Bill Kelty in The Age on Sunday telling the post-election Liberal Party a few home truths, of a type which Brendan Nelson and others are yet to take onboard.
"The clear message for the Liberal Party is to get over it. The party will never win elections while it does not have a fair share of nurses, teachers, police and tradespeople voting for it.
The imperative is to reconnect with the two great impulses of its existence — the belief in individual freedom and the willingness to fight for small-l liberal values by opposing apartheid, endorsing multiculturalism, standing up to bureaucratic bullying, welcoming refugees and fighting for liberty.
There have been many champions of these values in the Liberal Party — people such as Malcolm Fraser, Andrew Peacock and, more recently, Petro Georgiou, Judi Moylan, Russell Broadbent and Bruce Baird. As the party distanced itself from them, it has misplaced its own heart and reason for being.
Moreover, as time and political convenience separated it from the great nation and state builders such as Bolte, Court, Playford and Kennett, it lost its claim to being a practical party."
Full Kelty article:
No comments:
Post a Comment