“The Liberal Party is a broad church,” the Prime Minister said yesterday at the launch of The Conservative,
the new publication produced by the National Right faction, whose
leading lights are Finance Minister Nick Minchin and Special Minister
of State Eric Abetz.

“We should never as members of the
Liberal Party of Australia lose sight of the fact that we are the
trustees of two great political traditions,” he continued. “We are, of
course, the custodian of the classical liberal tradition within our
society, Australian Liberals should revere the contribution of John
Stuart Mill to political thought. We are also the custodians of the
conservative tradition in our community. And if you look at the history
of the Liberal Party it is at its best when it balances and blends
those two traditions.”

Actions speak louder than words, Prime Minister. The Conservative’s
appearance has been plugged in an unintentionally hilarious Current
Political Note emailed to Liberal Party members: “The Prime Minister
yesterday launched The Conservative, a magazine and website
that will provide a new forum for discussion of the politics and
policies of reform” – a very interesting official endorsement of just
one point of view in the party.

The Note also provides a link to The Conservative’swebsite,
which lists a committee for the publication consisting of Senators
Santo Santoro (Editor) and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, former
staffer Alastair Furnival (Executive Editor), Gerry Wheeler and David
Stevens. There are the details of Conservative Publications Pty Ltd.
“Conservative Publications Pty Ltd was established in September 2005,”
the site says. “As a not-for-profit, the company has three objectives:

  • To encourage greater scrutiny of government and public policy in Australia.
  • To provide education on conservative thought and policy.
  • To facilitation publications which will help deliver the first two objectives.

That second one appears to be particularly broad in its scope.

Minchin has long urged his party to adopt formal factions and it looks as if the process is well underway.

The
PM said yesterday: “We should never see it as our role as Australian
Liberals to see the triumph of one of those traditions to the unfair
detriment and certainly not the obliteration of the other. Each has a
rich contribution to make and when we blend them in the right way we
are not only at our most compassionate and also most effective but we
are also at our most politically acceptable.”

Call in the engineers: the broad church is listing to the right.