Australia’s main centre-right opposition party is reeling from a landslide election defeat and grappling with an issue that has perplexed conservative movements across the world since 2016 – whether to embrace or distance itself from US President Donald Trump.
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Three former ministers in the Liberal Party are fighting for its leadership following the defeat of opposition leader Peter Dutton, who not only lost Saturday’s election but also his own seat. While the contest is expected to come to a head in the next week, there is no consensus over how to rebuild numbers and challenge Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s ascendant Labor Party.
Less than 48 hours after the Liberal-National Coalition’s second consecutive election defeat, one of the worst in Australian history, moderate Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg urged his party to recapture the centre ground of politics.
“It’s important that we focus on economic issues and avoid culture wars at all costs,” Bragg told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio while discussing the lessons of the election defeat.
Yet just hours earlier, one of his fellow Liberal senators called on the party to “Make Australia Great Again”, in a local version of Trump’s Maga motto.
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“No one should have any backlash about that, that’s a simple statement,” conservative Liberal Senator Alex Antic told Sky News. “Why are they getting stuck into this slogan?”