The Simpletons of Spring Street

As expected, commentators have put forward a variety of theories explaining why Daniel Andrews is still Victoria’s premier and why the Liberal Party failed so miserably in its campaign to win government.

Theories include: compared to Daniel Andrews, Matthew Guy appeared weak and lacking conviction; the ALP has a more professional and well-oiled campaign machine; the Liberal Party adopting contradictory and ill-defined policies, and Andrews being a consummate political operator better able to manipulate public opinion and the media.

Commentators have also offered solutions to ensure the Liberal Party performs better at the next election.  Their proffered solutions include changing the leadership team, getting rid of underperforming members of parliament, preselecting stronger candidates earlier in the election cycle and adopting polices more suited to left-of-centre progressive voters.

Unfortunately, much of the commentary is superficial and anecdotal, with commentators failing to provide any substantial evidence to support their claims.  Even worse, all the commentary thus far works on the assumption that political parties must win at all costs. Ignored is the underlying democratic principle that whoever is in government must be there to promote the common good, to help ensure human flourishing and to safeguard liberties and freedoms. 

History proves power for power’s sake leads to totalitarian governments of both the left and the right where citizens’ rights are denied and society soon descends into corruption and violence.  As Lord Acton put it, power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The record of the governments under Andrews’ control since 2014 speaks for itself.  Examples include the Red Shirts affair, branch stacking, politicising the public service, refusing to be open and transparent in response to independent inquiries and cabinet being reduced to a one man’s rubber stamp. More recent examples involve the ALP government’s response to the COVID-19 infection where government over-reach led to essential freedoms and liberties being denied, parliament shut down and MPs denied entry plus resorting to state-sanctioned violence.

As a result of such draconian measures and incompetence approximately 800 died in aged-care facilities, students are a year or more behind in their schooling, small businesses have been bankrupted, rates of anxiety and depression have escalated and there are now year-long waiting lists in elective surgery.

Victoria’s debt, at a time of rising interest rates, exceeds that of Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania, massive infrastructure projects are way behind schedule and over budget, 33 deaths have occurred due to 000 emergency phone delays and ambulances are “ramped” night after night due to the shortage of available hospital beds.

Of greatest concern, as argued by an ex-Justice of the UK Supreme Court Jonathan Sumption in his Menzies Institute speech, is once long-held liberties and freedoms and parliamentary conventions are ignored “governments rarely relinquish powers that they have once acquired”. What’s to be done?  As argued by ex-Prime Minister John Howard, “A political party that does not give pride of place to ideals and values is a political party that will very quickly lose not only its soul but also its sense of direction”.

If the Victorian Liberal Party is ever to prove itself a viable alternative to the Andrew’s government it must  define the values and beliefs that differentiate it from the ALP and Greens by presenting policies underpinned and consistent with its core political philosophy.

While written in 1942, Robert Menzies’ ‘Forgotten People’ speech, with its focus on family, self-reliance and small government, is a good place to start when considering what the Liberal Party should stand for and what it is committed to achieving if it wins government four years hence.

More specifically, Liberals must champion our Westminster-inspired parliamentary system underpinned by concepts such as popular sovereignty, the separation of powers, ministerial responsibility and government being transparent and accountable to the people.

The common law legal system inherited from the United Kingdom must also be defended.  As Lord Sumption argues, government mandated lockdowns, border closures and forcing people to get the jab all run counter to a legal system based on the right to autonomy and liberty free from government over-reach and coercion.

A legal system that can be traced back to the Glorious Revolution and Magna Carta and that draws on both natural justice and the New Testament and that once lost is almost impossible to reinstate. 

In the election just concluded it was obvious the Liberal Party had no idea what it stood for.  In addition to expelling Bernie Finn from the party for opposing abortion, Matthew Guy also told Renee Heath, a Liberal candidate for the upper house and target of a Nine Media hit job she would not be allowed to sit in the party room because of her links to a Christian church. So much for freedom of religion and freedom of expression!

The Liberal opposition also went missing during the two-plus years of draconian and unjust measures inflicted on Victorians by the Andrew’s government as a result of COVID-19. In desperation, the party also tried to outdo the Andrews government’s zero emissions policy as well as massively increasing unsustainable government debt. 

Given most of the Liberal members of parliament seem consumed with self-interest and with inter-party personalities and rivalries it should not surprise the party was bereft of well researched, persuasive and convincing policies at the recent election. Ensuring a better result in four years starts now. Against bitter experience, one can only hope for the future of democracy in Victoria that the Liberal Party and its new leadership team have it within them to rise to the task.

Dr Kevin Donnelly is a senior fellow at the ACU’s PM Glynn Institute and author of The Dictionary Of Woke.