Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage to Visit Australia for Launch of Conservative Political Conference

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, greets UKIP leader Nigel Farage during a special session of European Parliament in Brussels on June 28, 2016. AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert

One of Britain’s most well-known political leaders and television personalities will make a special appearance at the first-ever Australian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in August.

Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage will deliver a keynote speech at the inaugural CPAC Australia.

According to the event’s website, CPAC Australia “is a conference for those that despaired at the prospect of a Shorten government controlled by militant unions and influenced by the Greens.”

“Australia dodged a socialist arrow this time,” but “the future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave,” the website quoted former U.S. President Ronald Reagan saying.

Modelled on the popular American CPAC, the event is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) and local libertarian organisation LibertyWorks.

The American CPAC in February was headlined by President Donald Trump, drawing a record crowd of 19,252 attendees.

Now in its 45th year, CPAC is America’s third-biggest political and press event of the year, ranking only behind the State of the Union and White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

President Trump hugs the American flag as he arrives to speak at Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2019, in Oxon Hill, Md., on March 2, 2019. Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

High-profile speakers touched on a range of issues, from social media bias to socialism, the ‘Green New Deal,’ and new kid on the block—China.

Organisers told the Washington Examiner they believed that the politicising of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings had been a factor behind the healthy turnout.

Attendees can expect something similar for CPAC Australia’s launch at Rydges World Square in the heart of Sydney’s CBD from Aug. 9 to 11.

Farage’s Brexit Party recently surpassed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union of Germany to become the largest single party in the new European Parliament. A former UK Conservative, Farage parted ways with the political establishment on the right side of politics early in his career, and is now winning support by fighting “global corporatism” under the slogan of “change politics for good.”

Other well-known speakers for the Sydney event include former Labor opposition leader Mark Latham, conservative U.S. Congressmen Matt Gaetz from Florida and Mark Meadows from North Carolina.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) speaks during a news conference to announce the "Green Real Deal" in Washington on April 3, 2019. Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Media personalities like Fox News national security analyst KT McFarland and columnist Janet Albrechtsen will also speak at the three-day event.

Half of the event’s 700 tickets were sold within the first 24 hours.

“It’s really exciting,” ACU chairman and host Matt Schlapp said of the Australian launch, reported The Observer.

According to the ACU, the very first CPAC—attended by Reagan himself—was held in 1974 with the hope of “rebuilding morale” among conservatives after an explosive Watergate scandal rocked a Republican administration under the not-so-conservative Nixon.

Organisers say they see CPAC Australia as a rallying point for those who identify with conservative and libertarian values centred around small government and protecting individual freedoms to gather and share their vision for the nation’s future.

Tickets are available from the CPAC Australia website.

Top sponsors of CPAC Australia include the conservative activist group Advance Australia and libertarian think tank Institute of Public Affairs.