McVeigh’s Moody blues
POLITICAL aspirant and activist Lyle Shelton has weighed into the LNP Groom pre-selection debate.
Mr Shelton, who served on the Toowoomba Regional Council, ran as a Nationals candidate in Toowoomba North and recently left his role as managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby to join Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives, made comments via his official website taking aim at the squabble within the LNP.
His comments come on the back of a story published by The Chronicle detailing Gabbinbar Homestead business manager Isaac Moody’s announcement to challenge federal minister John McVeigh for LNP pre-selection for the seat of Groom.
“It is not every day that a sitting member’s pre-selection is challenged, particularly one who is a member of Cabinet,” Mr Shelton wrote on his website.
“My concern with the LNP, which is highlighted by this very public rift, is that even conservative members like John McVeigh can’t find it within themselves to fight for values which go to the heart of what it means to be a conservative.
“So powerful are the forces within the party that they do not boldly advocate publicly for the things they tell their pre-selectors they believe in.
Mr Shelton then took aim at a perceived silence from Mr McVeigh on the issue.
“Conservative politicians like McVeigh don’t seem to understand that their silence and then capitulation have betrayed the conservative values of family, freedom of speech, religion and the rights of children that parties like the LNP once stood for,” he wrote.
“I hope the Isaac Moodys of the LNP are successful in dragging the LNP back to its conservative roots. But I suspect that when the Groom pre-selection is held on April 28, it will be Christopher Pyne and Malcolm Turnbull’s black hand movement that prevails.”
The Liberal National Party was contacted for comment by The Chronicle.