Emeritus Professor John Carroll from La Trobe University reflected, in a piece in The Australian, on the labels tossed around during the recent leadership coup. He says, “During the political mayhem of the past two weeks, the terms “conservative” and “right wing” have been employed routinely in reference to the initiators of the attempted leadership coup in the Liberal Party, and to their urgers and backers.”

He continued, “that same Liberal Party is described as being split between moderates and conservatives. Yet virtually no attention has been paid to what these words mean. They are tossed off loosely and rashly, serving as little more than rhetorical devices, and are often used simply as terms of abuse”.

Luke Grant, filling in for Michael McLaren thought there was good value in fleshing out some of John Carroll’s thoughts, as he himself wondered if we all used the left/right descriptors accurately. What are typically the policies of a conservative politician? Can a morally conservative person vote ALP?

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