The Liberal Party’s faction problem

It’s not just Labor that suffers from the inordinate influence of its NSW right wing One of the enduring myths of Australian politics is that only the Labor Party has factions, and the unhealthy tribalism that often goes with them. Wrong: the Liberal Party is just as factional, albeit in a looser sense, and just as tribal, if not more so. Labor’s best-known faction, the NSW Right, has passed into folklore as a ruthless (yet sometimes dazzlingly inept) political machine – a cross between Tammany Hall and the Mafia. But the same state’s Liberal right wing (itself made up of sub-factions) flies under the radar, except when its excesses occasionally hit the headlines. It is a formidable, if occasionally unpredictable, influence on the Abbott government, anchoring it firmly to the right… Read the full articl