Talk:Liberal Party of Australia

Right wing (?)

I request a link proving right wing tendency throughout history or for the current party position please ~2026-72402-1 (talk) 10:39, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre right party and this has been the longstanding definition on these pages. HistorAUS (talk) 06:31, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-72402-1 the claim is supported the reliable source: SMH. @HistorAUS what it was before on this page on Wikipedia is not of relevance when discussing when it is right wing or not; may I ask what the other articles you are talking about are in 'these pages'? Thanks, Kora ^^ (she/her) ^{say hi!}/_{what I've done} 05:30, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

You are misinterpreting that out of date opinion piece in the SMH. The Labor Party also has a "right faction". Do you propose to revise the Labor Party homepage from "centre-left party" to "centre-left to right party"? There is no doubt a "right" faction in the Greens, but noone would revise their page to say they are a Left to right party. These are all relative terms. In a Green context, "right" just means less Marxist. In Labor it means more religious and free market oriented. In the Liberals it discriminates between libertarian small "l" liberals and more conservative members etc etc. There is a spectrum within their centre right members. That is all it means. The Liberal Party has led Australia for the majority of the last 80 years as a centre-right party. HistorAUS (talk) 09:24, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

You claim that the opinion piece is out of date, yet make your argument based on "the last 80 years"? Also, the Labor Party does have a right faction, (which is considered more centrist) however not a 'right-wing' faction. The National Right is widely considered to be right wing. Also, the Greens are not Marxist, the closest is Bandt's earlier views. Thanks, Kora ^^ (she/her) ^{say hi!}/_{what I've done} 22:04, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

I agree that the Greens are not Marxist. That's a ridiculous thing to say. But the past 80 years ARE relevant to where the Liberal Party sits. For all that period, Australia has had two major parties, the Liberal Party and the Labor Party. Unsurprisingly, for all of those 80 years, the Liberal Party has been the more right wing of those two parties. HiLo48 (talk) 23:40, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

On the Greens and Marxism, that was what the factional battle with Lee Rhiannon's group was all about wasn't it? In any case, I think we have consensus that, in an Australian context, the Liberals are "centre right", and have been since their foundation. HistorAUS (talk) 00:24, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Just because one member of the party was right wing means that the whole of the Greens are Marxist? Then we could easily say that the Liberals are far right! Kora ^^ (she/her) ^{say hi!}/_{what I've done} 02:56, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Yes, I agree, I was meerly point out the hypocrisy of @HistorAUS claiming that the source was somehow 'outdated' and then going on to call the argument dismissive of the party's history. I do agree that it's important to acknowledge the history, but only to a certain extent. For example, I don't think anyone would claim that the American Democrats are pro-slavery and that the Republicans are left wing (or even moderate for that matter). The Liberal party is a current party, so its current ideology is listed. Furthermore, I am not claiming that the Liberal party doesn't have centre-right figures or factions. However, there is a significant amount of right-wing belief in the Liberal party since John Howard, as supported by this article . Kora ^^ (she/her) ^{say hi!}/_{what I've done} 02:53, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Ok, I think I see the problem. Kora, Marxism is not "right wing", it is left wing. Before the Greens, Lee Rhiannon was a member of the Communist Party of Australia (that's far left wing). She was on top of the Senate ticket for the Greens until losing out to fellow anti capitalist Mehreen Feruqi, who calls herself an "eco-socialist", but mainly differs from Rhiannon in her Islamic outlook (which can have elements of far left and right ideology). Capitalism by the way is "right". The difference between Rhiannon and Feruqi is probably best described as Marxist and neo-Marxist. Feruqi, Rhiannon and David Shoebridge all defended the Left Renewal (socialist faction) for example. Here's the Green Left tracking some of the factional disputes: https://www.greenleft.org.au/2017/1123/news/young-greens-form-socialist-tendency HistorAUS (talk) 12:48, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Kora you seem to accept your article is out of date, but you are ignoring the more relevant point that it does not call the Liberals a "right" party. HistorAUS (talk) 12:51, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Grandstanding in infobox

I noticed some unreliable sources appearing in the article here. I don't think we need long opinion quotes from Crikey and others as inline cites in the infobox! --Pete (talk) 19:41, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

Opinion piece or not, the article gives explicit examples of Abbott and Dutton and their use of populist and nationalist sentiment in policy. These were two of the most prominent members of the National Right, with the faction's own article listing these as part of its ideology.

It would be appropriate to include the National Right faction's employment of ideologies such as right-wing populism and nationalism in its rhetoric and policy.

This has been reported by numerous news outlets:

• Nine Entertainment (Nine News, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review)
• ABC News
• The Guardian
• Independent Australia
• New York Times

Books:

• The Australian Liberal Party Volume 1: Ideas, History and Organisation by Routledge
• Australia’s “Liberal Nationalist” Multiculturalism by Geoffrey Levey
• God Under Howard by Marion Maddox

Journals:

• Populism and international law: the Morrison years in Australia by Jolyn Ford
• Two sides of the same 'West': the radical right wing in Australia and Portugal by the European Political Science Review.
• Mainstreaming Populism by University of Technology Sydney
• The Liberal Party's coming foreign policy split by the Lowy Institute

Wikiuser4999 (talk) 09:31, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

I think we're going to need consensus here. Some of those sources are unreliable, the use of long and low-value quotes doesn't match MoS practice, and you seem to be pushing a particular barrow. --Pete (talk) 17:43, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm not pushing anything; as I've said, consensus has already been reached in the National Right's own article, these sources are simply to back it up. Wikiuser4999 (talk) 00:17, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Add 'conservative' label to lead section

Far better opening descriptor than arbitrary left-right spectrum Wikiuser4999 (talk) 23:33, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

I agree. Left/right labels today are very uninformative. And the party is definitely conservative, in both its policies and support base. HiLo48 (talk) 00:35, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Using that simple label would be much more easy to understand for a more general audience and be more specific than the broad left or right-wing political spectrum. WP:AUDIENCE says Avoid using jargon whenever possible which means that using a somewhat vague term like centre-right to right-wing is not good enough for a general audience targeted by Wikipedia.

Of course, this needs to be based on the references provided and I think the term is sourced properly already. Qwerty123M (talk) 01:34, 4 May 2026 (UTC)