Factionalism is alive and well in the Liberal Party. <\/p>\n
But the factions themselves are fractured almost beyond identification. <\/p>\n
The Liberal Party's factions have historically been identified as \"wets\" and \"dries\", or \"moderates\" and \"conservatives\". <\/p>\n
Some MPs and grassroots members embrace the label \"conservative\" with all the passion of their UK equivalents. <\/p>\n
The moderates are less likely to use their label, but more often call themselves \"pragmatic\" or \"progressive\". <\/p>\n
Malcolm Turnbull sought to use a speech in London this week to map out where he sits and how he sees the Liberal Party. <\/p>\n
However, the leaked paragraphs of the speech offered a blunt point out of context (for the newspapers which received the handout) and became quickly caught up in the quagmire that is the Turnbull-Abbott leadership cold war. <\/p>\n
Turnbull was trying to say the party can have its differences of opinion on things like social policy and how far to go on economic and budget reform. <\/p>\n
But the party comes together, as founder Sir Robert Menzies said, under the name \"Liberal ... because we were determined to be a progressive party, willing to make experiments, in no sense reactionary but believing in the individual, his right and his enterprise, and rejecting the socialist panacea.\" <\/p>\n
He noted Abbott had spoken about the \"sensible centre\". <\/p>\n
But the former prime minister failed to demonstrate it in practice. <\/p>\n
Voters reacted sharply to Abbott's \"knights and dames\" decision and the harsh measures in the 2014 budget. <\/p>\n
And while his decision to roll out a plebiscite on same-sex marriage is now popular after being embraced by Turnbull, it was initially seen as a way of kicking the issue down the road and giving political cover for social conservatives to argue against the law change. <\/p>\n
Coalition MPs are now more likely to factionalise around regional and state interests, or issues such as climate change, than ideology. <\/p>\n
Queensland members routinely meet when parliament is sitting to talk about taking a united view on certain issues and even projects that require funding. <\/p>\n
South Australian members have the ear of the prime minister via Christopher Pyne, who as defence industry minister has a multi-billion-dollar bucket of money to throw around and has been staunch in arguing to protect steel jobs. <\/p>\n
Turnbull has used SA's energy crisis as a political weapon in his bid to cobble together a climate policy by another name - aimed at pushing down power prices, making energy more reliable while cutting emissions. <\/p>\n
There are also groupings around personalities, with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and Treasurer Scott Morrison enjoying a certain level of popular support but not enough to swing the leadership at this point. <\/p>\n
While some Liberals delight in working the numbers within the party and seeking to seize the advantage, others are happy to get on with the daily drudge of electorate work - seeking pragmatic answers to voters' concerns. <\/p>\n
Some party veterans like Tasmania's Eric Abetz are adamant it needs the two \"rails\". <\/p>\n
\"The Liberal Party is and has always been a train running on small-l liberal and conservative tracks - unless both are tended to the whole train will derail,\" he says. <\/p>\n
Without giving space for economic dries and social conservatives, voters will go elsewhere - and they are. <\/p>\n
Pauline Hanson's One Nation and Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives are capitalising on the rise of the small-l liberals championed by Turnbull. <\/p>\n
Labor is the beneficiary of this, not only because voters see a divided Liberal Party but One Nation preferences have tended to naturally split evenly between Labor and the Liberals. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Turnbull, who has trailed in the polls since September last year, he's about to see another public outbreak of factionalism. <\/p>\n
The NSW division's party futures convention towards the end of July will debate changing the rules governing the way candidates and party officials are elected. <\/p>\n
Abbott and junior minister Angus Taylor lead a group seeking greater democracy, to whittle away at the power of the party organisation's moderate elite. <\/p>\n
Turnbull wants change, but not in the way Abbott is proposing and the final outcome will be a compromise of which direction to take to greater democratisation. <\/p>\n
The prime minister will be hoping the party can unify around the final result, but that hope may be undermined by a fraction too much faction. <\/p>\n
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See the original post here:<\/p>\n
Turnbull prays for broad Liberal church - NEWS.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Factionalism is alive and well in the Liberal Party. But the factions themselves are fractured almost beyond identification Continue reading