by SEAN BURKE – FORMER Prime Minister Tony Abbott has vowed to return the once-conservative Liberal Party to the people.
Mr Abbott was elected unopposed as Federal Liberal President on the weekend and will take charge of the Party organisation.
- “We are for this country, we are for its people and the Liberals intend to prove it.”
- After his removal as leader, Malcolom Turnbull simply walked away leaving a smoking ruin for others to repair.
- Eight years on, the Liberals may have just elected a President who can reverse the Party’s ideological confusion.
In a speech after his election at Saturday’s State Conference in Melbourne he said the Party would return to the people.
“We are for this country, we are for its people and the Liberals intend to prove it,” he told conference delegates.
STAGNATING
“Our economy is stagnating, our society is fragmenting, our security is imperilled and underneath it all is a kind of spiritual malaise – we don’t believe in ourselves any more!
“Our challenge is to persuade a sceptical public that we remain the most credible alternative Party of government in the country.”
Mr Abbott said he regarded it as his duty to serve the Party in this “time of existential crisis”.
“I do believe I have the ability to help Angus Taylor to be the next successful federal leader of the Opposition,” he said.
Mr Abbott is the first former Party leader or prime minister to hold the presidency since 1945.
He is also the only Liberal leader since John Howard in 1996 to take the Party from Opposition to Government, when he won the 2013 federal election against Labor’s Kevin Rudd.
Less than two years later, however, Malcolm Turnbull’s Left faction ran a “black hand” campaign to remove Mr Abbott from office and to significantly lurch the Liberal Party to the Left.
Mr Turnbull entered the Liberal Party by knifing his colleague and sitting Wentworth MP Peter King with a branch stack of truly mind-blowing proportions.
He then snatched the Party leadership for the first time with a campaign of verbal intimidation (some insiders say screaming abuse) and unforgivable disloyalty against then Liberal leader Brendan Nelson.
He then backed-up and stole the prime ministership in 2015 by relentlessly leaking and undermining Mr Abbott.
A bloodbath 2016 election followed with Turnbull losing Abbott’s thumping majority and clinging to government by a single seat.
By 2018, when he was sacked by his own colleagues, he had taken the Liberal Party from Abbott’s huge Parliamentary majority won in 2013 to a rabble minority.
By lurching the Liberal Party hard to the Left he helped revive One Nation and other Right-wing political Parties. Lifelong members fled the Liberals and its support base tanked.
After his removal as leader, Mr Turnbull simply walked away leaving a smoking ruin for others to repair.
Eight years on, the Liberals may have just elected a President who can reverse the Party’s ideological confusion.PC
FORMER Prime Minister Tony Abbott has vowed to return the once-conservative Liberal Party to the people.
LOL – if only Titanic had changed course after she struck the iceberg, she could have been saved…
I am your typical Liberal voter who has never, in 50 voting years voted Liberal. Or Labor. Looking over that half-century, most Liberal campaigns can be summed up as :”Vote for us, we’re not as bad as the others”. That might have worked for Malcolm Fraser, but it has worn very thin nowadays. People have worked out that if you don’t know what you stand for and you don’t craft a positive principled narrative of truly liberal policies, the mob will tire of your negative slogans and peep under the bonnet for something that is more structurally formulated. Hence the drift, rightly or wrongly, to One Nation and Reform that at least gives some three-dimensionality to their message. Please could someone in the Liberal, or Labor, Party read a few books about what creates economic and societal prosperity…..or visit Singapore and Switzerland to see two working models of the above………
Who did you vote for David?
The Singapore model you mention is on You Tube under ‘Singapore Reserves’.
Our society is at a pivotal moment in history: on one side are the venal alp and their onboard cancer the greens: they hate Australia and Australian values. Albanese is still a student activist driven by his ego and disdain for others. But the real problem are the nominal conservatives who are either gutless like Abbott or not real conservatives like Wilson.
In addition real and brave conservatives like Pauline are suffering what JohnW describes: a lack of organisational commitment and an inability to maintain party discipline. With that structural problem it does not matter that Pauline’s values and policies are bedrock values because with internal division these policies are overshadowed by that division. The rugged individualists Pauline attracts are like leftoids: they place their ego above the common good and the necessary internal harmony any political party needs to survive and implement their policies.
Agree with much you say. Despite numerous suggestions the NSW Conservatives residing in and around the Liberal Party prefer fulminating to organised action. We are continually outflanked and the liberal brand undermined, not only by moderates. We seem incapable of identifying serious Liberal policies referable to (Liberal ) principles set out unequivocally in the state (LPA) constitutions.
I truly hope Tony Abbott is able to mentor the Federal Liberals.
Even when Tony Abbott was firing away at his very best, moderate Tim Wilson was attacking his inspiring leadership display to ensure that the liberal party stays in downtrend. Nothing’s changed since the moderates brought down Abbott, tried to bring down Jim Molan, and shafted so many conservatives who might otherwise have afforded Australia a future.
Pauline Hanson is our current best chance to flush both Albo and the liberal party moderates as she gains traction. One Nation are currently likely to take most of the moderate NSW liberal seats at the next state election and to replace the libs as the opposition party, leaving the former both bereft of funds and a functional party structure.
The moderates may then transition to what’s left of the Teals, availing the libs of a chance to re-build their party if they wanted to, but more likely most would have moved across to One Nation, who’d shoot most moderates on sight. One Nation currently offers us our best future as they continue to clean up their act and pre-select class players.
The very first ever in 29 years One Nation House of Representatives MP was sworn in, the first Barnaby Joyce had been elected as a National Party MP for many years and had been twice Leader of the Nationals and Deputy Prime Minister. He apparently decided to leave after being elected as a National MP again at the 2025 election, and why, because he was not selected to be leader for a third time.
Look at the musical chairs at One Nation and how many elected members have left. The new Member for Farrer was elected at a by election, so still not one elected at a national election last being 2025.
Farrer was what a former Labor member once described a potential Federal election win for Labor one a drovers dog could lead and win. The Liberal MP elected for Farrer 2025 resigned a year later, she dumped the policies the Coalition took to the 2025 election causing disagreement with the National Party and Leader resulting in a split in the Coalition until both parties replaced the leaders. And an example for why the dirty washing should not be hung out in public, as PM Hawke once commented, disunity is death.
One of the main campaign subjects in Farrer was water supply, and another example of many voters apparently not understanding Federation of States areas of responsibility and powers, Constitution and Commonwealth of Australia Federal Government formed by the new States (former colonial governments all at the time) determined to retain as much power and influence as possible
Water management in Australia is primarily the responsibility of individual states. Each state has its own legislation and authorities to oversee the management of water resources.
State Responsibilities
Legislation: Each state enacts its own laws regarding water management.
Authorities: States have specific agencies responsible for managing water resources, including rivers, lakes, and groundwater.
Local Management: Local water corporations and catchment management authorities implement policies and manage water supply and quality.
Federal Involvement
While states hold primary responsibility, the federal government also plays a role, particularly in
Murray-Darling Basin: The federal government oversees water management in this critical region, which spans multiple states
National Policies: Federal legislation, such as the Commonwealth Water Act 2007, establishes frameworks for water management that affect state policies.
Tony unless you can clear the swamp of ALL Turnbull’s treasonous moderates, you won’t get us millions of genuine conservatives back.
If Albanese Labor do not call an early election the next election will be in 2028, two years is a long time in politics as often stated, and the only real opinion polling is votes in ballot boxes at elections.
Already there is tension between Pauline Hanson and the new House of Representatives MP David Farley and about him displaying two flags in his electorate office contrary to One Nation policy of Commonwealth of Australia Flag only.
Patterns of Departure
Internal Disputes: Most departures stem from conflicts between members and party leadership, particularly with Pauline Hanson.
Short Tenures: Many members do not complete their terms, often resigning or being expelled shortly after election.
This pattern of instability has hindered One Nation’s ability to maintain a consistent presence in Australian politics.
One Nation has lost more than two-thirds of its elected members before the end of their terms due to internal disputes and departures.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott led the Coalition campaigning for the 2010 Federal election and they defeated Gillard Labor gaining all the electorate seats Rudd Labor had gained at the 2007 election defeating the Howard Government. Prime Minister Gillard was forced into alliances with the Greens and some Independents to form a minority Labor Government.
Tony Abbott was leader from 2009 to 2015 so six years until Malcolm Turnbull and the left faction removed him from the position of Prime Minister and Liberal Party Leader. Turnbull and the left first appeared after the 2007 election and were not happy when Dr Brendan Nelson was voted for to be the Opposition Leader, and in 2008 Turnbull and the left removed him and installed Turnbull.
His experience as Opposition Leader and as Prime Minister positions Tony Abbott to help Angus Taylor and the Shadow Ministers to prepare for a 2028 election win. He has experienced the relentless negativity Labor dishes out via media and, unfortunately, from the left faction of Liberals who lost their power base late 2018 when Prime Minister Morrison replaced Turnbull, three years after he replaced Abbott.
On the day that Tony Abbott lost the leadership he spoke to journalists in Parliament House and his comments included his advice not to listen to anonymous leakers (especially from Cabinet) and if they did to not publish or broadcast unless the source was prepared to be named.
Apparently the Vice President is now former Howard Government Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer.