Suchergebnisse

During the Liberal Party of Australia's formative stages in the 1940s and early 1950s, the Federal and New South Wales Divisions of the Party tended to ignore and/or down play the activities of their women members and office bearers. The gulf that existed between the theory and practice in the Party was further highlighted by the formation and rapid growth of the Australian Women's Movement Against Socialisation, a right wing organisation that was formed in September 1947 to combat the Chifley Government's decision to nationalise the private banks. In New South Wales the AWMAS attracted a large number of women who were members and supporters of the LPA, many of whom were disillusioned with the Party. This article begins with an analysis of the rise of the AWMAS. This is followed by a review of the activities undertaken by women activists in the New South Wales Liberal Party who tried to introduce changes within the Party that would allow women members greater opportunities and thus combat the influence of the AWMAS. This is important because it sheds light on efforts to make the Party more attentive to the political needs of women, while it was still going through its formative stages. More importantly, the outcome of the conflict set the parameters for what women activists could hope to achieve in the short term in the Party in New South Wales and at the federal level.

The Liberal Party has traditionally been a party of pragmatic conservatism blending three disparate ideological tendencies: the social liberal or 'wet' ameliorative tendency, the economic liberal or 'dry' individualist tendency, and a less organised social conservative tendency. The Menzies era and Fraser Governments reflected the influence of all three tendencies. However, since 1983, the Federal Liberal Party has arguably become dominated by classical liberal ideas of small government and rugged individualism. This dry takeover of the Liberal Party has been particularly apparent in the field of social welfare. Under the influence of the New Right, the Liberal Party has mounted a significant critique of the welfare state, comprising five related themes: 1) The alleged capture of the welfare state by vested interest welfare lobby groups; 2) the urgent need for labour market reform: 3) the proliferation of welfare dependency; 4) the importance of distinguishing between the deserving and undeserving poor; 5) The virtues of a return to private charitable welfare. The Liberal Party's espousal and implementation of these ideas, has however, been moderated on occasions by broader political and electoral considerations.