May 15: The State Of The Nation
In July 2015 I wrote this piece about the demise of the Liberal Party, and how it became unrecognisable from the party that I had always supported. Just two months after that article, Abbott was removed and Malcolm Turnbull became Prime Minister. Hooray! Hope set in that the Liberal Party would now resume being normal again.
I promised myself before the last election that I could no longer support the Liberal Party until Abbott is gone and it resumes being a liberal party. Now Turnbull has called an election for 2nd July 2016 and I will need to decide whether the Liberal Party has changed enough for me to vote for them, which I could not do in 2013.
Whilst the far right loonies still hold some influence, many things have improved and the Ministry appears to be a better mix of progressive liberals and conservatives than before.
The ideological war against modern technology, scientific endeavour and social progress seems to have abated but I still see a government strugglng with its addiction to coal power.
However, the leadership paralysis has gone and I see a Prime Minister being 'Prime Ministerish' again. The paranoid attacks on vulnerable social groups, public broadcasters, Climate Change & Renewable Energy authorities, the Human Rights Commissioner etc have abated and hope has returned that future policies will be sensibly shaped in alignment with Liberal Party principles.
I now see a Government trying to lead the debate with its opponents - and with it the overall language and tone of government has changed. For example, Abbott's "The death cult is coming to get you!" ISIS tactics have gone.
Labor and the Greens both have one or two sensible policies, such as climate change and marriage equality but other policies are far left prescriptions for bankruptcy. The rest are just nutty independents.
Will my disenfranchisement continue or will I become a Liberal voter again? I have six weeks to decide.
