A requiem to neo liberalism
With the political scalping of Malcolm Turnbull in last August’s Liberal leadership spill, one is wont to muse on whether the demise of Turnbull also represents the demise of neo liberalism. There is no better representative of modern liberalism than the corporate banker come Liberal politician, Turnbull, who supported large corporate tax breaks, resisted until it was futile the calls for a Banking Royal Commission, and who was, all in all, a keen advocate of free markets. Those from within the Liberal Party ranks who describe Turnbull as “not one of us” have perhaps already left the moors of the economic liberalism that pervaded the Liberal Party in the 80s and 90s, when it was the HR Nicholls Society, and not the conservative shock jocks of today, prodding the Liberals to move further to their version of the ‘right’. Indeed, it was not until John Howard’s tenure as leader that we saw the Liberal Party move towards a more nationalist disposition, where Howard’s notion of a broad chur...