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Articles on Political history

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Past and present: Bob Brown (centre) pictured in 2010 with Greens colleagues including current leader Richard Di Natale (right). AAP Image/Alan Porritt

The Australian Greens at 25: fighting the same battles but still no breakthrough

The environmental issues we face are ideal recruiting for green parties, but the breakthroughs aren’t happening, and after 25 years as a federal party the Greens are still fighting on the same fronts.
In jettisoning Alfred Deakin, the Liberals made a great mistake and showed the thinness of their historical memory. National Library of Australia

What Malcolm Turnbull might have learned from Alfred Deakin

Like Malcolm Turnbull, the three-time prime minister Alfred Deakin was sometimes accused of lacking substance, but he had core political commitments from which he never wavered.
Malcolm Turnbull’s speech reminded his Liberal colleagues that he has not stolen the party and his leadership is legitimately Liberal. Reuters/Hannah Mckay

Turnbull is right to link the Liberals with the centre – but is the centre where it used to be?

Malcolm Turnbull’s claim that Robert Menzies’ party was meant to be one of the ‘sensible centre’ has some validity – but it may also be that that centre has shifted significantly, too.
The reference to Tony Abbott in his London speech gave Malcolm Turnbull some body armour. Lukas Coch/AAP

Turnbull finds the “sensible centre” a slippery patch

If he was emphasising he’s a centrist, that is hardly a surprise, although when he translates it into policy it annoys the hell out of those on the right.
At a demonstration, Faith Bandler (right) and her daughter Lilon (2R) appeal to national unity as grounds for constitutional amendment. Aboriginal Studies Press

‘Right wrongs, write Yes’: what was the 1967 referendum all about?

The 1967 referendum was the culmination of a long struggle for both Aboriginal rights and respect, for social esteem as well as equality before the law.

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