#the age

[thoughtportal]

[philinprint]

The Age • Sat, June 17, 1972

[not-so-holyangel]

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[actualhumancryptid]

‘Social suicide’: Uni Liberal Club laments failure to attract new members as political party taints image

(unblocked article from The Age. also this is where I remind non-australians that in this context, 'Liberal' means conservative)

By Angus Delaney

October 10, 2025 — 3.30pm

The Liberal Party’s brand has become so toxic for young people that joining the Melbourne University Liberal Club is considered “social suicide”, club members admit.

On Friday, the club, which is nearly two decades older than the party, will celebrate its centenary with a gala dinner at the State Library, to be attended to by club and party luminaries from the past six decades.

Despite an increase in club membership over the past five years – there are now 174 members – failures by the party have made the term “Liberal” so unpalatable, it’s driving away potential new members, club president Kai Bowie said.

“There are a great deal many students at University of Melbourne who are interested in what we do at the club … they say, ‘We like what you do and we might even, to a point, have a centre-right ideology but … to be affiliated with anything Liberal would be social suicide,’” Bowie said.

It was particularly true for female students, he added.

“They say, ‘If my friends found out that I went to a Liberal event, it [the friendship] would be done’,” he said.

“Honestly, we would probably have more members if we were the Melbourne University Conservative Club.”

Ruby Busby, a 19-year-old philosophy major and club member, has also observed the party’s negative standing.

“I have had a few friends who have been interested in joining but have been hesitant due to this,” she said.

It didn’t prevent her signing up but, “after I became more involved with the MULC [the club], I’ve had friends basically demonstrate this intolerance with me and basically disown me”.

The club is independent of the Liberal Party, although club members generally hold conservative views and many are also party members.

The Liberal Party is failing to appeal to young voters across most of Australia. September polling conducted by the Resolve Political Monitor indicates just 18 per cent of people aged 18-34 would vote for the Coalition, a mark lower than Labor (40 per cent) and the Greens (22 per cent).

Bowie and Busby, who are also members of the Liberal Party, believe campus disdain for the Liberals is due to a series of public scandals and the party’s focus on culture wars, instead of developing and communicating popular policies.

Bowie said former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape in Parliament House, the unpopularity of former prime minister Scott Morrison and misogynistic comments from some MPs and officials over the years has contributed to the negative view of the party.

“It’s not always a fair preconception, but the truth is, sometimes it is,” he said.

Sussan Ley’s Coalition has struggled to find its feet since May’s crushing election loss, with MP Andrew Hastie’s resignation from the frontbench this month the latest sign of instability. In Victoria, the party has been in opposition for over a decade and Stuart Smith last month resigned as party director over derogatory jokes about women.

Busby said the party was often wrongly equated as a “far-right extremist group”, especially on the politically polarised university campus grounds.

“The Victorian left-wing bubble wants an enemy to project their own fears and derangement onto, and the Liberal Party is their choice,” she said.

“But I do think the Liberal Party needs to get better at communicating the core values and vision for Australia, as if we don’t, the negative narrative wins.”

Bowie said the party could improve its image by returning to and modernising its historically core values, such as protecting individual rights and equal opportunity.

“I would love to see the party take its old values, but apply them in a really refreshing way,” he said. “But it’s hard, and I’m sure there are reasons that they’re not doing that I’m not privy to. They’re not stupid.

“If people aren’t even willing to join a uni club, then who’s going to run for preselection? I would like to see the party fix that ... if I were to give my literally two cents’ worth, I would say that a bit of humility and a bit of acceptance that ... we need to change.”

To win over Gen Z voters, club treasurer Lachie Eliau, a 21-year-old commerce student, said the party needs a strong vision. “I’ve always thought the big thing in leadership, primarily political leadership, is courage and conviction, which I think we’ve lacked,” he said.

Bowie said the negative perceptions of the party have unfairly tainted the university club, where open debate is encouraged and there are students who vote Labor and “maybe even members who vote for the Greens”.

Because the club is not competing to form government (“hell will freeze over when the Liberals win over the [university student] council”), it’s purer than any political organisation, Bowie said.

“There is something special about the club and that although the Liberal Party may sort of wax and wane, I think the liberal ideology will survive,” he said.

On Friday, more than 200 current and former club members will toast to its survival.

[dialogue-queered]

In-fighting, staff exodus and complaints rock Guardian Australia

Guardian Australia is in turmoil ahead of this year’s election after its two most senior political journalists hurled allegations of workpla

Turmoil in the Australian wing of The Guardian's Anglosphere media powerhouse.

Extract 1: In the nine months since [Karen] Middleton replaced Katharine Murphy (now [Prime Minister] Albanese’s press secretary), the culture at Guardian Australia has become the talk of the Canberra press gallery. In the final months of 2024, political reporters Amy Remeikis, Daniel Hurst and veteran political photographer Mike Bowers all departed in quick succession. [Paul] Karp then flagged his own move to Nine-owned masthead The Australian Financial Review in December, meaning all but two of its Canberra staff had left in the past year.

It is also looking for a new economics correspondent after veteran Peter Hannam quit in December. All cited different reasons for their departures.

Extract 2: In the most recent report from ratings agency Ipsos, Guardian Australia was the country’s sixth-most read news outlet, with an audience of 7.2 million. The Sydney Morning Herald was fourth, while The Age was ninth.

Guardian Australia doubled its profits in the 2024 financial year to $A1.27 million.

[pers-books]

Jodie Whittaker for The Age magazine (Australia). Photographer unknown.

[fourorfivemovements]

Mia Wasikowska, for The Age, by Dominic Lorrimer  (x)