Time, it is said, heals all wounds in politics, apart from those fatal to start with. The present wounds in the Liberal Party will not, and from the point of view of Australian Conservatives should not, be allowed to heal, if any conservatism is to be preserved in Australian political culture. At least, they should not be allowed to heal on the new Dear Leader’s terms.

The Turnbull coup has left Australia with two socialist Labor parties, the former Liberal Party perhaps now resembling Tony Blair’s New Labour in Britain, attempting to combine capitalist economics with leftist social transformation.

Around the world, the US has Obama (enough said) and, despite the fact that it has some Republican hopefuls of ability, has possibly locked itself into a permanently leftist demographic.

Canada has a Trudeau again, who we can only hope has not inherited his father’s ideas, Britain has a CINO Prime Minister who has presided over praiseworthy economic growth, but who gives no impression of being serious about defence, the social devastation of political correctness and the threat to the nation’s identity posed by the tsunami of illegal immigrants (how much gumption would it take to close the Channel tunnel?).

Of course the US elections are now less than a year away, and after all the disasters of Obama, the Democrats should be at a discount, but given the demographics, who can be sure? And the left captured the Democrats long ago.

As for Britain’s future, new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn seems too obviously crazy, and too close to proven terrorists, to be electable, but there is a strong possibility that merely by being there, he and his colleagues, as leaders of the Labour Party, will drag all British politics further to the left. Add the possibility of a tactical voting alliance with the Scots Nationalists and the Greens, and who knows?

For some reason, I almost forgot NZ, with its mighty two-frigate Navy (I beg your pardon, Naval Combat Force).

Oh, and for good measure, we have a weather-cock Pope. Quite a contrast to the days when Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul II brought down the Soviet Empire. And then, of course, we had Gorbachev, now we have Putin.

John Howard frequently said the Liberal Party united the conservative and liberal traditions in Australia. That very successful unity has now been wantonly struck a deep wound and neither of those traditions has benefitted or been strengthened by it. For the conservative aspect of the Liberal Party the political landscape is looking very lonely. The leader of the party they once identified with has spoken in glutinous praise of both Gough Whitlam and Mao Tse Tung, and when leader of the Opposition split his shadow cabinet over his trendy devotion to the Emissions Trading Scheme. As Minister for Communications he supported the left-dominated ABC, he claimed ‘everyday Muslims are Australia’s best allies’ and his first reaction to the Parramatta shooting was to call up Muslim leaders. He has a long history of political and professional associations with Labor, and not the right-wing or moderate part of Labor, and has claimed his ambition is to ‘change the culture; the culture of government, the culture of politics, the culture of business’.

The temptation for conservatives Liberals now, or in a few months, will be to go with the flow, to forgive and forget, to accept the status quo, and to accept the argument that being even a deeply compromised party in government is better than being in opposition. Well, it ain’t necessarily so. The British Tories were acting on a similar argument when they knifed Thatcher, and look where that got them: a deeply divided party unable to present a picture to the electorate of unity, firmness and purpose, one election victory, and then a series of defeats. If I were still a member of the Liberal Party I would not be certain about the outcome of the next election: one thing Australian voters have shown is that they will not accept arrogance in a leader, and Turnbull has an aura of arrogance personified.

Australian conservatives should not be intimidated by the venomous attacks which are certain to come upon them, or caricatures, which have already started, of them ‘weeping bitter tears’ for Abbott. What is at stake now may be the whole future of conservatism as a political philosophy and a moral compass. This may be one of those rare hinge-moments in the history of our country. It may be time for conservatives to dig in and form a government in exile. The odds look daunting, but when did that ever deter a good person from doing what he or she saw as right? The fact Abbott has not resigned but hung in there is a hopeful sign. And remember, as one lefty pointed out, he was an outstanding boxer who never had a broken nose.

The replacement of Abbott was not a normal part of the political process: four PMs in four years has given Australia a third world, banana republic image. For sheer irresponsibility the coup has only been matched by the political knifing of Menzies in 1941, clearing the way for a less than mediocre Labor government at a time when decisive leadership was desperately needed. But Menzies learnt his lessons and came back. The watch-word for conservatives: ‘Maintain your rage’.