After the Liberal Party’s crushing defeat in the weekend’s federal election, it wasn’t going to be long before the recriminations started. However, it is probably useful to go back to the election result to see how extraordinary it was. It is the first time since World War 2 that a first term Australian federal government has had a swing towards it rather than away from it. The swing against such first term governments at their next election has varied from 0.3% to 4.6%, and averages about 1%. In the weekend’s election, the swing toward the Albanese government looks likely to be about 4.5%1. That is staggering and puts paid to the views of so many commentators who suggested that a minority government was most likely.
Like many people, I suspect the reason for the electoral hammering of the Liberal Party was twofold; firstly its inept flip-flopping campaign; and secondly, its adoption of Trumpesque policies, and even Trumpesque terminology, in light of the chaos visited on the US by the eponymous idiot himself2.
The Liberal recriminations have started. The first Liberal whose advice to the party I saw was Simon Birmingham, who is laughingly called a ‘moderate’ in the Liberal spectrum. He suggested that “the Liberal Party is not seen as remotely liberal”3. While that is stating the bleeding obvious, the Liberal Party has not been ‘remotely liberal’ since Howard took over the leadership over 40 years ago. Birmingham continued, saying “the branch of conservatism projected is clearly perceived as too harsh and out of touch”3. Again, the Liberal Party have not been seen as conservative; but rather reactionary and bigoted since Howard took over the leadership.
Birmingham then went on to list the “freedoms that liberalism stands for” which he believes are sought by all Australians. The freedoms he lists are “belief, worship, family, enterprise and ownership”3. This is a strange list, given that the first two are concerned with religion, while the third is often used as code in the political arena also for religion, more specifically Christianity. Examples of this are: the Family First Party4; Australian Family Association5; Australian Family Coalition6; and Family Voice Australia7, all of which were or are christian organisations.
‘Enterprise’ in Liberal Party parlance means business, especially businesses who donate to the Liberal Party. Similarly, Birmingham mentions ‘ownership’ which in Liberal Party parlance means ownership by the wealthy and not public ownership3. Nowhere does he mention such freedoms as those of speech, association, movement etc.
In the same article where Birmingham’s advice is mentioned, the South Australian senator Alex Antic has stated that the party should move further to the right. When asked on Sky News (where else?) what the future direction of the Liberal Party should be, Antic said the Liberal branch in SA – in which he exerts enormous influence – was a template for a nationwide revival. He said the party must “make the Liberal party great again”3, echoing Trump’s lie. Definitely Alex! More Trumpesque idiocy is exactly what is needed.
While Birmingham is considered a moderate by Liberal standards, Antic is a rabid religious nutter who has attempted to get the religious to join the South Australian Branch of the Liberal Party in droves, to the extent that people from at least one church have complained to the Liberal State President that Antic was using his church to take over the Party. Antic and some of his other rabidly religious colleagues want to “forget” the concept of the separation of church and state8.
Antic is the sort of politician who doesn’t really want a democracy; he wants a theocracy. Unless there are enough people in the Liberal Party to resist this idiocy, it will be people like Antic who will oversee the extinction of the Liberal Party.
Sources
- https://www.facebook.com/realcarrickryan/posts/so-what-just-happenedits-difficult-to-explain-just-how-big-this-was-for-the-firs/1237550957785182/
- https://blotreport.com/2025/04/30/trumpesque-liberal-party/
- https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/may/04/federal-election-2025-live-results-australian-labor-won-coalition-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-updates
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_First_Party_(2021)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Family_Association
- https://www.austfamily.com.au/
- https://familyvoice.org.au/
- https://blotreport.com/2021/06/06/the-demise-of-the-liberal-party-is-under-way-in-south-australia/
In what may well determine the federal “Liberal” Party’s immediate trajectory, the z team of “the MAGA cap pictures were a joke”/”I didn’t say Make Australia Great Again” Price (who on earth in the PLP thought it a good idea to accept her defection?), Antic, the billious Bolt and unelected billionaire Rinehart have all been echoing Trump’s extremist views and acts – no doubt completely misled by the defeat of the Voice referendum, which was doomed from the day the (finally relected) Voldemort withdrew bipartisan support. They either have no knowledge of the Trump administration’s activities or they actually embrace them. Either way they are both culpably ignorant and politically stupid. If the Liberal Party learnt nothing else from their humiliation in Victoria – an election a drover’s dog could have won given the parlous state of the economy and debt accumuated under Andrews – it should have been that adopting extremist/unthinking “populist” tactics suggested by SKY/Murdoch parrots won’t wash with thinking Australian voters – especially, it appears, young voters whose political awareness I greatly underestimated.
They don’t see it but one look at the talentless country party (they obviously ain’t “nationals” in any sense of the word) might give federal cons a clue that jettisoning that rabble should be a key part of their overhaul. Joyce, McCormack, Littleproud, Canavan, the laughable McKenzie and sundry climate deniers add zero to the “Liberal” brand’s appeal.
Jon,
It would be interesting to see what happens to the Liberals given their horrendous performance in the election. While I suspect that they will not change much (they have nowhere to go), if thgeir pay attention to the Trumpettes, they will be led them down the path to destruction.
Littleproud and co have made it easy for Sussan Ley and done what the Liberals should have done years ago. Must be a huge relief for any remaining progressive Liberals.
Jon,
Now, with the realisation (they are a bit slow on the uptake) that neither the Liberals nor the Nationals can go it alone, they seem to be cosying up to each other again. As for the Liberal moderates; they will continue to decrease in number.