Liberal leaders used to boast they belonged to a "state rights" party. Not any more. Malcolm Turnbull is turning the party's original philosophy on its head as he bullies the states and individual companies to do what he wants. It's all a long way from his initial declaration on becoming Prime Minister in September 2015 when he put free enterprise at the top of his party's list of values.

The state's rights approach reached its zenith in the 1960s and 70s when domineering Coalition premiers such as Victoria's Henry Bolte, NSW's Robert Askin, Queensland's Joh Bjelke-Petersen, South Australia's Thomas Playford and WA's Charlie Court (snr) held sway. Their policy mistakes insured that was no golden era. Since then, however, Liberal PMs' gradual accumulation of more power at the federal level has not been an automatic improvement.