Less than a month later, we have arrived at this crisis. And that term is not hyperbolic. The sovereignty of the people and the survival of the liberal democratic project depend on legitimate, functioning democratic institutions. Yet we now have a Westminster model of government with a Caribbean political culture. When Malcolm Turnbull dispensed with Tony Abbott in a brutal coup, which has become the squalid signature of 21st century Australian politics, he made one explicit, and one implicit pledge. Firstly, he promised to bring clarity and coherence to the government’s economic narrative. Secondly, he implicitly sneered at Abbott’s poor ratings in the polls and implied that he would prove more popular. John Howard was effective in enlisting the support of religious believers across the spectrum. Credit:AAP He eclipsed Abbott’s News Poll record a few weeks ago. But it took until this week for him to abandon the corporate tax cuts, which we had been told were crucial to national prosperity and jobs growth. Abandoning the tax cuts, even more than his supine capitulation on emissions and energy targets revealed Turnbull as a hollow, opportunistic impostor. For what, other than his own career, was he prepared to fight? On a personal level that betrayal probably cost him the loyalty of Cormann. In reality what it reveals is the exhaustion of the Menzies project. If the Liberal Party does not stand for tax cuts for business, what does it stand for? In the background Turnbull’s Minister for Education managed to alienate the powerful Catholic schools lobby over his mechanistic adoption of a schools funding formula.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video One of the pillars upon which Menzies’ longevity was grounded was his ability to break Labor’s stranglehold on the votes of working and middle-class Catholics through his deft handling of state aid to systemic Catholic schools. This was one of the decisive shifts in voter allegiance during the 1960s. Along with widespread Catholic abhorrence of communism, Menzies was able to rely on the preferences of the Democratic Labour Party and the primary votes of many Catholics whose cultural and historical disposition would have been towards the ALP. John Howard was similarly effective in enlisting the support of religious believers across the spectrum from conservative Catholics to evangelicals. Abbott’s conclusion, from an emphatic defeat in the marriage equality debate, was that the new conservative majority would be built on the hard-core opponents of homosexuality. In a speech to American evangelicals, Abbott saw the path to a conservative revival through renewal of the culture war over sexuality and gender fluidity. This, frankly, is a perversion of Menzies’ legacy. The broad centre right party founded by Menzies was never as "liberal" as Turnbull claimed. But it was never hostage to evangelical Christianity nor the League of Rights. Moreover, it was more of a mass party. Now its base is shrill broadcasters and unrepresentative ideologues in its constituency party. They are all out of touch with voters, despite their sneering at "elites". Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addresses the media on Thursday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Ultimately, the crisis in identity of the Liberal Party has been caused by the stresses of globalisation. After the float of the dollar in 1983, Labor navigated an identity crisis while simultaneously governing the nation. Many of its base deserted. It is easy to forget that Bob Hawke won an increased majority in 1987 with less of the two-party preferred vote than the Coalition. And in 1990 only Democrat and Green preferences saved a government whose working-class base felt it had become captive of big business. The identity crisis confronting the Liberal Party may be traced to the same forces that transformed Labor. Globalisation and the triumph of the neo-liberal economic consensus initially damaged those parties affiliated with organised labour. Now the backlash is underway, at least in the advanced Western nations. Globalisation’s forces of creative destruction are working well for workers in developing nations, who are now performing the manual tasks previously performed in Detroit or Geelong. But conservatives find it easier to blame immigrants for stealing local jobs than admitting that their economic paradigm has created a fluid global market in the movement of both of labour and capital. No one has stolen our jobs. Successive governments have allowed businesses to export them in a quest for ideological purity. The fault lines opening inside the Coalition are a symptom of the exhaustion of their neo-liberal economic project. Voters are not willing to wait for the trickle down to reach them. Loading When the electorate is more worried about wage stagnation, mortgage stress and the proceeds of bracket creep being funnelled to business, the core Liberal message simply has no traction. Peter Dutton worked on polling booths in Longman and gleaned that Turnbull was on the nose. People with no aspiration to lead the nation heard other messages. They heard that Shorten’s scorn for banks is shared by ordinary voters. They heard that cuts to penalty rates are the difference between a modest standard of living and poverty for some people. They look at a rich man leading a party that seems to govern for the few, not the many.