Australia Wrestles With Its Own Trump Moment

Latest leadership spat reflects wider struggles conservatives have responding to shifts brought about by globalization, automation and migration

SYDNEY—A leadership squabble in Australia’s ruling coalition, one of a string of internal party feuds to beset the country in the past decade, threatens the conservative government’s fragile hold on power as it heads into an election.

The latest bout of disunity within the Liberal Party—the country’s main conservative bloc—pits moderates who support its traditional, classically liberal approach to social and economic policy against those pushing a harder line on immigration, climate change and same-sex marriage.

...