Oz Politics

Prior to their fusion in 1909 to form the (Deakin) Liberal Party, there were two non-labor parties: the Free Traders (renamed the Anti-Socialists in 1906) and the Protectionists. After the Labor split over conscription, the smaller section lead by Billy Hughes, merged with the Liberals to form the Nationalist Party in 1917. After a second Labor split over policies to combat the Great Depression, a fraction of the ALP merged with the Nationalists to form the United Australia Party (1931-44). The present Liberal Party of Australia was established from the UAP in 1944 under (later Sir) Robert Menzies. None of these name changes since 1909 have corresponded with fundamental changes in policy; however, they do create some difficulty in defining the age of the Liberal Party. Henderson, for example, argues the Liberal Party is a little over 50 years old; whereas Jaensch argues the prior existence of non-Labor parties makes the Liberal Party more than 100 years old.

The general principles espoused by the Liberal Party in its platform include: free enterprise, support for the business community, individual choice, reward for individual effort, federalism, smaller government, defence, the family, and a limited welfare safety net. Perhaps the single most defining feature of the Liberal Party is its opposition to the Australian Labor Party.

However, these general principles do not constitute a developed political philosophy. Tiver says that “except for the general principles set down in platitudinous style in its platform, the Liberal Party has no elaborated or logically argued scheme of thought.” Hughes argues, “it is hard to decide what the Liberal Party stands for, what its beliefs are and what it will do in any period in office”. Henderson notes that in comparison with Labor, there are very few books written about the Liberal Party’s beliefs and ideas. Jaenesh says that “‘Liberalism’ became a catchcry, a rhetorical term, which was never required to be unpacked.” Greiner gives a more positive spin when he says, “Australian Liberalism is practical. It is empirical. It is anti-ideological”.

In an attempt to identify Liberal Party beliefs, a number of authors have used key individuals within the Party as motifs or pencil portraits for the different streams of thought within Australian Liberalism. Wells identifies the conservatives, the small-l liberals, the establishment, and the programmatic right wing anarchists. O’Brien’s taxonomy includes the welfare state liberals, the post-war idealists, the small-l liberal trendies or wets, the Fabian liberals, the corporate executives, the economic drys, the damps, the uglies, and the sheer pragmatists or bandwagon opportunists. According to O’Brien, this last group is possibly the largest within the Party.

The 1980s and 90s have seen two key tendencies within the Liberal Party increase their influence, largely at the expense of the small-l liberals or wets:

• the economic liberals (the drys) - who oppose Keynesianism and favour neo-classical economics. They stand for smaller government, market forces, labour market flexibility, a leaner public service, industry deregulation, lower taxes, and reductions in welfare expenditure.
• the moral conservatives (the uglies) - who argue for increased state regulation to protect and preserve individuals, families and moral values. The issues of concern for the social conservatives include the church, the monarchy, the flag, illicit drug use, family breakdowns, increasing divorce rates, abortion, and creating and policing victimless crimes such as homosexuality and euthanasia.

Bibliographic notes

Written in early 1999

Brian Costar (editor) (1994), For Better or For Worse: The Federal Coalition, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

Nick Greiner (1990), “Australian Liberalism in a Post-Ideological Age”, The 24th Alfred Deakin Lecture, 3 December 1990.

Gerard Henderson (1995), A Howard Government? Inside the Coalition, Harper Collins, Sydney.

Gerard Henderson (1998), Menzies’ Child: The Liberal Party of Australia, revised edition, Harper Collins, Sydney.

John Howard (1995), The Australia I believe In: The values, directions and policy priorities of a coalition government outlined in 1995, Liberal Party of Australia, Canberra.

Owen Hughes (1998), Australian Politics, third edition, Macmillan, Melbourne.

Dean Jaensch (1994), The Liberals, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

Richard Lucy (1993), The Australian Form of Government: Models in Dispute, Macmillan, Melbourne.

Patrick O’Brien (1985), The Liberals : Factions, Feuds and Fancies, Penguin, Melbourne.

Scott Prasser and Graeme Starr (editors) (1997), Policy and Change: The Howard Mandate, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney.

Christopher Puplick (1994), Is the Party Over? The Future of the Liberals, The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne.

Peter Tiver (1978), The Liberal Party: Principles and Performance, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane.

Deane Wells (1977), Power without Theory: A critical analysis of Liberal Party philosophies, Outback Press, Melbourne.