Another ring has been added to the circus of modern politics this week. The political wrecking ball known as Clive Palmer re-entered the fray with a new party and even more grandiose promises (aka BS) than his last failed foray.
Politics doesn’t need another personality cult. It needs a few adults who are prepared to advocate for consistent principles and values. Our nation needs predictability not populism and policies that will strengthen families, foster free enterprise and rebuild civil society.
That’s why I started the Conservative Party. I could see how destructive the activist assault on the ‘house of review’ was to our national interest as it orbited around oversized egos. I also recognised that the Australian electorate couldn’t trust the major parties and were looking elsewhere to keep a check on them.
Like it or not, either Labor or Liberal will form government for the foreseeable future. They are both versions of each other and so the real question confronting the Australian people is how best to temper their excesses and hold them accountable. The best mechanism for doing that is in the Senate.
The Australian’s Paul Kelly wrote today the Senate needs to rise above squalid dysfunction – and I agree with him. Our very powerful upper house shouldn’t be implementing personal agendas – it should be making governments better.
As Kelly wrote “It has moved away from being a house of review or keeping governments honest. It runs its own agenda and is just as likely to vote against policies on which governments are elected — witness the corporate tax cuts — as policies that involve broken promises.”
Australia cannot afford to continue down this path nor can it continue to allow either of the major parties’ power to go unchecked. Long gone are the days where they would temper each other’s excesses as they have both surrendered their soul for political expediency in pursuit of power.
So there needs to be a reliable cop on the political beat but it needs to be one that cannot be bought, bribed or bullied. That takes courage, principle and a spine of steel.
That is the foundational ethos of the Conservative Party and events this week reinforce how important our future success is.
Whenever the next Federal election is called, and there is a growing sentiment that it will be later this year, we will provide a Senate safe haven that will reform and strengthen politics.
Things that make you go Hmm…
Corporate Australia succumbs to political correctness, a young car buyer in Queensland falls victim to Victorian ‘car cloning’ while the Queensland government clashes with unions on renewables. There’s shades of grey over Morrison’s surplus, a Fairfax ‘expert’ proposes gender-based taxation as Australia becomes a death tax haven. Ballarat council goes to the dogs, Victorian activists sue chaplains for being Christian and a Victorian hacker implants tickets on himself.
Whatever next? – Gay dads on TV are ‘too white’ and even the rainbow flag isn’t inclusive enough. The US gives the hypocritical UN ‘Human Rights’ Council the flick, an actress claims Oceans 8 crap reviews are gender-biased and foul-mouthed Robert De Niro discovers free speech goes both ways. A Beatle’s tweet strikes bovine intervention but hard-hats off to these clever tradies.
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.
