More aligned with the right to hard right than anything that could remotely be considered liberal
They’re pretty much textbook “classical liberals”, small government, pro free market, etc.
Edit: e.g. to quote Wikipedia
Classical liberals asserted that rights are of a negative nature and therefore stipulate that other individuals and governments are to refrain from interfering with the free market, opposing social liberals who assert that individuals have positive rights, such as the right to vote, the right to an education, the right to healthcare, and the right to a minimum wage.
Except that the Liberal party hasn’t stood for any of that for a long time, and they have never stood exclusively for that.
They’re for big government when it comes to impinging on individual freedoms like free speech (look at how the try to restrict speech on university campuses), marriage equality, and the right of individuals to make medical decisions between themselves and their doctors (see: abortion, gender affirming care), they’re hawkish (i.e., in favour of big government) in foreign affairs, and they favour a big police state rather than the approach that is both rooted in evidence and could involve less government involvement of preferring early intervention and social work.
They don’t take a small government approach on the economy, even. They subsidise more conservative-oriented industries like farming and fossil fuels, and they’re all about subsidising roads for cars. Meanwhile, regulate and restrict permits for small tech (while bowing to the wishes of conservative media and big tech!) and green energy.
No, the Liberal Party of Australia is a solidly right-wing conservative party with regressive social ideals and a preference for crony capitalism.
They’re pretty much textbook “classical liberals”, small government, pro free market, etc.
Edit: e.g. to quote Wikipedia
Except that the Liberal party hasn’t stood for any of that for a long time, and they have never stood exclusively for that.
They’re for big government when it comes to impinging on individual freedoms like free speech (look at how the try to restrict speech on university campuses), marriage equality, and the right of individuals to make medical decisions between themselves and their doctors (see: abortion, gender affirming care), they’re hawkish (i.e., in favour of big government) in foreign affairs, and they favour a big police state rather than the approach that is both rooted in evidence and could involve less government involvement of preferring early intervention and social work.
They don’t take a small government approach on the economy, even. They subsidise more conservative-oriented industries like farming and fossil fuels, and they’re all about subsidising roads for cars. Meanwhile, regulate and restrict permits for small tech (while bowing to the wishes of conservative media and big tech!) and green energy.
No, the Liberal Party of Australia is a solidly right-wing conservative party with regressive social ideals and a preference for crony capitalism.
I mean, yeah, I didn’t mean that as a defence of them or anything.
I’m of the opinion that classical liberalism is a conservative ideology.
Thank you. I now understand what I did not.
I can now validate the murder of all liberals as they are literally the entire history of murder and without murdering them, they will murder us all.
By all means, please prove me wrong.