John Roskam from the Institute of Public Affairs highlights the failures of the fourth estate to hold our politicians (and other institutions) to account.
Claiming to be Australia’s oldest political think tank, the Australian Fabian Society boasts over 1000 members, most of whom seemingly align with the Australian Labor Party.
They proudly state that Gough Whitlam adopted a fabian approach ‘from the day he entered parliament’ and a conga line of state and federal Labor leaders including, Hayden, Hawke, Keating, Dunstan, Wran and Carr (to name a few) all claim to be ‘Fabians’
Their national patron is feminist Eva Maria Cox AO, who “is still pursuing feminist change by putting revaluing social contributions and wellbeing onto political agendas, as well as recognising the common ground between Australia's First Nations and feminist values of the importance of the social.”
For an organisation with such a commitment to feminism it is rather odd that their national board has a vacancy for a ‘Women’s officer’.
Perhaps being so gender specific is a bit non PC these days and they are having trouble deciding on the title to bestow before selecting the unlucky appointee.
Anyway, I digress. Their website is filled with pamphlets and policy ideas…which, rather strangely for a think tank prevents many of them from being available to the public. Those that are include the grandly titled:
“Fabian Monograph: An Industrial policy for Australia: Economic and social priorities in a post-neoliberal and post-coronavirus era”
and, again rather strangely for the vacant women’s officer role:
“ Political Power: does gender matter anymore?”
It clearly doesn’t because the author, one Maxime McKew (remember her) claims that a “girl won the 2008 US Presidential election”.
Yes that’s right, the Fabian’s think Barack Obama is a lady !
Clearly some radical stuff and you’d be forgiven for not taking it seriously. Unfortunately many of your parliamentarians do take it seriously and still claim to be Fabians.
Bob Hawke spoke at the Fabian Society centenary dinner in 1984 to celebrate its founding in London.
And it is clear that the Fabians have had an impact over the years, being closely linked to the London School of Economics and the New Statesman magazine.
But it is the success of their agenda that is most troubling. The Fabian Society's goal is to “peaceably use the democratic framework of Liberal Democracies to achieve gradual conversion to socialism.”
Fabian tactics are notoriously subversive and embrace evolution, not revolution.
In fact their name derives from the Roman General Quintus Fabius who was known for his strategy of delaying attacks until just the right moment.
“When the time comes you must strike hard, as Fabius did” was the advice in the first Fabian Society pamphlet.
It helps explain why the Fabians original coat of arms was a wolf in sheep's clothing, representing its preferred methodology for achieving its goals. It has since been abandoned, one presumes because of the negative connotations but they still have the tortoise as their logo.
After all everyone likes tortoises don’t they?
Well yes, but according to author Jon Purdue it “represents the group’s predilection for a slow, imperceptible transition to socialism”
One of the ten founding members of the Fabian Society, Sydney Webb coined the summary slogan:
The inevitability of gradualism: This is where, provided the people are kept occupied, that means busy, debt enslaved and distracted, societal usurpation can proceed without the masses becoming aware until it is too late and irreversible.
Think about that statement and where we are today. “Societal usurpation can proceed without the masses becoming aware until it is too late and irreversible”
Today, the Fabian socialist agenda is in full mount and beating away at our institutions and values.
Government is bigger than ever, the world is enslaved by debt, bureaucrats decide what’s good for you and your freedoms are being curtailed. Your thoughts and speech are grounds for public censure if they don’t meet with the narrative preferred by the elites.
The public purse, funded by a shrinking minority of taxpayers, supports an increasing number of dependents.
It is classic socialism 101.
Now there are many that will have you think that the Fabian Society is a moribund organisation, with few members and next to no influence. Some will even claim it is an organ of the Labor moderates.
But those claims only suggest the deceptive conduct of the Fabians is still in full swing. They are, after all, wolves in sheep's cloaks, just waiting for the moment to strike and strike hard.
Here in Australia we can observe that socialist gradualism is already underway - and that’s under a Coalition government. The election of an Anthony Albanese led Labor government could provide the Fabians with just the right moment they have been waiting for.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
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