G'day from the Land Down Under
I am the newest writer for the Objectivist Blog and I live in Australia. Australia is a country that has a population of 25 million people and is the size of the USA. The political system of Australia is the result of influences from both the USA and the UK. Just like both countries we have 2 houses, the lower and upper. But unlike the UK, the upper house is elected where each of the 6 states have 12 seats each and the 2 territories have 2 seats, this adds up to 76 seats in the Senate.
The recent 2022 election has brought a composition that is very threatening to the existence of Australia's economic prosperity. The Australian Greens have 12 out of the 76 seats in the 47th Parliament. How did this happen? The 2022 election recorded the biggest vote against the 2 major parties, the Liberal and Labor parties. The Labor government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has 26 seats that needs the support of the Greens to pass bills and make laws. However, that is not enough to get the majority required which is 39. They also need the support of the teal “independent” and/or the Lambi Network. The policy demands of these senators in the past have wrecked the Australian economy by causing unnecessary damage to it. In 2012 as part of a deal to secure government in a hung parliament, where neither one of the major parties can get 76 seats in the lower house, the greens demanded that a carbon tax be in place. This is where one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent was taxed at 24.15 AUD a ton. As a result of this tax, electricity prices went up by 10%, hurting businesses of all sizes, mainly small ones and more so importantly low income households who were struggling to make ends meet which made this even more difficult for those battling to maintain their standard of living. On top of that, the tax worsened the Australian government's budget bottom line adding to our debt and deficit. It took the election of the Coalition led by Tony Abbott in 2013 to abolish the tax.
Legend
Blue: Liberal Party 42
Red: Labor 77
Dark Green: Nationals 16
Light Green: The Greens 4
Grey: Independents 10
Maroon: Katter 1
Orange: Centre Alliance 1
Currently the Liberal Party is a mess. The 2022 election was a result of what happens when the more right leaning party base is not listened to in terms of policy. With the party shifting away from its core principles such as individual freedom and belief in private enterprise, in simple words moving to the left, the party bled votes to the left and right. This caused the Liberals to lose 19 seats which resulted in the worst electoral outcome for the party in recent elections. A major reason for this is that the Liberal Party did not reflect their beliefs in policy and the only policy they had was ‘we are not the Labor Party Party.’ In the seats we lost, the party was up against the Teal movement that ran on more action for climate change and an integrity commission. The Morrison Liberal government signed Australia up for Net Zero by 2050 and promised an integrity commission. Voters in very strong Liberal seats where these independents ran in, voted for the real thing and this meant the Liberal party lost seats that never went any other colour than blue.
As a member of the Western Australian Liberal Party, I was ashamed of the Parliamentary leadership of Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenburg. I am not the only one in the party to hold this position. There are many people who are in the party who believe that we must go back to our roots of classical Liberalism to one, get elected and two, improve Australia. Under Peter Dutton, the party has a new hope. Mr Dutton comes from the right leaning faction of the Liberal Party who comes from a middle class background. He understands the role that small business plays in the Australian economy. He understands that having lower taxes and less regulation is needed for businesses to flourish. But, in his long parliamentary experience, he knows that policy is not made overnight.
As part of the Westminster system, the role of the opposition is to hold the Labor government accountable over the promises they made to the electorate such as the pledge to lower power prices by 275 dollars which was mentioned by the now Prime Minister 97 times. It is projected by the energy sector that power prices will go up by 35%. However, Mr Dutton has listened to the party base and has started to speak in favour of legalising nuclear power which is outlawed under Section 140a of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This would provide a way for Australia to decarbonise that would keep power prices low in an economy sustainable way. If the Liberal Party had the policy to legalise nuclear power at the 2022 election, the result would have been more positive for the Liberal party as we would show that we were different from the teal independents and the Labor Party. This is refreshing to see that the Liberal Party led by Mr Dutton is fighting for freedom of choice which is a core principle of the Liberal Party.