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The Fraser manifesto: A former prime minister’s plan to replace the Liberal Party
We are currently witnessing the death throes of the Liberal Party. To a good chunk of the electorate who voted for the current government, that doesn’t matter… except that it leaves Labor in full power with no meaningful opposition.
A decade ago, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser predicted this moment would come, and he spent his final years working on the answer: a new political party, built on traditional liberal values but without the now-toxic name.
Bernard Keane joins the podcast to revisit Fraser’s plan to replace the Liberal Party. The detailed “Renew Australia” manifesto remains remarkably relevant, and takes a surprisingly progressive stance on issues like immigration, our relationship with the US, intergenerational equity and a post-carbon economy.
But what does a party structure achieve that the community independent movement can’t manage? And is another centrist party necessary when Labor has drifted from its centre-left origins?
Read today’s episode transcript here.
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