This week saw the election of Malcolm Turnbull as the new Prime Minister of Australia, after having defeated the sitting Prime Minister Tony Abbott as head of Australia’s conservative ‘Liberal Party’.
Some commentators in the United States have, erroneously, compared Turnbull’s ascension to power to that of Democratic Party Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. But this could not be further from reality, with the two on stratospheric polar opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Although Turnbull comes from the ‘Liberal Party of Australia’, like in Canada, it is the local conservative party, with the emphasis being here on ‘classic liberalism’ and conservative traditions.
Whereas Sanders maybe be on the far-left in terms of both domestic and foreign policy issues, in Australia, Turnbull is considered a ‘moderate conservative’.
Although Turnbull supports issues like gay marriage, climate change and social welfare, he is staunchly conservative on matters of foreign policy, economy and governance. He firmly believes in the free-market economy, private enterprise and free trade (including being a major proponent of Australia’s current negotiations for a free trade agreement with China), as well as lower taxes, reduced public spending and smaller governments. In other words, he is a ‘fiscal conservative’ in the truest sense of the word.
