Shifting Ground

Andrew Leigh, the new Federal Member for Fraser (ACT) gave his maiden speech in the parliament today and it's a ripper - you can find it here.

One interesting thing is that he was born in the same year that Gough Whitlam won office - 1972. I was a *nasho* at the time based at Holsworthy and was hoping for a Whitlam win - because Labor had promised to end National Service. And it was one of the first things he did - we were all out-of-there by Christmas.

But these two paragraphs of Andrew's are what reinforced for me the changing nature of Australian politics. Especially the "Shifting Ground" that has been evident since the "Liberals" discarded "liberalism" and embraced right wing "conservatism".

"The Labor Party today stands at the confluence of two powerful rivers in Australian politics. We are the party that believes in egalitarianism – that a child from Aurukun can become a High Court Justice, and that a mine worker should get the same medical treatment as the bloke who owns the mine.

But what is sometimes overlooked is that we are also the party that believes in liberalism – that governments have a role in protecting the rights of minorities, that freedom of speech applies for unpopular ideas as for popular ones, and that all of us stand equal beneath the Southern Cross. The modern Labor Party is the true heir to the small-L liberal tradition in Australia".

Yes absolutely - go for it Andrew.