Recent overseas visits by Anthony Albanese thankfully drew our attention away from the appearance of three former Liberal leaders - John Howard, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison - at the grandiosely-titled Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference held in London.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
"Responsible citizenship" in this context is a euphemism for right-wing culture wars conservatism.
The London extravaganza of these three failed Liberal leaders did however attract some attention. Each of the trio has managed to generate a headline while on tour - Howard dismissing multiculturalism, Abbott dismissing the "climate cult", and Morrison sledging Albanese's China visit.
"The loss of the Voice referendum has obviously excited the right. Unsayable things are now being said. The old craftiness is gone and the prejudice is running naked on the lawn," editorialised The Saturday Paper.
These cringe-making and rather pathetic attempts at relevance prompted columnist Michael Pascoe to ask in The New Daily: "Who has been the worst leader of the federal Liberal Party?"
It's a tough one. His assessment began with Howard, whose leadership was responsible for setting "the tone for what came after, the weakening of the public service, the elevation of the culture wars, the demise of ministerial responsibility and the dismissal of the 'black arm band' view of our history just when Australia was opening up to owning its past."
True, the first two Howard terms featured examples of good governance. Most famously, there was gun control.
Good government fell apart in his third and fourth terms, when Howard's craftiness gave way to outright lying. The lies started with the "children overboard" and went downhill from there.
The Tampa affair, demonising refugees, joining disastrous American military adventures, ditching the concept of ministerial responsibility, running dead on climate, turning superannuation into an egregiously iniquitous and extravagant tax haven for the wealthy and the great sin of omission - not investing the resources boom windfall.
But then came Tony Abbott, the great wrecker. His signature "achievement" was destroying anything like effective carbon policy in keeping with his unrepentant and continuing climate denialism, locking Australia into a lost decade aligned with Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Repealing the resources rent tax was a close second, which denied the Commonwealth a reasonable and valuable revenue stream. Politicisation of the public service was pushed to another level.
Howard had achievements. Abbott had unrelenting wrecking, blessed by George Pell's conservative theology.
By comparison, Morrison was mainly just odd, influenced by his even stranger and crueller prosperity theology.
The lies, duplicity and secrecy, the further climate scepticism and defenestration of the public service were topped by the sheer nuttiness of his clandestine multi-ministries and his pushing of corrupt pork barrelling to previously unimagined, multi-billion-dollar levels.
It can be argued the most damage he did was his disastrous mangling of our diplomatic ties and setting Australia's course to be even more of America's Deputy Dawg through the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine stunt, a course Defence Minister and deputy PM Richard Marles continues to sail.
As with everything else that went wrong on his watch, from Robodebt to grants corruption, Morrison remains unrepentant.
So, who was the worst?
Abbott wins the "wrecking ball" prize, of course, Morrison perfected the art of political skullduggery, but Howard set the ball rolling and of course is responsible for initiating the culture wars through outright lying his heir Peter Dutton so skilfully exploits.
So, perhaps, Howard was the worst.
DAILY DURING OLYMPICS
The Olympics Breakfast
Wake up to a tasty serving of overnight news and excitement from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
