Riven by dispute about the idea of liberalism espoused by Robert Menzies, and increasingly at risk of fracture, a once great party is in turmoil.
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Liberal Party – Analysis and Comment
While the Liberals’ decision to preference One Nation on how-to-vote cards might be expedient in the short term, it could seriously cost them if they are returned to power.
A day after moving to the crossbench, Cory Bernardi is feeling the heat. The media, former Liberal colleagues and South Australian voters all have a view on his defection.
While there is no constitutional basis for the former Liberal senator to resign from the chamber, there is a compelling ethical case for him to do so.
Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives joins a crowded field battling for the relatively small right-of-centre vote.
The struggle for political equality has shaped Australian democracy. But it’s undermined by having a political donations system that benefits the rich at the expense of other Australians.
Check out our interactives showing the total donations to Australia’s major parties in 2015-16, who the biggest donors to the parties were, and how donations to parties have changed in recent years.
Disclosures add to transparency. They allow us to follow the money and scrutinise who has made large donations. But mere disclosure does not remedy the inequity in Australia’s current system.
Gladys Berejiklian becomes NSW premier with a great deal of experience, but she needs to overcome several problems – internal and external – to arrest sliding polls.
Mike Baird is the fifth New South Wales premier in ten years, and only one of them lost their job to an election. There’s little time, it seems, to learn and grow as a political leader.
Despite briefly being able to dine out on the legislation passed before parliament wound up last week, Malcolm Turnbull is headed to a not-very-happy Christmas.
Donald Trump’s election will affect Australia profoundly – including in the comfort it gives to those who oppose progressive policies in the name of fighting ‘political correctness’.
The pressure on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to bend to the conservative right factions of the Liberal and National parties has been compounded by the election of Donald Trump.
Many in the government have clamoured for changes to be made to Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Liberal backbencher Julian Leeser, however is not one of them.
Is Malcolm Turnbull at risk of finding himself in a similar situation to Julia Gillard, with a disillusioned public settling into a negative view that transcends achievements of the moment?
The Liberal Party is increasingly preselecting parliamentarians of firm, values-based ideas, leading to a more ideological and riven party.
There can be no doubt that Australia became modern between 1949 and 1966, the year Robert Menzies retired as prime minister.
A year next Wednesday since the coup that installed Malcolm Turnbull, many Liberals are disappointed and surprised he has turned out, so far, a mediocre prime minister.
In the first sitting of the new parliament, conservatives within the government have muscled a proposed amendment to the Racial Discrimination Act onto the agenda.
There are a few necessary ingredients for the effective regulation of any political donations system.
In office, to what extent has New South Wales Premier Mike Baird acted according to liberal principles?
As the changing nature of political participation presents increasing challenges for parties, we are likely to see more experimentation with new forms of participation, not less.
In the last 12 months, under the leadership of an eastern suburbs small-l liberal, the Liberal Party has decided it wants to look more like the party of Hewson than the party of Howard.
Labor and Bill Shorten are right to be pleased with the number of seats they picked up, but it was still not enough for them to form government – and that is the serious task ahead.
Even if he survives as prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull will govern in extremely difficult circumstances, and his leadership is under threat.