Why does the term ‘liberal’ mean such vastly different things in Australia and America?

On this week’s Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Greg Melleuish to discuss the evolution of political terms. With phrases like ‘progress’ and ‘social justice’ meaning vastly different things to different people, and leaving us susceptible to imposing our modern values in misinterpreting texts from the past

Greg Melleuish is a professorial fellow of the Robert Menzies Institute. Before his recent retirement, he was a professor in the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry at the University of Wollongong, where he taught, among other things, Australian politics. He has written widely on Australian political thought, including Cultural Liberalism in Australia (Cambridge University Press, 1995) and Despotic State or Free Individual (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2014).