An ecstasy of conservative-backed writers lavishes on us Orwellian slogans espousing good, old-fashioned Aussie common sense, or, translated: the self-interest of conservative rule, the wealthy and their billionaire media mogul patron saint. The recent death of the great speech-writer Graham Freudenberg coincides with the contemporary vacuum of great policy ideals. Instead, progressive economic and social liberalism has evaporated under the watch of the party the late Sir Robert Menzies founded.