Australian Democracy: Robert Manne in conversation with Barry Jones and Malcolm Fraser
Lunch today was more challenging than usual. I went to see Manne, one of Australia's (and La Trobe Uni's) leading public intellectuals, in conversation with former minister and Australian Labor Party President Barry Jones, and former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Though they spent their careers on different sides of the political fence ( Read more... )
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As a small-l liberal, Fraser believes MPs have a duty not necessarily to "represent" the beliefs of their electorate, or their party, but to use independent judgment to form opinions on political matters. A belief which, these days, has an almost quaintly old-fashioned tone to it.
See also former senator Andrew Bartlett ( also here on LJ): "A political party is a vehicle for achieving positive change, not an end in itself."
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