Wacky Left leaves door open for sensible Right
RONALD Reagan was one of the greatest conservative leaders of the modern age. One of the greatest leaders of any persuasion, in fact. He joined the Republican Party in 1962. But he began his political career as a Democrat and a unionist as president of the Screen Actors Guild. A Hollywood progressive.
He later said: “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”
Progressive parties such as the Democrats in the US and the Labor Party in Australia used to be about supporting families, supporting workers, and campaigning for civil rights. They believed in justice, democracy, self-determination, peace and security, and equality.
Now they want to replace the family with government. They close industries and destroy blue-collar jobs.
They promote policies entrenching welfare dependence and addiction. And they increasingly support authoritarianism, cancel culture and control by bureaucrats.
I grew up in a working-class family. We believed in God, family and work. We thought that was normal. My dad was a lifelong Labor supporter and a unionist.
If I asked Dad what he thought of someone he’d only say a few words. If he said, “He’s a worker”, it meant
Dad thought he was a good person, went to work every day, put food on the table and supported his family. If he said, “He’s not a worker”, that meant Dad didn’t think much of him at all.
When I was a child, I lived under segregation with a special branch of bureaucrats able to control every aspect of Aboriginal lives. My family fought for decades to end segregation and the welfare boards controlling our lives. Over the past three years, progressive governments have empowered bureaucrats to control people’s lives in ways I’d never have imagined. And in Australia they want to put unequal rights in our constitution.
So, when people wonder how I, Warren Mundine – a former national president of the Australian Labor Party – ended up joining Australia’s conservative side of politics, my answer is this: I didn’t leave the Labor Party. It left me.
Last weekend, CPAC held its annual conference in Australia. CPAC stands for Conservative Political Action Conference and has been held in the US for 50 years. In the past five years, CPAC has grown across the world with conferences in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Hungary, Mexico and Israel.
One reason this movement is growing is the march of progressive parties to the far, wacky Left where they reject and undermine traditional working-class values.
I became chairman of CPAC Australia because I believe in justice, democracy, self-determination, peace, security and equality. CPAC’s mission is to promote the philosophy that all citizens enjoy these fundamental rights. CPAC is fighting for these basic values of liberal democracy and individual rights.
This is a conservative mission because these are fundamental, age-old principles.
But they were also hard-won. And are now under threat.
CPAC Australia’s 2022 conference was a huge success, with 1000 in attendance and more than a million unique viewers watching the livestream.
Many of the event’s speakers are demonised in the press and social media as fascist, racist Nazis and evil people (or may well be for speaking at CPAC).
But what I heard over the weekend was people speaking facts and common sense, and standing up for ideas and values that Australians overwhelmingly agree with.
The conference was attended by people from all walks of life. Not some fringe minority.
Most Australians want normal things. They want to get an education. Get a job or set up a business. Marry and have a family and build a future for that family. Buy a home. And get their children educated so they can do the same. That’s what CPAC supports. Conservatives have an incredible record for doing good, but we rarely talk about it. It was the Coalition who delivered equal rights to Aboriginal people in the constitution via the
1967 Referendum and universal voting rights for Indigenous people in federal elections (not dependent on state voting rights). And Robert Menzies pressured Western Australia and Queensland to lift their voting restrictions too.
The first Aboriginal elected to parliament was a Liberal – Neville Bonner. It was a Coalition government who ended the White Australia policy (and a Labor government who introduced it). I could list many more examples.
Conservatives see these things as normal and right because they’re consistent with the fundamental principles I mentioned earlier.
So they don’t constantly pat themselves on the back or celebrate these achievements. And that needs to change. CPAC Australia will continue to grow, promote these principles and celebrate the great achievements of the people who champion them.