The Liberal Party is controlled by Rupert Murdoch at the grassroots level by brain washing Liberal Party members, who control pre-selections by their votes, via Sky News’ “Sky After Dark” shows an insider in effect said last week.

A lot of people ask the question why the Liberal and National Party politicians go on Rupert Murdoch‘s propaganda arm Sky News’ Sky After Dark when they have such a small audience. Well, Tony Barry answers that question in the below edited podcast.

Liberal Party insider Tony Barry explained how Murdoch’s control of the Liberal Party works last week (17/5/25) in a podcast with former Insiders host Barrie Cassidy.

I never knew who Tony Barry was until election night when he was the ABC’s election as a commentator.

The Guardian says this about him: “Tony Barry is a former Liberal Party strategist who has worked for Christopher Pyne and Malcolm Turnbull. He now runs political research company RebBridge Group and is also a regular media commentator.” (Click here to read more)

A big positive with the Liberal Party’s major crash is we get to have a closer look at how politics works in Australia because with all the in-fighting some insiders are speaking the truth they normally wouldn’t speak.

The podcast: Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry at this special live recording of the podcast at Federation Square in Melbourne for the Wheeler Centre’s 15th birthday celebrations.

Does Anthony Albanese have the guts for big reform? – Back to Back Barries Live (Click here for the full video)

In the video below I have edited it down to 7 minutes of 7 key points they made.

(Click here to watch the above video on the Kangaroo Court of Australia YouTube channel)

Below is the outline and key points made in the above video:

Part 1. The coalition only hold 10 urban seats, and the Labor Party hold 70.

Part 2. Liberal Party branch members love “Sky after Dark” on Sky News, it’s their newsletter. Sky after Dark are incredibly influential over Liberal Party pre-selections and via the Liberal Party membership.

Liberal MP’s therefor watch “Sky after Dark” so see what their branch members are being told which again reinforces how influential “Sky after Dark” is and it drives how the Liberal Party members vote.

And that influences Liberal Party pre-selections and the quality of people they can choose.

(My comment: Sky After Dark is an echo chamber where different hosts push the agenda of Rupert Murdoch and Gina Rinehart etc. It is an echo chamber where all the hosts agree on almost everything)

Part 3. The internal consequences of bad behaviour doesn’t exist anymore – (My comment: That is why corrupt politicians just ride out the media cycle, whether that be 24 hours or 1 week or 2 weeks or a month etc. Scott Morrison’s government was one of the worst, if not the worst, for protecting corrupt politicians)

Part 4. The problems for the Liberal Party are now cultural and structural. This idea in politics that you hang around for 2 or 3 terms and your time will come. The Liberal Party will so weakened culturally and structurally that they won’t be able to compete. (See point 3)

Part 5. The Liberal Party only leads in over 65 and multiple asset class owners. So, unless we means test the vote and raise the legal age to 65, we can’t compete.

Part 6. The top 30 electorates with Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) as a proportion of voters, the coalition only has 4.

Of the top 30 millennials, which is Gen Y / Gen Z, with tertiary qualifications, the coalition only has 3 out of 30. (Gen Y, also known as Millennials, refers to a demographic group born between 1981 and 1996)

In the John Howard era (1996 to 2007) they never used to win the younger vote, but they were somewhat competitive. At the moment their primary vote is in the low 20’s and you just can’t compete as that cohort grows. And as you might have read, they made up the bulk of the voters this time.

Part 7. Question – How do you see the long-term future of the Liberals and Nationals as a political force.

The DLP (Democratic Labour Party) split form the Labor party in the 1950’s and it took 17 years before Labor came back into power.

Given the deep split between the Liberal Party and National Party do you think they could also be facing the same sort of period in the political wilderness?

Tony Barry’s answer: The teals might be to the Liberal Party what they DLP were to the Labor Party in the 1950’s.

Albanese will be smart, and he will give them a few big wins for their electorates because he knows they could be the DLP for the Liberal Party.

Barry Cassidy says once political parties solves their problems they can recover very quickly, and he gives an example from the 1960’s in federal politics.

Cassidy says it happens at the state level to a ridiculous extent. Tony Barry says not in Victoria.

Cassidy says we haven’t seen it at a federal level except in the 1960’s.

Tony Barry says if you look at the Victorian Liberal Party there are no signs they are reforming or changing their ways.

There are 37 seats federally in Victoria. The Liberals have 6, the Nationals own 3. So, 9 seats out of 37.

Mathematically you cannot get to 76 seats out of 150 if you can’t compete in Victoria.

Summary

I like many have no doubt the Liberal Party’s and National Party’s federal coalition will never form a majority government again.

But it is interesting to hear someone like Tony Barry use research to show why the Liberal Party and National Party are in big trouble.

The Liberal Party and National Party have huge hurdles to overcome, and I think the biggest is that outside forces like Rupert Murdoch are destroying them by controlling them for their own benefit.

It was good to listen to Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry but like many journalists and commentators they won’t mention systemic corruption in politics as an issue which I have no doubt played a part in the coalitions defeat and will play a part their future problems.

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