Just months after the Liberal-National Coalition’s bruising election defeat—and amid the resurgence of Trump’s MAGA movement and the shocking assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk—Australians gathered in Brisbane for CPAC, the country’s largest right-leaning conference.
Speakers at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Australia grappled with difficult issues like divisions in the centre-right Liberal Party, a simmering immigration debate, and the cost of net zero.
For many attendees, CPAC was an opportunity to share ideas and plot a path for the future of traditional and conservative values in the country.
Migration
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott tackled one of the hottest issues in recent weeks: migration policy.“Right now, sustained records of migration is putting downward pressure on wages, upward pressure on housing costs and serious strain on our social and physical infrastructure, we simply do not have the houses for a half a million newcomers every single year,” he told attendees.
“So what I say to my colleagues in Canberra is that numbers must come down, preferably to the levels of the Howard era, and we have to make it absolutely clear to every single person who comes here that you have to take seriously the words of the citizenship pledge under God’s people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect and whose laws I will uphold.”
His comments come after thousands of Australians took to the streets last month to protest current migration numbers.
Threat of the CCP Spotlighted
The inherent dangers of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was brought to the fore as Senator Jacinta Price accused the Albanese government of “silencing a candid national debate on the great danger of our age.”“And that’s the danger posed by the Chinese military and its interference in our country,” she said.
Price made a distinction between the CCP and the Chinese people, including Australians of Chinese background.
She also warned Australia against burying its head in the sand, and said CCP activities like its naval circumnavigation around the continent as well as weapons test should be taken seriously.
“That wasn’t a benign exercise. That was a rehearsal the Chinese Communist Party wanted to show its ability to project power over us,” she said.
“Their missiles can strike Australian bases and civilian infrastructure. We were once largely protected by the tyranny of distance. Now, new weapons of war have turned safe distance into perilous proximity.”
Former Prime Minister Abbott was also concerned Australians were complacent about the CCP threat.
Net Zero
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan spoke strongly in favour of scrapping net zero targets, saying such a plan would lay the groundwork for controlling how people transport themselves and even the food they eat.“It’s a new, whole new government plan. It’s the biggest government plan in world history.
“There’s another word for that. It’s called socialism. That’s what it is. That’s what it is, a socialist plan.”
South Australian Liberal Senator Alex Antic said the blame could not be entirely levelled at the Labor and Green parties and their “so-called progressive politics,” but because conservatives had been “vacating the field.”
“And it might be the hard left which has pulled the trigger and continue to prosecute this argument, but the right have allowed the hoax of net zero to foster,” he said, warning that the Australian Energy Market Operator has flagged potential power shortfalls this summer.
The Liberal Party’s Existential Crisis
A warning was also issued to Australia’s current centre-right Liberal Party, warning it needed to fight for conservative causes, during a panel featuring British broadcaster Dan Wootton, UK political commentator Connor Tomlinson, and former British Prime Minister Liz Truss.The three spoke about how the centre-right British Conservative Party was in existential trouble from the conservative-leaning Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage.
“If you allow mass migration, if you allow taxes to rise to the highest level in 70 years, if you adopt the net zero agenda, lock, stock and barrel, people will react to that,” Truss said.
Truss said the Conservative Party had “vacated the ground.”
“It basically became a Labour-like party, and the voters have noticed that and they don’t like it.”
Remembering Charlie Kirk
Senator Canavan recalled a story of how he emailed Charlie Kirk out of the blue, asking him to come to Australia.“He had a massive following right around the world,” Canavan said.
“And it is a bit perplexing. How did he have such a following, almost secretly among many of our young children watching him online?
“And the more I’ve seen the videos ... what strikes me is that he had a huge following because he displayed courage.
“He displayed courage by going into the belly of the beast, into university campuses, and tackling the left with unapologetically strong views. He had courage when he displayed his Christian faith without any apology.”
Kirk was praised by many who spoke at the conference, including Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, who pointed to his frank demeanour as a blueprint worth following.
“Like Charlie Kirk, let your actions show your value system,” she said.
“It’s not the government’s problem to solve everything.
“The onus is on us. We don’t have to be counter cultural. And I love that.”
American School Choice advocate Corey DeAngelis said Kirk was a “legend.”
Australians Called Upon to Take Action
Senator Antic emphasised the importance of Australians mobilising and taking action.Former leader Abbott shared a similar view saying that if people wanted greater change, they needed to join a political party and take action, rather than complain.
“And remember this, effort does not guarantee success,” he said. “Lack of effort does guarantee failure.
“And remember this, a majority that stays silent does not long remain a majority, and we have got to roar, and that’s what this conference is all about.”
