Australia has a new Prime Minister. Yesterday John Howard's Liberal (conservative) party was voted out after being in power for eleven years. We now have a Labor Government lead by our new PM Kevin Rudd. We also have the first female Deputy Prime Minister in Julia Gillard. The Greens have emerged as the new third force in Australian politics taking 8% of the primary vote. Many of the seats that Labor took of the Libs were off the back of Green preferences.

It was an historical night in more ways than one as out going Prime John Howard became only the second Australian PM in history to loose his seat.

Now that Rudd is our PM, Australia will be ratifying Kyoto and pulling our combat troops out of Iraq.  

MMM... Julian McMahon...

No, seriously, congrats for the new leadership. It sounds like PM Rudd will be a good thing for Australia.

Let's hope Bush follows his lead. But we know he won't.

Quoted from Takeshi Now that Rudd is our PM, Australia will be ratifying Kyoto

I read in the Swedish papers just this week that Australia had increased its greenhouse gases more than any other country in the last few years with over 25%.

Yes, thank god Johnny's finally gone! The 11 years of terror under that conservative liberal wanker are finally over! Praise Jebus! Kevin Rudd will be a good thing for this country.


Matt.

How can one be a conservative liberal?

Quoted from tomson I read in the Swedish papers just this week that Australia had increased its greenhouse gases more than any other country in the last few years with over 25%.

That's probably because Howard was a climate change sceptic; Rudd isn't, so hopefully we'll start reducing those emissions now.  

Quoted from ABennettWriter How can one be a conservative liberal?

From Wikipedia:

Conservative liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or, more simply, representing the right-wing of the liberal movement.


Matt.

Quoted from ABennettWriter How can one be a conservative liberal?

It's just a label, AB. I know in America the term liberal usually means left-wing, but here in Australia the Liberal Party are right-wing. But I'd argue that the Labor Party are right-wing too, they're just slightly less to the right than the liberals. The Greens are the real lefties.  

I'm liberal when it comes to attitude, but conservative when it comes to money.

I've always thought that Australia was a good country. The few Australians I've met have all been really, really nice. Not to mention very, very good looking.

Yeah for a misshaped blob of land, we ain't half bad.

And our attractiveness goes without saying, I think.


Matt.

Quoted from ABennettWriter How can one be a conservative liberal?

This seems to be confusing for North Americans especially, because "liberal" is used as short-hand for "leftist" in political rhetoric. It's not.

Liberalism is the belief in free markets (the invisible hand), which is an inherent right wing economic trait. And since most western countries don't have such a schism in social politics (abortion, gay marriage, religious issues) as the US the term rarely refers  to social liberalism (as opposed to economic liberalism).

that's why the Australian Liberal Party in some contexts are as, if not more, conservative than many US Republicans (correct me if I'm wrong, Aussies) and why we in Denmark have a Liberal and a Conservative party who agree on practically ALL issues. And they form a coalition government.

Quoted from Death Monkey that's why the Australian Liberal Party in some contexts are as, if not more, conservative than many US Republicans (correct me if I'm wrong, Aussies)

They're more conservative than Arnold Schwarzenegger, but very few, if any, would be as conservative as the neocons.

Quoted from Takeshi They're more conservative than Arnold Schwarzenegger, but very few, if any, would be as conservative as the neocons.

Right.

What are the major differences between The Nationals and the Liberal Party?

The Nationals are the country party; people from rural areas tend to vote for them and they always form a coalition with the libs.

I should add, however, that the libs are very conservative when it comes to maximizing profits for big business, but they don't get too carried away with morality. For example, abortion isn't really an issue over here, pro-choice completely dominates and religion isn't an issue in our elections either. Sure the leaders of the major parties both claim to be Christians, but I don't think the general public really care; Australia isn't a very religious country. Thank God.  

Quoted from Takeshi The Nationals are the country party; people from rural areas tend to vote for them and they always form a coalition with the libs. I should add, however, that the libs are very conservative when it comes to maximizing profits for big business, but they don't get too carried away with morality. For example, abortion isn't really an issue over here, pro-choice completely dominates and religion isn't an issue in our elections either. Sure the leaders of the major parties both claim to be Christians, but I don't think the general public really care; Australia isn't a very religious country. Thank God.

Yup, that was my point about how Liberals means leftists in the US, because they do debate social issues like morality and religion. In most western countries, as you say, abortion and the like, is a non-issue.

A testament to this in Denmark, is how the Christian Democrats gave up being pro-life for the 2007 election. They realized they would never get any seats in parliament with an pro-life agenda.

Here are the Australian parties plotted into the political compass:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/aus2007

I'd agree with that, DM. As I said earlier, I reckon Labor is right-wing. However, the chart didn't mention the Socialist Alliance, who would also be in that bottom left corner with the Greens. I guess they don't poll enough votes to rate a mention

Oh, my...

Yep. That's our new PM picking his ear and then eating what he finds.

He's still more dignified than the old PM.


Matt.

I couldn't help myself... I found that on one of my favorite blogs in the entire world and had to share it.

http://www.omgblog.com