Among the list of mythical creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster and the Sasquatch, which are talked about with awe but never observed, is the moderate Liberal party MP.

Combined with this lack of observance is the sense that such a mythical MP deserves praise – either during their period in office, or especially upon announcing retirement.

But we all know such a thing no longer exists. It has been extinct for many years and now residesonly because of the very low bar set for MPs to be given the nonsensical label.

This week, the parliament debated legislation to allow the evacuation of asylum seekers from Nauru or Manus Island in the event that two or more treating doctors recommend it. Far from giving doctors carte blanche, the power is retained by the home affairs minister to veto the request if he or she disagrees with the clinical assessment. The minister can also veto the request on grounds of national security or criminality.

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Those transferred to Australia will remain in detention while being treated. And the law applies only to those currently in detention, and not to anyone who may arrive in future.

It is the smallest shift towards humanity that we could make. It does nothing to make getting on a boat to Australia more attractive, nor does it in any way weaken our borders (if they were ever weak).

And yet not one Liberal party MP or senator made any statement suggesting that this very small sliver of humanity was a good thing.

No, sorry – one backbench MP, who certainly deserves the moniker of “moderate”, told the House: “I do not believe that we have lost control of our borders. I do not believe that people smugglers determine who comes into Australia and who does not. We can support orderly processes, we can warn people against people smugglers and we can warn them not to risk their lives on unseaworthy boats.”

The MP also suggested that “vulnerable people are again being made into a football to be kicked around in the interests of partisan politics. This is despite the facts and the best values of our society.”

Oh, my mistake! That wasn’t said this week; that was Liberal party MP Petro Georgiou delivering his valedictory speech in June 2010.

Even at the time, Georgiou was an outlier, a rare sighting of the moderate Liberal MP in the wild – most were completely subjugated by John Howard.

Now such views are absent from the public debate – the moderate view that dare not speak its name.

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Kelly O’Dwyer was widely described as a “moderate Liberal” when she announced her retirement, and yet there she was on Thursday yelling at the opposition benches, perfectly comfortable with the government’s position on the medevac bill and similarly enjoying the gaming of the parliamentary process to extend question time so as not to have to vote on a bill to introduce a royal commission into disabled care.

Fellow “moderate” Christopher Pyne was there leading the government’s tactics – such fun and japes.

Being a moderate in the Liberal party now basically means you’re not considered an insane person who thinks the gays are coming to marry us all and that climate change is a UN conspiracy.

But in reality what it really means is that you are someone who may have moderate views but do nothing about them, and worse, will actually act in a manner fully in keeping with the hardline conservatives in the party. For example, Pyne, when education minister, appointed arch-conservative Kevin Donnelly to review the national curriculum. If that is moderate, let us no longer see it.

Pyne, O’Dwyer and fellow “moderate” Greg Hunt were also infamously pictured celebrating the repeal of a price on carbon with Peter Dutton. So moderate were they that they campaigned and advocated for a climate change policy produced by Tony Abbott, which did nothing to reduce our emissions.

The economic conservative/social moderate is sad about inequality but champions policies that exacerbate it

Malcolm Turnbull was long viewed as the great moderate hope, because “moderate” has come to mean “socially moderate (or progressive); economic conservative” – as though the latter does not completely undermine the former.

Being cool with marriage equality is a pretty easy hurdle to clear, but O’Dwyer and others in the economic team under the “moderate” Turnbull pushed to cut income taxes for the wealthy, stood by happily watching attacks on the ABC and the vilification of those on disability support pensions and other welfare, introduced “work for the dole” schemes, and attacked industry super funds despite the Productivity Commission finding the overwhelming problem with the superannuation system was retail funds.

They attacked renewable energy at every opportunity, cowered before the conservatives when introducing an energy policy that did anything substantial to reduce emissions, cut company taxes and pushed for a lowering of the tax base that would inevitability lead to cuts in services.

And now they are spreading misinformation about changes to the system of dividend imputation, under which a vast majority of $5bn in tax rebates goes to the wealthiest retirees who pay no tax.

And of course, the excuse is – “oh, but they are trying … we should forgive Turnbull because look who he had to deal with, they are at least better than the others”.

Sure they may be better, but the outcomes produced show little to no difference. No one forced them to join this Liberal party that has been controlled by the non-moderate forces for more than 20 years.

The economic conservative but social moderate is someone who is sad about inequality but happy to champion policies that will exacerbate it. Someone who will say nothing, lest the hard conservatives exclude him or her from positions of power, which at any rate they will use to pursue conservative ends.

The moderate Liberal is a myth. Let us stop lionising them and rather ask what they have done that is either deserving of the label, or better yet, deserving of praise.