Much has been made of the federal government's wiliness to "set aside its ideology" in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Especially in its willingness to spend money to support households, businesses, employers, workers and industries - both to cushion the impact of the greatest economic and social challenge since the Great Depression and to facilitate recovery.

While this has become most evident in the pandemic, it extends what has been a longer-term drift in the policy responses of LNP governments.

Essentially, their conservative ideology had been defined by belief in small government, low regulation and a strong preference to rely on market forces and processes.

So, for example, you could reasonably have expected that the Coalition's primary response to climate change would have been to put a price on carbon, to develop an effective market-based emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Read the full article on The Canberra Times website, authored by Dr John Hewson