For some time, the Liberal Party has been walking a dangerous path, one lined with terrible policies and dodgy backroom deals. For almost nine years, the Liberal-National Coalition have been in government. In that time, they have had three leaders and have slowly but surely inched further and further to the left.

Now, it seems, it is a party in turmoil.

Their tenure in office started off reasonably well under Tony Abbott, a conservative leader who at least remained true to the centre-right roots of the party. Once the factional wars flared up again, his leadership went pear-shaped. The so-called ‘moderate’ faction wanted one of their own in the highest position of power in the country, and so began the undermining of Abbott. After one failed attempt, a second knifing proved successful, and the left-aligned Malcolm Turnbull was installed as Prime Minister.

Turnbull began driving the Libs towards the left and by the time he departed the role a couple of years later, the party bore more than a passing resemblance to its political opponents. Turnbull’s obsession with the non-issue of climate change, a favourite of left-wing ideologues, left Australia in deeper debt than it was when he came into power. In the end, it was Turnbull’s love of climate policy that led to his downfall.

That said, Turnbull left the Liberal Party a parting gift.

In the chaos of the 2018 leadership battle, with Peter Dutton vying to take his place, Turnbull made one final manoeuvre – he demanded a petition with a list of forty-three names of MPs in order to trigger a party room meeting.

While Dutton and his people were scrambling to get the names on paper, Turnbull had brought in Scott Morrison and Julie Bishop to advise them that if they wanted to run for Prime Minister as the path was now cleared for them to do so. While Dutton’s group was out celebrating prematurely that night knowing Turnbull was finished, Morrison and his numbers man, Alex Hawke, were ringing around collecting votes. The rest, as they say, is history.

We should have known from the start that Scott Morrison was going to be like his predecessor. After all, Malcolm Turnbull practically orchestrated his rise to power. When he was announced as the new leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister of Australia, my first thought was that this was Turnbull 2.0. But I was willing to give him a chance – and he blew it.

As it turned out, Morrison fast proved my initial assessment correct. He was a man trying to appease both sides of the aisle, to play to the tune of the left and the right. When it comes to politics, it is impossible to please everyone. While he was trying to make right-minded people happy, he was upsetting those on the left. This was not particularly an issue, given the centre-right nature of Liberal voters. The trouble really started when he was pandering to left-wing voters – people who would never vote for the Libs – and drawing the ire of conservatives.

At this point, it was clear Morrison was not the right man for the job.

The Liberal party used to be known as the party of good fiscal management. As of 2022, they have blown Australia’s debt out of the water, with gross debt predicted to be around $963 billion. Their spending has been incredulous, and with all the money they have dished out throughout Covid pandemic, who knows how long it will take to pay it all off. It is practically a certainty that generations to come will be saddled with taxes – paying for the sins of their forebears.

It is important to understand that it never had to be this way. The government clearly overreacted to a virus that they know full well has an incredibly low mortality rate. Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said in a press conference on Thursday:

‘The death rate from Omicron is 0.1 per cent. 99.9 per cent of people who get Omicron survive and usually survive well.’

So why did the government order 280 million vaccines for a population of approximately 25.7 million? That purchase would have surely had a massive price tag on it. They cannot back out now that they have signed the contracts with the big pharmaceutical companies, so why do we need eleven doses of the vaccine for every person in Australia?

Canada have also ordered eleven doses per person, and other nations have ordered well in excess of three. A lot of people are uncomfortable that during this process, our retiring Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt – the man in charge of purchasing the vaccines – worked as the Head of Strategy at the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 2000-01. This is the same organisation behind the push for accelerating mRNA vaccines to market via a range of collaborations and funding strategies.

The federal Liberal Party is playing with other WEF policies, with the Morrison government authoring the Trusted Digital Identity Bill. If passed, the Bill would allow for the creation of a ‘digital identity’ for every Australian, able to contain all sorts of personal information, including medical information (eg. vaccine passports), a driver’s license, other identifying documents, and practically anything and everything that pertains to an individual. And it would all be accessible to the government.

It resembles the WEF’s Global Digital Identity Project, which continues the role that lockdowns have played in shifting the global economy away from private ownership and into what they have labelled an ‘access model’ whereby one would have to rent goods and services from global corporations and billionaires. It is, as One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts has described it, ‘life via subscription.’ The WEF have said that in this world, ‘you will own nothing and you will be happy,’ but I can guarantee you the only happiness in the ‘utopia’ of the WEF is reserved for elites.

This is dangerous policy, and it is being put together by a government that has become way too big for its boots.

As if things could not get worse, on Thursday Morrison decided to publicly back Mark McGowan on the border closures in Western Australia. While the Prime Minister claimed he supported this measure because he was concerned about the hospitals in WA, this is not good enough. McGowan has had plenty of time to ensure his hospitals are up to scratch. It is likely that Morrison is only supporting the tinpot dictator of WA in order to appeal to the voters there. This is a fool’s errand. If anything, it is the final straw for many Liberal voters.

Scott Morrison is one of the weakest leaders this nation has ever seen, but he is only a symptom of a disease that has been infecting the Liberal Party for many years. The party has completely lost touch with its base, bleeding votes left, right and centre. Conservatives would rather vote for minor parties that align with their values while those on the left of the aisle are only going to vote Labor or Greens as per usual.

The only remaining supporters the Libs have are rusted-ons – people who refuse to see the writing on the wall. They have deluded themselves into thinking everyone else is out to get their party, disparaging and attempting to discredit anyone who speaks out against it, especially former members and supporters. To them I say this: trust me, no one is trying to take down your party. The Liberals have done a fantastic job of doing that themselves.

For those among us who can see clearly, it is obvious the Liberal Party are nearing the end of their tenure. A Labor government is certainly not optimal, but it may be the result of the upcoming election. In fact, the only argument the Libs have left for the 2022 election is that they are ‘not as bad as Labor’, although that’s up for debate after Covid. Australia’s best bet at this point is to vote for minor parties that adhere to our values so as to gain a higher degree of control in the federal Senate to prevent any dodgy legislation from getting through.

Last week, there was a leaking – allegedly by a federal cabinet minister – of a text exchange with former New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian in which the former Premier allegedly labelled Scott Morrison ‘a complete psycho’ and a ‘horrible, horrible person’. Leaking against the Prime Minister in an election year reeks of a desperate last gasp attempt to force a leadership spill, something the Libs may see as the only way to win the election.

Leaking is the sign of a party in turmoil. If anything were to happen, Peter Dutton may get a chance to lead the party to the election, but even such a gambit as this is unlikely to work.

No matter which way you look at it, the Libs have completely lost their way. They are a far cry from what they should be and it may just take an election wipe-out and some time in Opposition for them to see it.

Joel Agius is an independent writer. If you would like to read more of his work, you can do so at JJ’s Outlook