Does anyone imagine the decision to elect Sussan Ley as Liberal leader this morning is the end of anything? If so, tell them they’re dreaming.
Even in the best of times, the Liberals have been consumed by internal revolt. Here’s a list of the fallen since the golden years of John Winston Howard ended in 2007: Brendan Nelson; Malcolm Turnbull; Tony Abbott; Malcolm Turnbull (again); Scott Morrison; Peter Dutton — seven leadership changes over 18 years. The leaders barely last one electoral cycle.
Identity crisis
The party is, in short, a beacon of instability and now very, very far removed from the steady hand of the old cardigan wearer. It is also in the grip of a forever war more intense than ever over its identity. Indeed the war has reached the absurd point where there’s now a war over the need to have a war.
This is the point of the likes of Peta Credlin, who insists the lesson of defeat is that the party should fight harder to stake out its points of difference from Labor, lest it somehow become “Labor lite”. In the same vein, conservative commentator Janet Albrechtsen has gone into battle for the right to continue the culture wars, because these are the debates that define the society in which we live.
Onward ‘Christian’ soldiers
Leading custodians of the conservatives’ forever war doctrine are one-time National Party leader and deputy prime minister John Anderson, and former prime minister Tony Abbott. They met up last week to kick around the Libs’ woes in a podcast hosted by Anderson. The podcast is titled Rebuilding Australia: the way forward after defeat. Unsurprisingly, “the way forward” turns out to be to look back to when Australia was a better place, moulded by a fundamental Judeo-Christian ethos which had been part of “our virtue and decency”, as Abbott likes to put it.
Anderson has been out of politics for 20 years; Abbott since his electorate dumped him in 2019. Yet the AAs have never departed the arena. They find much to agree on, including Anderson’s point that “all cultures are not equal” (“Correct, correct,” nods Abbott) and that when it comes to values there is “much that’s worth defending, much that’s worth fighting for”.
“What would the ANZACS think of us?” asks Anderson. “They would be shaking their heads in bewilderment at things like gender fluidity, cultural self-loathing, magic pudding economics, the virus hysteria that we lived through for two years … the climate cult,” declares Abbott, plucking progressive crimes from thin air.
Culture shockers
Then comes the kicker: who threw the first stone anyway? “They accuse us of starting a culture war,” says Anderson. “I don’t think we started a war on our culture.” Abbott says: “There has been a war on our culture for the best part of 50 years. The long march of the left through the institutions is essentially a war against Anglo-Celtic culture.”
As the standard-bearer of culture war conservatives, Abbott threw his weight behind the Angus Taylor-Jacinta Nampijinpa Price bid for leadership. He also reportedly helped organise Price’s defection to the Liberal Party.
Dead to right
As we reported last week, Abbott has cemented his place as the Grim Reaper of conservative politics. His support has invariably guaranteed the failure of Liberal after Liberal, beginning with himself and ending last week with Peter Dutton. We can now add Taylor and Price to the list of casualties.
So what hope now for the leadership of Ley, the first woman to lead the federal Liberal Party? She won by a margin of 29-25. Three Liberal senators who voted will depart parliament in June. The party is split dead down the middle and is ripe for a conservative takeover. It’s just a matter of when. This is, after all, a battle for nothing less than the future of Western civilisation.
Great summary. . .Tony Abbott, the pugilist, has never let us down. From University-student head-kicker, to Prime ministerial power-wielder, until now as a back-room-boy, he has attempted to manipulate the political powers and retard progress.
He appears to regard the 1950’s, not unlike John Howard, as the epitome of a balanced civilisation.
The Liberals loss was sealed when Tony Abbott and John Howard were wheeled out for the campaign.
If the party was smart they would get behind Susan and work to ensure her success. Anything Les will mean that women voters will keep running away. Can they do it? It hopeful but would like to see it happen for the good of Australia which is not the country Tony Abbott dreams of. Actually it is a much preferable plan where a man doesn’t tell them what to think about while they do the ironing.
Her name is Sussan Ley. She added the extra S based on her belief in numerology. The “alternative Prime Minister?
Just let auto correct do its job
Unsurprisingly Tony Abbott was born in England. Still very much a colonial and desperate to make the rest of us the same.
John McCain/Sarah Palin and Angus Taylor/Jacinta Price: compare and contrast.
John McCain was actually a reasonable human being, Angus Taylor is a nasty piece of work.
Sarah Palin was stupid and incompetent, JNP is clever and vindictive.
That is incisive. Well said. The problem with many of these so called Conservatives is that they are quite nasty. Abbott, Hockey, Trump , the king of nasty, Dutton (immigration). You can still have the policies, but you don’t have to be nasty where human beings are concerned…try Conservatives are not like that, I wonder if there are any of left with the push towards the far right? i think there are
John McCain was actually a reasonable human being, Angus Taylor is a nasty piece of work.
Sarah Palin was stupid and incompetent, JNP is cunning and vindictive.
I hope you aren’t suggesting Taylor is equivalent to McCain.
John McCain stands head & shoulders above the rest. An intelligent man of principle & integrity. Brave.
Old men shouting at the clouds
So dissapointing that Anderson and Abbott want to go back to the good old days of women in the kitchen only, Indigenous people in their place and the racism behind it, homosexuality illegal, transgender and other divergent people bullied and picked on, assylum seekets treated racially and abysmally… zI could go on Come on the A,s get with where most of us want to be.
Today, I don’t mind how long Sussssan lasts as leader – I backed her early at $6.50, convinced by the fact that in Australia when a political party’s hopes have vanished they always elect a female leader! And Glenda, I once attended an office meeting with Tony Abbott when he was Health Minister (shortly after banning the “morning after” abortion pill) and one of my colleagues, who also attended the meeting and had played rugby at university with him, said beforehand, “just remember, whatever Tony might say, he’s no pugilist, he’s just a street brawler”. He was true to that description in our meeting!
Well at least it’s a better outcome than the other option – although not too sure about O’Brien – let’s hope he forgets about his stupid nuclear ideas. Let’s also hope that Ley leaves Price on the back bench- she must have better (albeit limited) options for shadow cabinet. I read elsewhere that she (Ley) hasn’t ruled out dumping the net zero target. Really? Sure, if she wants to give Labor, Independents, Greens something to beat them up with at the next election, go for it. She should stick with the target and if the Nats don’t like it tell them they’re on their own. Then the Liberals would have half a chance of sorting themselves out.
You’re right, but the Libs will never let the Nats go, and it’s the same in the other direction. Neither of them has a show of getting back into government if they stand as separate parties, and so the alliance will continue. The Coalition will slip further and further into irrelevance as a result. It wouldn’t worry me overmuch were it not for the fact that we need a strong and effective Opposition, if only to keep the Government honest. This mob is incapable of being that, and I can’t see us having an Opposition worth its salt for quite a while yet.
If they are to develop policy that reflects their principles, they cannot do it together. The (I) agrarian socialists (populist miners’ party really), (ii) the radical conservatives of the culture wars and (iii) the moderate liberals (how is that, of this lot, not an oxymoron?) have such disparate principles. Each of the three groupings must work out their own philosophical positions, then see what policy will give them effect and combine if there’s enough commonality. We do need an effective Opposition but it’s not looking like we’ll have one.
Who cares. Let them self-destruct. Their irrelevance will do them in.
The real worry is whether Labor under Albanese will move further to the right. What then?
I wrote this about them a while ago. https://blotreport.com/2017/11/04/conservatives-shouting-21st-century/
Some things don’t change. Not in 40 years.
https://youtu.be/tfopGsh5TGE?si=4uL0whpv4aMsMY7h
Great article on the top level of the party, but to be fair their issues are far worse, given the status of the NSW & Victorian parties who could not even organise representatives at local government elections in NSW or offer an alternative to a pretty poor government in Victoria.
The two A’s are almost as damaging to the Liberal Party as Peta Credlin.
My recommendation to those on the right is to do what another political sage recommended. “Do the opposite to what Credlin says”…..now let’s add Anderson and Abbott to that mix. Let’s call them the CAC’s. The perfect acronym.
Sky news has already declared war on Ley. Let the battle begin!
In their nostalgia for the 50’s I guess they want to bring back the 75% top marginal tax rate, 2.5% infant mortality and 12 times higher rate of road deaths?
And the ciggies, via the electronic substitutes, freedom to die from lung cancer. What a way to go!
Without doubting the Liberal’s difficulties and likely short-termism, I’d like to see Ms Ley make the thing work. We don’t have a decent opposition, and I think Australia is paying a heavy price for that.
I don’t know. Shorten, Albanese were decent opposition.
Where did that get us.
I think th days of yearning for ‘good’ Opposition are behind us if we want to move forward quickly.
What would the ANZACS think say Pommie Tony……well they would relate to Covid precautions, they experienced Spanish Flu which killed millions. what they don’t seem to get is that they are fighting against a changing world, as it always has changed. It is not a Leftie lead plunge into depravity, as they see it. It is changing values, attitudes and adjustment to evolving realities such as climate change, internet, population growth, generational change etc etc. Abbott & Co. are looking more and more like fossils every day. Credlin is our Sisyphus, forever rolling the boulder of right wing extremism uphill only to be disappointed every time it rolls down again!
Well said
Did the megalomania of Jacinta Price and her embrace by Taylor for the Deputy leadership position, cost him the leadership
imagine living with him… no wonder he was told to go away and play politics
whoops that attached to the wrong comment – the comment for this post would be that nobody in their right mind would want the leadership of this group now – sums up the choices really
The question is, would you ever have any of these creeps over for a BBQ at your house to meet your friends? I do not think so if you like your friends.
I took particular note of O’Brien’s first remark to and look at Ley, as he took the mike at the presser. He has his eye on her job, no doubt about it. I give her 18 months max.
I switched off once O’Brien started speak as he appears to be a version of #SFM.
The inability of the LNP to recognise this country for what it is and formulate policy to suit it leaves me speechless.
ScoMo MkII is Teddy Boy. He’ll do exactly what ScoMo did. Windscreens O’Brien is there as the sacrificial piece mutton, just to keep the big boys looking like they’re making a difference.
This reminds me of the chaos in the (dis) United Kingdom after the Brexit fiasco. Who got to carry the poisoned chalice? Theresa May. Then when sufficient time had passed and she’d done a fair bit of the awful clean up job, and been crucified in the press, the pickled boys blithely took over again. Plus ça change…
There seems to be plenty of people around who are grieving whatever ‘insult’ or offense that occurred some 30 years ago….I met one the week-end.
For heaven’s sake, no wonder they look sad, depressed and bitter, carrying around resentment for all that time is definitely not helpful and very detrimental to anyone that has to be around you or anywhere near you.
Immature, incapable of growing up and taking responsibility all round, so they are best left to their own devices.
Tony Abbott, the same age as me, has not developed intellectually since he was a student politician 45 years ago. He found a ready market early among white ‘Christian’ men who felt threatened by assertive women, brown-skinned people and the gender diverse. That remains his market today, although they are increasingly dying off. Even among old white Catholic men – like me – there are many who have moved on – loving their mixed families, embracing a diverse Australian and surrendering the once standard claim to cultural supremacy. His baked-in resentment, outrage and instinct for exploiting division dovetails with News Corp’s business model. But all his tribe faces is inevitable death and disillusionment. Good riddance to this pox.
Thankyou. Summed up the Mad Monk perfectly
The fix is in.
The Liberal boys are as predictable as ever. Suss was always going to “win”.
The point of the theatrics surrounding the leadership was so Suss’s elevation didn’t look like a DEI hire.
Turnbull set the “30 Newspolls in a row” benchmark and she has Jacinta stalking her now. After all who is behind the Newspolls numbers? None other than her rowdy cheer squad at Sky News and News Corp
In france the Republic of FRANCE where eptimoe of western civilization is seen by the French elite they the French government imposed stern Covid rules and regulations and all French people obeyed the French police
Just as when the arteries stiffen and no longer flexible, the flow of blood is impeded and the heart doesn’t pump so well- so Abbott unable to be flexible but to fight change no longer has a functioning heart that can listen with the ears of the heart and respond to the signs of the times. Fighting change is nonsensical. The Liberal Party membership is mostly made up of white 72 year old males. This is the generation that Abbott and the Liberals are listening to whilst the average Australian is a 35 year old woman. They aren’t anywhere near the bullseye and not even on the dartboard. I think their days are numbered.
The man of the moment, Liberal saviour-in-waiting, Ted O’Brien, appears to think that he needs to keep a “bad government” to account. Astute, alert, aware, this man is a politician’s politician: a week after the country said that we prefer to Labor significantly to the pack in which he hunts, the man appears to want Labor to keep its majority for many years to come (perhaps until his sons vote Labor?). Hypersensitive, Teddy is not.
Ted O’Brien’s deserves more scrutiny, less glib. Liberals and Nationals are one in Qld, the LNP, but the Nationals have preserved their own identity, no more so than in the Sunshine Coast region where faux LNP independents have controlled the regional council since the the inception of the regional system in 2012. O’Brien was one such, and the congruity of their values was and still is evident in the ratio of male to female Councillors 1:11 rising to 2:11 in 2020. (The Mayor was also male until 2024.) There is no worse M/F percentage in local gov across the entire country. O’Brien is also 9ne of the solid crew of LNP members in the region at both State level (Andrew Powell) and Federal (Andrew Wallace)… Apart from nuclear power it’s unclear what he stands for. So why did Ley chose him as her running mate? Was she pushed?
Correction: Ted OBrien is integral to the LNP web that controls Federal State and regional politics in this region (Sunshine Coast) but the Ted on Council is one Ted Hungerford, not O’Brien.
Headstone reads, RIP The LiberalParty 1944-2025. “You were not loved and frankly will not be missed”.
Like the dinosaurs, the Liberals are a dying breed. What’s needed is not rejuvenation, but rebirth. A new centrist force that casts aside the shibboleths of a coalition that has passed its ùseby date. Where it begins,I know not. Perhaps a starting point could be the now abandoned principles enunciated by Menzies.