Ideology
Liberalism in Australia has been notably lacking in a coherent philosophical underpinning: it is strongly pragmatic, rather than ideological, defined chiefly in antithesis to Labor. The governments of Menzies (1949–1966), Gorton (1968–1971) Fraser (1975–1983) and Howard (1996–2007) differed from each other in both social and economic approaches.
Unifying threads of Australian liberalism, have included:
- Opposition to socialism.
- Support for private enterprise. Previous Liberal party governments, especially under pressure from the Country Party in safeguarding its agricultural base, have been interventionist to varying degrees; but the current climate is very much in favour of deregulation and supply-side economics.
- Opposition to major changes to the Australian Constitution. Once again, this varies: the Democrats, and quite a few Liberal Party members, support a republic. The Liberals and Democrats have shown much more affection for the Senate than has Labor.
- In foreign affairs, loyalty to Australia's major allied partner (the United Kingdom before World War II, the United States afterward), sometimes to the detriment of multilateralism. "Small-l" liberals often tend to repudiate this aspect: the Democrats were strongly critical of both Iraq Wars and Fraser, despite supporting it while in office, has called for an end to the ANZUS alliance.
- Attitudes ranging from mild to extreme antipathy towards the trade union movement.
- Opposition to the Australian Labor Party.
Read more about this topic: Liberalism In Australia
Famous quotes containing the word ideology:
“The ideology of capitalism makes us all into connoisseurs of liberty—of the indefinite expansion of possibility.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“Xenophobia looks like becoming the mass ideology of the 20th-century fin-de-siècle. What holds humanity together today is the denial of what the human race has in common.”
—Eric J. Hobsbawm (b. 1917)
“The ideology of this America wants to establish reassurance through Imitation. But profit defeats ideology, because the consumers want to be thrilled not only by the guarantee of the Good but also by the shudder of the Bad.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)