Forgotten people? Supporters of Malcolm Turnbull (above) during last year’s federal election campaign. Photo: Adam Carmichael/ Flickr
A former high-profile lawyer who rose rapidly in politics but was dumped as leader by his own party? Yes, Robert Menzies did bounce back, writes Norman Abjorensen. In 2007, the Liberal Party hit rock bottom and, for the first time in its six-decade history, found itself out of office virtually everywhere. Its most senior elected figure in the land was the lord mayor of Brisbane, Campbell Newman. But since John Howard was consigned to the wilderness there has been a marked resurgence in the conservative brand, with Labor vanquished first in Western Australia, then in Victoria and now in New South Wales. All three cases involved a state party dominated by the right but led into government by a moderate. Is this an indication that voters approve of a conservative party only when it is under moderate leadership? Robert Menzies, credited with being the driving force behind the establishment of the Liberal Party back in 1944?45, went to considerable pains to position both himself and the new party within the vast mainstream of Australian society rather than amid the vested interests with which its predecessor, the United Australia Party, was so closely identified. Menzies still casts a formidable shadow over the Liberal Party, so it was no coincidence that when Barry O'Farrell, as NSW opposition leader, was criticised by elements of big business for sitting on the fence over electricity privatisation he handed out a copy of Menzies's 1943 'Forgotten People' speech.
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