Liberal Party Finally Finds A Female Leader
It only took them 81 years, but in Australia, the federal Liberal Party finally found a female leader. Of course, they only make these calls on merit and getting pantsed at the last federal election had nothing to do with it. I find in Australia, the Anglo-settler psyche only turns to women as a last resort and there are numerous examples of this over the recent journey. This is all about power and traditional blokes believe that they are best served by one of them holding the reins, so to speak. Peter Dutton made a meal of it but just about every recent Liberal leader has been turfed out of office by their own electorate in recent years.
Sussan Ley & That Glass Ceiling In The Libs
People who go around thinking that gender equality is already here are sorely mistaken. Look at the Catholic Church, how long have they been operating and treating women as second class citizens? Millennia! The new Pope Leo XIV may well be a moderate but he aint a woman. Sussan Ley is the new leader of the Australian Liberal Party. The Libs have been decimated at the last election and have less than half the amount of seats as Labor. Australians rejected the Trumpian hard Right divisive style of politics and policies promoted by Peter Dutton.
Temu Trump did not fly when push came to shove downunder.
Liberal Party Full Of Right Wing Cavemen
The average Liberal voter is a bloke in his 70’s and the average Australian is a 37 YO woman. Good luck squaring that equation Sussan Ley.
The neoconservatives inhabiting the Liberal Party want to turn the clock back to a time when white men were the only real consideration in the power stakes. They think that diversity is a dirty word. They love the anti-woke, anti-DEI messaging of Donald Trump. They attack those that dare to ask for equality if they are not the same as them. Trans folk are continually under fire for their very existence. Immigrants and refugees are blamed for every problem. Indigenous Australians should give up their heritage and assimilate according to the Dutton led No campaign during the Voice referendum. Aussies piled on the negative disinformation spread under the auspices of the slogan –‘if you don’t know vote No.’ What kind of dumb praising BS was that!
“The Liberal Party of Australia have won no metropolitan seats in Adelaide and almost none in Sydney and Melbourne. Where does the greater part of the Oz population reside? In the cities, of course. Modern Australia no longer represented by Libs. This once popular political party is no longer representative of the modern Australia and Australians. Peter Dutton led the Libs further Right and has taken them into the smaller territory of that extremist category within the political sphere. It features a male dominated, Anglo-settler white is right, ethos which regularly attacks multiculturalism, refugees, LGBTQI folk, renewables and climate change, and ‘woke’ – which is really an attack on smart women and diversity. Inspired by Trump in the US, the Libs want to turn the clock back to an Australia where patriarchy and white men rule the roost and others know their place at the back of the queue.”
- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/modern-australia-no-longer-represented-by-libs/)
Libs Are The Self-Interest Party
Self -interest is the most apparent message to emerge out of the Libs over recent decades. They are the political party of the selfish voter almost entirely focussed on their own hip pocket concerns. ‘What’s in it for me!’ Howard and his ilk normalised greed over community values. The tax changes he initiated slashing the capital gains tax by 50% and all the superannuation tax law modifications widened the gulf between haves and ‘have nots’ in Australia. Property and capital are immunised from tax, which means workers paying income tax have to carry the burden for the nation, whilst the wealthy divert their wealth into super boltholes and property with negative gearing to boot. Privatisation has seen public assets transferred into private hands. The public good has been robbed of wealth and popular appreciation by the Liberal Party over decades. Dutton coming out with attacks on the civil service was the last straw for voters sick of the corruption and jobs for the boys which have thrived under neoliberalism.
“The closeness of Sussan Ley’s win over Angus Taylor — 29 votes to 25 — suggests the games are far from over.
Three of Ley’s votes are outgoing senators who leave the party room on July 1 when the new Senate begins.
That makes her a notional one-vote winner of the leadership ballot.”
Real Change Is Demanded
I cannot see the Liberal Party reforming much beyond window dressing under Sussan Ley. Their basic values are morally bankrupt, in my opinion. Australia desperately needs to rebalance the wealth and power dynamics which have seen millions locked out of home ownership and paying unaffordable rents on housing. This will not occur via tinkering around the edges, it will take bold changes to taxation laws. We will have to see who has the heart for such legislation, as generational change continues in Australia amid the electorate. Younger Aussies are sick of bearing the financial brunt of inequity downunder.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
©WordsForWeb
