The Liberal Party broad church is groaning under the strain of ideological and personality conflicts. While a fully blown schism at some point before the next federal election or shortly afterwards is improbable, it remains well within the realms of the possible.
Political parties come and go. Minor parties tear themselves apart on an almost annual basis. The Liberal Party has been a monolith in Australian politics since 1948 but that does not mean it has a guaranteed future. In a sense it is its own worst enemy, a collective gaggle of participants from the Menzian centre to the outer reaches of the spectrum on the right.
These were the conditions found within the Labor Party post-WWII and led to the split of 1954-55, keeping Labor from forming a viable alternative government for nearly two decades.
Prior to World War II conservative parties in Australia came and went, often tearing themselves apart over weaknesses in administration and brawling over policy and ideology.
Full column here.
Salad days of yesteryear for the Liberal Party, Mr Insider, as Sir Robert Menzies, that great Liberal leader, addresses Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth in Australia in 1963 with the immortal words of the poet Thomas Ford “”I did but see her passing by and yet I love her till I die”. Sadly a time gone by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ibGwqMM6uU
Yeah, Thanks Henry. We’re never going to live that one down. He would have been what then , pushing 70? Sleazy old bastard.
John Clarke is gone , no more Clarke & Dawe, sad…..
Malcolm a limp grip, Jack? Never! MBT is the Emphatic Gesture on stilts.
Did you see his performance at Bomana, deploying the hand-over-heart signal? Is that Americanism now de rigeur for emphatic gesturists? Or was he mimicking Khizr Khan, or any other devout Muslim?
He should watch that right arm of his, it’s threatening to leap up in full-blooded salute. Or grab him by the throat. Malcolm could do worse than seek the advice of his Capt Brown, at the breakfast table.
ScoMo will be choking the living daylights out of the budget soon enough. Then Malcolm may find himself leaping for the lever of Troops(!). Before that move, though, he’d better get new suits for the ramp ceremonies. He may be better suited, for those, in equestrian pose. Alongside his gloriously attired FM. I can’t see Malcolm leaping out of an ASLAV in lycra.
If Abbott is pressed on his views for his own future, we may be treated to another roll-out of the “dead, buried and cremated” routine. In which case, he should be directed to review the history of the Ponary massacre 1941.
The last time TA was asked was just last week and he replied he was here for the term of this parliament and maybe the next one, depending on how he felt about it at the time. Just giving the knife a little twist, HU.
Classic. JTI you have stirred up the echo chamber on the other side. The usual suspects are apoplectic. I doubt most of them got past the first couple of paragraphs. As I said previously, I think Abbott is deliberately wrecking ( one trick tony) so another right whinger can be installed so he, Abbott, can return to the front bench. We know from previous accounts he cannot make ends meet on the lowly wages of a back bencher. For the sake of the Nation and future generations bring on the schism.
yeah. fk ’em…split you turds
Succint. Eloquent.
Whop it up ’em, make ’em take it.
You don’t like them then, smoke?
There are rumours Abbotts personal fortunes have improved considerably. Does anybody know what he’s worth these days?
Not much JB poor wretched bugger.
I believe it’s ‘impossible’ to make ends meet on a backbencher base salary of $199,040 plus all available perks no doubt.
Quite a come-down from a breath over half a million.
Perhaps Morrison could help the exPM get back in the black with a new working budget ‘on the house’.
https://www.adzuna.com.au/blog/2017/01/18/australian-politicians-salary-really-earn/
Regards, Bella
Not so sure Bella.
Dunno – at one stage he had to take out a mortgage to educate the kids.
Which one? the one that did not receive a $60K scholarship after the school received some unexpected funding?
If Turnbull keeps getting poor marks in the polls and Abbott doesn’t challenge then and Turnbull loses the next election that is when the shit will hit the fan. I can’t see any reason why Malcolm would hang around if he lost the job. And I can’t see Abbott going anywhere soon. Whoever was still standing after a loss would swiftly cling onto their best chance of survival or promotion. I believe that would be Abbott, who could make a good argument for Turnbull being the wrecker. I’m one of those optimists.
Turnbull couldn’t stand to hang around if beaten Milt and the party will be so split that Abbott will not have the numbers. That man from Qld Dutton is looking fine. That’s why the left try so hard to destroy him. What he has done as immigration minister is music to many people’s ears after the RGR fiasco.
You can’t be serious Razor.
Firstly, if that cruel, vicious minister were in the public sector his obvious level of gross incompetency would have him sacked, like yesterday. Dutton (absurdly) gets away with being openly racist & a deliberate liar to cover up his duty-of-care failures.
Did you know Dutton ignored the AMA and denied a traumatised, pregnant rape victim access to Aystralian medical care, calling it blackmail?
To his cop mindset everybody is a criminal or a potential one so if, as you say, people endorse his kind of callous and disturbing behaviour, then this country has completely lost its way.
If the Fibs do roll Turncoat for Abbott or any of their other gormless gits for that matter, expect single digit polls.
As bad as he is, Mal’s the weak flickering candle in a very, very dim room.
Regards, Bella
1. He was (and is) in the public sector – WTF do you think the gov’t is?
2. He may have called it blackmail, but do you honestly think that AS/ IMA in Manus don’t try injure themselves, get pregnant or generate medical excuses to ensure transfer to Aust – often after advising the media?
3. If that that cop mindset wasn’t applied (more so by the those at the front end than him personally) then have you any idea on the level of shit that would have been let in? It’s funny how those who tried to stab me, spit on me, entrap me, corrupt me, bribe me, lie to me and offer their fellow A/ S up as illegals wouldn’t have butter melt in their mouths when face with a sympathising member of the public or the media.
The reality is that there are so many who need our help throughout the world – unfortunately most of them will never see the outside of a camp just outside of their native country’s borders
1. Obviously I meant the ‘private’ sector Jazza but you know that.
2. Maybe they do, so what? In their position I’d do the same.
3. “the level of shit”?? What?
Why is it so f**king difficult for people to be simply decent toward human beings who’ve been forcibly locked up for wanting a better life?
I couldn’t care less what label you put on me but I don’t want this hateful government to get away with demonising every asylum seeker in my name.
The reality is that Australia has long bypassed justice on this issue and it needs to stop.
Because Bella, there are 70 million scattered around the world which is way beyond the capacity for the whole world to deal with.
http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/figures-at-a-glance.html
The miserable 20,000 that we take, and that is about all we can afford and absorb, is a feel good exercise.
The money would be far better spent on giving the kids in the camps a better education so that they have a chance of escaping their terrible existence.
Manus and Christmas Island is a deterrent – a really nasty but necessary deterrent to prevent us from becoming like Europe. If the numbers increased it would diminish our ability to help in other areas.
PS I am not too sure about the comes up with the number resettled – I am pretty sure more than 100,000 appeared on Europe’s doorstep in 2015.
Don’t believe all Amnesty and the rest of the leftist rent a crowd tell you Bella. He has been an effective minister in implementing government policy. I know him personally and he is a good bloke. Intelligent, urbane and understands the electorate. Australians want orderly immigration and have proved it time after time. If Labor win the next election and it starts again Australians will prove their point again.
Razor, had the pie for lunch, chops tonight for dinner, unfortunately no peas.
Interesting to see you talk about Peter Dutton as a good guy, I know a couple of politicians as well and they are truly nice people, but when all you really see of them is media grabs it’s no wonder we have a bad opinion of them. But I am so far over politics, politicians, big corporations, rabid feminists, rabid anti feminists etc. etc. I’m planning on travelling this great country of ours watching M.A.S.H reruns, the AFL, some ABC but nothing relating to politics, drinking our terrific wine, eating fish and chips with the occasional meat pie thrown in, without reading, watching , listening to anything that relates to the government or the opposition. Or reality television shows. Wish me luck…
Hey Penny, Prawns are of the menu.
Apparently some disease has wiped out the prawn farms in NQ.
How many pig hunters actually vote.? dutton is a dud pure and simple, plods like him have nothing to offer this nation. Oh and turnbull will trudge off and be part of the telecommunications industry that has to over built due to the ridiculous mixed technology internet fiasco he is responsible for. talk about negatively impacting on a countries productivity.
Intrigued by the term pig hunters. Lesser human beings apparently. Probably representing the poor and uneducated. Are you starting to understand why Trump won, Brexit occurred and the rise of one Nation yet?
I can help. Because people are easily led and stupid enough to believe the charlatans really will do something for them! Pig’s arse. All they will get is another kick in the guts, the wealthy will get even wealthier. When will they ever learn? They wont.
Razor – I only scanned through Bella’s and Unmade’s comments and I got their mood re Dutton, and I have to agree. Obviously, without reading all their details, they may have pursued a different line in discounting Dutton as a future PM. For mine he has as much charm as a floater (or worse) in a toilet bowl. and the bravado of a candle in the wind. Dutton’s lack of anything has informed his entry into the cops and now the bigger cops.
If Dutton is ever elected (!) PM, I will shout the curious Jean for lunch at Montrachet in paddo.
Noted. Average price $200 for two people?
Tightarse.
I would insist on Le Cinq, JB. You deserve it!
Boady. Was that the restaurant that precious whining little twit Rayner was carrying on about?
“Hey chef! Ze Englishman at table 26, he ate zet swill.”
“Of course, he is English, they can eat anything. I make for him beautiful food for 50 euro and he complain, I feed him rubbish for 600 euro and he complain. Let us hoping he does not come back. He needs a wash and he dresses like a peasant.”
Hehehe., JB. It amuses me sometimes that people will go to the most expensive restaurant in town, get dished up crap, and wax lyrically about the great meal they had!
Came back to bite them in the bum this time, big time!!
Boady, you peasant. If someone gets served up crap for a thousand dollars a plate it is going to taste fantastic. Because they can pay a thousand dollars and not miss it. Everything is going to taste great if you can do that. Paying a thousand dollars a plate for great food worth a thousand dollars a plate is a bit pointless.
You have no class at all, you stick with your moderately priced good value wholesome boring chaff and folksy polite waiting staff.
You will find after Raymers boorish denouement business improved by thirty percent overnight. That’s why they fed him crap.
All bit esoteric for you I suppose. Sigh.
Remind me not to put you in as manager of the next restaurant I open, JB.
We’re very classy down this way these days. Plenty of good food joints that would put Le Cinq to shame.
As for me, I don’t mind paying for good food. But not when the fish and chips down at the docks is better.
Yeah sure. I see the world’s biggest spenders crowding out Tasmanian restaurants.
You’re missing the point completely you gourmet pygmy. It’s about the style and brass of real class, not nouveau riche yokels and wannabe social butterflies.
Sigh. Why do I bother?
Milton, I agree totally with your description about Dutton, he makes my skin crawl. Fly back into Australia tonight, for all the accolades about Penang having the finest food in the world (well in the top 5 anyway) I am looking forward to a meat pie and some lamb chops
Pie & Peas with tomato sauce Penny!
Your love of Tony Abbott is undiminished after all this time Milton my astute fellow correspondent and I for one applaud loyalty as rich as this. Lord god I have searched long and hard to find what it is you adore about the man but as of time of writing , alas. Cheers love your informative posts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxq__3z9zGM
JTI,
How true!!
But the significant political impacts over the next two to three years are likely to be totally independent of our current crop of Pollies and their supposed policies.
We are destined to have another ‘Recession we have to have’ with its consequent traumatic impacts on so many Australians particularly those associated with Small Business and what remains of our Manufacturing and Retail industries.
The next election is likely to be conducted within a ‘Pox on all your Houses’ sentiment which will make the forecast and the result a lottery.
The only certainty will be that our Nation’s future, particularly its economic future will be on the line!!
I’ve felt, for a long time now, plmo, that a swing to PHON is going to give the next election to Bill. That will be hard to swallow.
Nah! Just keep on importing people with money. That’s the new economy. I’m proposing a tiered system. If they want to live in Sydney they must bring five million. Melbourne 4 million. Other capitals 1 mill per person. Except Darwin. 500 bucks.
You write down in your column, Mr Insider, and I quote: “In any event, should Abbott return to the leadership, the net effect would be dangerous pressure on the broad church and bring with it the possibility of schism and or crippling defeat at the next election. Maybe both.” After an all-time record of 30 negative Newspolls as PM its a wonder we are still uttering the name “Tony Abbott”, he’s like a bad smell that wont go away, totally unloved by the Australian people. Surely the Libs must look to a younger more vibrant and in touch person to replace the failing Turnbull, but as you hint who is that person? Shorten looks a shoe in as PM at the next election purely on the basis the Liberal Party is on the nose with Australians alone.
JTI,
Spoke with someone the other day who is in the know and they claim the current scuttlebutt is, Gina doing a Trump and bankrolling Corey Bernadi big time at the next election. The idea being to grab votes from nervous PHON possibles and the Libs who are not enamoured with Malcolm. There are plenty of problems with this scenario, not least of which is Corey being in the upper house, but the least of the problems is whether Gina would have the dough. Corey didn’t do what he did for nothing. Now that would expose Liberal party vulnerabilities!
Money doesn’t equal electoral success in this country, happily. I doubt Bernardi would hit more than one per cent of the national vote as it stands. Throw the money in and a few candidates and they might get a senator.
Agree to a point. What worries me though is that many of the conservative PHON’s are there only because they don’t like MT and the PC world. I reckon with disaffected Libs, Nats and nervous PHON’s and if he could field in every seat he’d get more than 1%. Wouldn’t form government but could still wield an awful lot of power in a tight Parliament / Senate.
That is quite possible. He ay do even better but no matter if its PHON or Cory or some other party, the conservative and right to centre vote is going to be cannibalised and that makes getting to and staying in government very easy for Labor.
Absolutely! Here I was only a couple of years ago giggling away at Labor being torn in two by the Greens.
Shorten wins and wins well he should be able to command enough presence to keep the loony left at bay and govern somewhere close to the centre. As usual the Senate will be his downfall though.
I really do not see how anyone can govern properly these days. Rudd had a mandate and so did Abbott but it ended in tears for both.
Rare for governments – state, federal – to make it beyond one term these days.
JTI
No money doesn’t equal success, but there is a massive move of ‘clickativism’ on FB et al by a large segment of the populace that might.
FB being the big exposer has shown that my friends of all demographics across the globe (previously thought to be an eclectic group of ppl) have defined lines and the UK/ Aust majority are the worst for regurgitating the uneducated/ ill-informed/ unverified crap of infowars/ worst opp leader ever/ token dude from Ohio deeming himself expert on NW European socio-politics after 10 minutes on wiki.
I don’t think PHON or Bernadi will win power but they may well have enough strength to be a bloc of reckoning against either sides of the house – much to the detriment of applying a bit of CDF when assessing the threats to the country and either side actually sticking to their policies rather than following the wind .
And for the record, currently living in Korea, the peninsula is NOT on a war footing – no matter what FB might tell you. The biggest threat from the Korean POV is less that it kicks off and more that the US oversteps and gets the ball rolling early. But at this stage, despite the western media rhetoric, they generally feel it’s not as bad as when NK sunk a SK patrol boat a few years back
Tony Abbott got the PM’ship by default, anybody but Rudd/Gillard/Rudd and I suspect the same thing will happen to Shorten, the electorate has tuned in and dropped out in regard to Turnbull.
What a terrible thing to say Tracy. And another thing that was terrible was Arse(nil) losing by 3 goals to Crystal Palace, stopping me from getting a 10/10.
Your full house would have been a first on the EPL comp Milt it’s a shame it didn’t happen. We’ve had a full house or two on Champions League, I suspect that Macca has the EPL in the bag at nearly two rounds ahead.
Ghastly rumour that ex ousted PM Tony Abbott may end up as Treasurer, Mr Insider. Good grief that should put the final nail in the Liberal Party coffin. Well we remember he “Came In Like a Wrecking Ball” and proceeded to wreck big time. He’s like a bad smell you have trouble getting rid of. Of course no one in the Private Sector would offer him a job am sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxq__3z9zGM