The Echo, 18 May 2023, excerpts from “A case for a Lib-Nats reformation” by Catherine Cusack:
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Catherine Cusack is a former Liberal NSW MLC Photo Tree Faerie |
So
I audibly groaned when a friend sent me one of Donald Trump’s
latest pearlers……
The
Washington Post speculated his claim that some children are
‘deservedly’ unloved by their parents, is a ‘dog whistle’ to
older conservative white Americans. It resonates with those who fear
increasing diversity in America, and blame the younger generation of
voters for caring about climate change and voting for Democrats, like
Barrack Obama and Joe Biden.
Whatever
the logic, it is clear a toxic and rampant Trump is back and the
hijacked Republican Party can’t control or stop him.
Being
found to be a ‘sexual abuser’ only seems to have energised his
base. Trump’s angry brand –denying facts, deriding minorities and
bullying opponents – is likely to invade at least the next 18
months of newsfeeds, through to the November 2024 presidential
election.
Emboldened
fringe right wing groups
The
impact in Australia has been to embolden fringe right wing groups,
including neo-Nazis and evangelical Christians who, for years, have
backed minor religious parties like Fred Nile’s old ‘Call to
Australia’ Party. That strategy has been replaced with a
clandestine USA tactic of infiltrating the major conservative
parties.
For
example, here in the federal seat of Richmond, where we were looking
for local leadership after the floods, the Nationals selected a
Pentecostal Christian candidate whose stated mission was to ‘bring
God’s Kingdom to politics’.
The
past week has seen extraordinary disarray and increasingly selfish
behaviour derailing conservative politics. In Victoria, a religious
right Liberals MP, Moira Deeming, was expelled from the Parliamentary
wing of the Liberal Party after threatening to sue her own leader.
In
Tasmania, two right wing Liberals resigned, putting the last Liberal
government into minority, because they disagreed with a decision to
fund an AFL stadium.
And
here in NSW, Nationals MLC, Ben Franklin, betrayed his parliamentary
colleagues, who wanted to keep pressure on Labor in the hung Upper
House. In order to reduce the number of LNP votes, Labor offered Ben
the highly paid, prestigious office of Upper House presidency.
By
accepting, Mr Franklin has rendered the entire Liberals-National
coalition irrelevant in opposition for four years.
The
moral decay of conservative politics
Instead
of learning from multiple election defeats, the moral decay of
conservative politics in Australia seems to be accelerating.
I
am one of many long time Liberals who have left in recent years,
owing to a lurch to the right in policy and the unethical LNP deals,
which have handed portfolios, including education, most of
environment, Aboriginal Affairs, the Women’s portfolio, and even
Sydney Water, to the NSW Nationals – a party so backwards they are
still voting against daylight savings and in favour of subsidies to
turn koala habitat into woodchips.
In
Sydney, thousands of moderate Liberal voters have rejected these
policies, turning instead to the Teals as representing their views
better than the LNP. In regional NSW, many have turned to the
Independents as an alternative to the Nationals.
Electing
independent MPs is, in my view, a temporary fix for the problem. What
is required is a full-scale reformation of Australian centre right
politics – a reformed, or new, party that seeks to return to the
patrician values of virtuous politics; cleansing itself of religious
extremists and political bigots.
Dissolving
the LNP Coalition agreement
Step
one on the journey to reform conservative politics has got to be
dissolving the LNP Coalition agreement, thus freeing both the
Liberals and National Party to be true to their roots, and
authentically represent their communities…….
The
next year will tell if Australian Liberals have the depth and
fortitude to detach from the Nationals, to choose their own path, or
whether they are doomed like American Republicans to keep repeating
the same Trumpian drama.
