Hartcher wants Taylor to douse a fire the Liberals have been tending for twenty years

SMH · Peter Hartcher · Tuesday 21 April 2026

Hartcher wants Taylor to douse a fire the Liberals have been tending for twenty years

Peter Hartcher frets about Angus Taylor failing to contain populism, as if the Liberals haven't been cultivating it since Tampa.

Hartcher's discovered populism is grubby and wants Taylor to contain it — mate, you can't contain what your own party's been feeding since Howard dog-whistled Tampa past the evening news. Taylor isn't fuelling the fire. He's warming his hands at it and hoping nobody asks who chopped the wood.

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