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> From what I hear from afar about Australian politics is that the Australian government can essentially do whatever it wants, unrestricted by minor details lik
by NeutronBoy 11y ago
> From what I hear from afar about Australian politics is that the Australian government can essentially do whatever it wants, unrestricted by minor details like a constitution, citizens or international law.
No, all that applies, it's just the current government thinks it can ignore it.
- PebblesHD 11y agoIndeed, the 'liberal' party (which by the way is actually the more conservative one for some reason) has been rather overstepping its mark in terms of legislation lately. I have to say though the Labor guys aren't all that much better.
- toyg 11y agoThey follow European conventions, where "liberal" follows from the original "liberalism", i.e. the XIX century movement asking for trade liberalization (in a context of widespread protectionism by absolutist nation-states), a pro-business but socially conservative aggregation. Most "liberal" parties in Europe are right-wing in a similar way. It's only in the US that "liberal" came to mean "socially progressive" for some reason, and only relatively recently (i.e. at least post-LBJ, I would say, if not later).
- eru 11y agoDoesn't liberal in Europe mean socially and economically liberal. (And the Americans had to invent libertarian to mean essentially the same thing?)
- PebblesHD 11y ago@toyg - Thats actually fascinating, I've never read about anything on the topic but you've sparked my interest