Australian Politics: A Conservative-Free Zone?

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet leaves the New South Wales Liberal party campaign launch, ahead of the 2023 New South Wales state election, at Liverpool Catholic Club in Sydney, Australia, on March 12, 2023. AAP Image/Flavio Brancaleone

Commentary

Pollster Graham Young recently predicted that the last centre-right Liberal government on the mainland looks set to fall in the upcoming New South Wales election.

If his prediction comes true, all states and territories on the mainland will have centre-left Labor governments.

It is sometimes argued, in the right-of-centre press, that this development is due to the Liberal Party’s inability (or unwillingness) to act in accordance with liberal and conservative principles and values, thereby alienating its support base.

This argument assumes that the Liberal Party has abandoned, or is disregarding, its founding principles and values and, hence, its policies have become indistinguishable from Labor’s policies with only small variations at the edges.

Indeed, the economic policies of the major parties are essentially the same with the Liberals claiming to be better economic managers.

On the social front, parts of its traditional supporter base have expressed disappointment at the party for not standing firm on conservative values.

When left-of-centre parties are in power, it’s expected that social engineering laws will be implemented.

The front entrance of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on March 4, 2021. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

During the last 20 years, Australia has experienced a tidal wave of changes ushering in greater intervention in people’s lives. From cradle to grave welfare, same sex marriage, euthanasia, abortion, gender dysphoria legislation, gender identification policies, affirmative action, zero emissions and climate change rhetoric, among others.

These developments are all aimed at implementing some vision of “equality” above all other principles.

It reminds us of the iconic statement of Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. of the American Supreme Court who said: “I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealising envy.”

Where Are the Representatives Who Will Protect Our Values

The Liberal Party’s record on such legislation has not been better.

For example, in 2021 the Victorian opposition preferred to abstain when the Parliament adopted the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021—with only two Liberal MPs voted against it.

Furthermore, former Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy vowed that the Liberals would “never bring back gay conversion therapy.”

And federally, when the Liberal Party was in office, it failed to remove section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, which prohibits so-called “offensive” speech. It also failed to adopt a freedom of religion law, and it proposed to amend the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to remove the current exemptions for religiously affiliated schools.

The current government has now enthusiastically taken over the task of eroding the ethos and values of traditional religious schools.

The pandemic also revealed that both major parties share an unquestioned belief in “science” leaving no room anymore for faith (or even common sense).

In this context, governing parties appear to condone The Humanist Manifesto II, which stated in 1973 in Article I that “traditional dogmatic and authoritarian religions” apparently do a “disservice to the human species.”

Shunned by His Own Party

There are few Liberal politicians who wish to stem the tide of rampant secularism, but face vilification.

An example in point is the case of Nick Goiran MLC who represents the metropolitan south region of Perth in the Western Australia (WA) Legislative Council.

In 2021, a complaint was filed against him because of his contribution to the WhatsApp group called “The Clan” that apparently discussed branch stacking and preselection. In August 2022, he was cleared of all wrongdoing after a nine-month internal party investigation.

However, the new Liberal leader of WA, Libby Mettam MLA, stripped him of his Shadow Attorney-General portfolio and removed him from the Shadow Cabinet.

There is speculation that this action was taken because he failed to apologise to the party for his alleged involvement in “The Clan.”

West Australian Liberal MP Nick Goiran speaks to the media during a press conference outside the Parliament of Western Australia in Perth, on Nov. 24, 2020. AAP Image/Richard Wainwright

Goiran had made it clear that he was never going to apologise, considering that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing and did not violate the Liberal code of conduct.

In WA, following Labor’s landslide victory in the elections of March 2021, only 15 Liberal members serve in the Parliament.

Fourteen of these were appointed to the Shadow Ministry, with Goiran the only Liberal member excluded from the frontbench.

Goiran’s exclusion is ironic, considering that he has used his office to constantly rail against Labor’s social engineering legislation, which his constituency considers to be incompatible with Christianity, conservative values, and common sense.

Goiran is the only Liberal MP with legal qualifications and so there is a reasonable expectation that he would have been named the Shadow Attorney-General.

However, the opposition leader appointed another member to the job, but had to downgrade that position to Shadow Minister of Justice when it was discovered that the person appointed did not have legal qualifications.

Clearly, this is not a good look, and one could well say that it is imprudent to leave Goiran out of the Shadow Cabinet.

Goiran’s case shows that the Liberal opposition on the mainland needs a long period of rejuvenation and is likely destined to spend an extended time in opposition in every state.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.