Angus Taylor Explains Why Voters Left the Liberal Party
Taylor set out to prosecute One Nation's costings but ended up prosecuting his own party's credibility.
Category On the Record
Editorial judgments on matters of consequence
I read a man his party’s constitution. He laughed.
The Liberal Party keeps a creed it requires no one to hold.
The Freedom Party Is Dead
The Liberals built the machinery they now complain about, vacated the ground they once held, and watched One Nation walk onto it.
Illiberalism used to mean something
A reply to three national security analysts who have mistaken disagreement for illiberalism.
The listening tour
The WA Liberals have spent a year asking West Australians what they think. They could have read a poll.
When Accountability Becomes a Conduct Breach
A state-mandated code of conduct for local government places political argument inside a complaint process. One council voted against it — but it applies regardless.
What is the Australiasian College for Emergency Medicine for?
ACEM flew its members across the country to learn about eels and witchetty grubs. It counted as CPD.
The standard you apply depends on who’s applying
Either ancestry-and-land claims can ground political standing or they cannot. Australian institutions want both positions simultaneously—without saying why.
Australia’s holiday from seriousness ends
Like failed New Year's resolutions, Australia has treated strategic seriousness as aspirational rather than binding. The Constitution doesn't. Section 51(vi) creates defence obligations that expand as threats grow—and the threats are growing.
Serious organisations do not do this
The City of Albany shut down a grain operation mid-harvest, two days before Christmas, then went on holiday. The directive was rescinded within 24 hours. This is not how serious organisations behave.