Letter to The Editor - The power of big money over policy also needs brave attention

To The Australian        Paul Kelly's review of David Kemp's new history of Australia reads like a sensible endorsement of a sensible study ("Brave new world: our story inspired by liberalism", 14/11). As usual, however, Kelly rather under-emphasizes the importance of conservatism in the present time. An argument can be put that by its nature liberalism tends to erode and needs regularly to be brought back to wisdom by conservatives. That erosion can be observed in the Liberal Party itself: there has been a falling away towards radicalism, leading to a dangerous split that damages the party's capacity to retain power. The most important tasks for conservatives now are to safeguard our monarchical political structure, to protect and enhance intellectual freedom and to foster honest public dialogue about matters involving ethnic and religious conflict. "Things will have to change in order to remain the same," was the wise observation of Giuseppe di Lampedusa in his great novel The Leopard. What conservatives must not do is bow to political and religious correctness, for there are important trends in our cultural life that need to be challenged and substantially revised. The power of big money over policy also needs brave attention.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic