Right Pulse

This is one of the best proposals I’ve seen in a long time – directly elect the Federal Liberal party leader by Liberal party members. Following a similar move by the UK conservatives to engage their party base and provide an incentive for people to join the party. From Glenn Milne on a recent speech by Federal Liberal parliamentary member Christopher Pyne on the issue:

Pyne’s proposition was simple: “My Party needs to embrace a change that will replenish our membership. A strong membership base is a strong resource - for developing policy, in campaigning, in fundraising, in spreading the word, in providing the candidates, staff and personnel that every political party needs”.

To fulfil this ambition, he proposed allowing all party members to select the parliamentary leader, resulting in an influx of new members that would accompany empowering the grassroots membership, revitalising the membership of the Party, bringing new ideas, destroying rotten boroughs and creating a phalanx of new campaign workers, fundraisers and potential candidates. Pyne pointed out that directly electing the party leader was neither new nor radical, having already been embraced by the UK Conservative Party, the French Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), the Canadian Conservative Party and the Likud in Israel.

The audio is here.

This is not a new idea, but a needed idea. Nelson, Turnbull and Abbott have all given cautious support. If managed properly it would provide large media coverage, a stage for the future leader to hone his/her political skills in a public contest and engage the public in a Liberal specific forum separate from the Federal election. It would also force Liberal party members to figure out what they really believe in – conservative principles or populism.