A victory for real liberals, says Fraser Peter Ker -- Newtron23/11/20106/12/2010Canberra Zimbabwe368

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Date Posted: Monday, November 29, 05:53:42am
Author: correct on ERG fundamentals best company==it has the power to bring down any state govt==its like a virus once it gets in there==look your gone
Subject: A victory for real liberals, says Fraser Peter Ker

A victory for real liberals, says Fraser Peter Ker
November 29, 2010
.TED Baillieu's strong performance is proof that Victorians want a Liberal Party that is moderate rather than conservative, according to former prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

As Liberal elders identified the handling of Green preferences and personal attacks on Mr Baillieu as key factors in bringing the Labor government to the brink of defeat, Mr Fraser said there was an important lesson in the divergent results for Victorian Liberals in this year's federal and state elections.

Victoria proved to be barren ground for arch-conservative Tony Abbott's federal coalition at the August election, winning just 44.69 per cent of the state's vote on a two-party basis.

Advertisement: Story continues below Just three months later Mr Baillieu - who has a socially progressive record on issues like abortion, stem-cell research and physician-assisted dying - appears set to record a two-party preferred vote above 50 per cent and claim government.

Mr Fraser said it was a ''very encouraging day for liberal Liberals''.

''Victorians want to vote for a centre-of-the-road Liberal Party, they don't want hard right conservatives, and they don't want to be lead in that hard right conservative direction,'' he said.

Mr Baillieu endured destabilisation from the conservative end of the party during the early years of his leadership, but Mr Fraser said Saturday's result would give Mr Baillieu the opportunity to shape the party.

''A huge part of the membership are real liberals … I think Ted's vote will give him very great authority within the party and will give very great encouragement to those who support genuine Menzian Liberal values,'' he said.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle - who Mr Baillieu replaced as state Liberal leader in May 2006 - agreed that Victorians were ''moderate'' rather than ''extremist'', but said the decision to deny preference flows to the Greens was the turning point for Mr Baillieu.

Mr Doyle said preferencing Labor before the Greens extinguished what had been a distracting issue for the Coalition and ''stamped a decisive authority'' on Baillieu's campaign.

''This makes Ted a Liberal hero in the same way Jeff Kennett was. To climb this mountain is an extraordinary achievement,'' he said.

Mr Kennett also hailed the decision to deny preferences to the Greens as a seminal moment for Mr Baillieu, as it showed he would not allow minor parties and independents to hold a hung parliament to ransom.

''In doing that he decided Victoria deserved the strongest government possible whether that was formed by the Coalition or Labor, and that was an enormous show of strength, and an outlining of his personal values,'' he said.

Mr Kennett said the decision over preferencing the Greens would become a template for Coalition parties around the nation, and held an ominous message for the minor parties and independents who control the balance of power in the Federal Parliament.

''The winds of change are in the air … I think those independents in the main will lose their seats because they come from conservative areas and the anger against them will be paramount.''

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