The fact that Rudd won the election based on Industrial Relations policy and voters tiring of an age old government is hardly a result that could be labelled a 'defeat of conservative politics' in Australia.
This is why the latest trends among the Liberals are disturbing. They should stick to their core beliefs and not abandon policy agendas that were the centre of the party for so long. If they continue to follow Labor trends as they have done in recent months they will further reduce themselves as a weak opposition with little alternate policy ideas to the government.
It is fair that with a new leader comes a new agenda. So it's no shock that with a rejection of Howard comes a rejection of some of Howard's policies. But at the moment it is hard to pinpoint exactly where the party stands or where they are headed. It's only early days in opposition yes......but the 9 per cent approval rate for leader Brendan Nelson in the latest news poll shows that his political pragmatism isn't doing wonders for them.
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Comment by Harry
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Was it ever about anything else? I think John Howard was still a political pragmatist, he just misread what the people were thinking.
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