wikiwiki said:
I know what you meant with the big tent.
I'm just saying that fundamentally the party is a socially conservative party: if you aren't a conservative then, really, why are you a member of the party?
Also im not THAT extreme to say "my way or the highway". I agree, dissent is a necessary part but not to the point where you are philosophically opposed to a party's core values.
I think the Liberal party is more about economic policy these days. You can have conservative values but like Pauline Hanson and want to bring back protectionism.
The CORE of the Liberal party is economic liberalism. Clever policy advisors in the Liberal party, I assume, know that most of the Australian population does not have one iota of knowledge of economics or how the national economy works. Essentially little to no understanding of neo liberal economics. When no one understands your core belief how do you sell yourself? How do you diffentiante between the other party which is generally batting for the same thing (neo liberal economics (bar the left left faction of the ALP))? You cloak your party in conservative values.
Federally I don't think the Liberals need to do this. People will vote for the party that provides the best tax cuts. As long as people have money in their pockets they will vote for the party in power. As long as the economy is good, interest rates are low and people can pay consumer goods off in credit then all is good. John Howard
could shoot boat people, strangle aboriginal people, have gays killed off by ASIO and destroy unions but he would still be voted in if the economy is strong. 'It's the economy stupid'. People don't care about work conditions, Human Rights, or equity and fairness they care about money. Simple.
People don't really care what values the Federal Liberal party has because they don't need to differentiate from Federal Labor. They can do this on economic grounds (whether valid or not). No need to differentiate on social grounds.
Evidence of this can be seen in New Zealand. New Zealanders are not that different from Australians. Helen Clark. Pretty firmly social left wing PM. In favour of gay marriage, gay this and that, native land rights etc. But the NZ economy is going pretty well. She still managed to sneak in for a third term.
At the state level where the Liberals are struggling they need to differentiate themselves from the already right wing ALP state government. They have very little room to move. The state economy has been going ok. They cannot differentiate themselves well on the economic policy front. So how do they diffentiate? By making themselves the conservative party.
