Showing posts with label Australian Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian Politics. Show all posts

One more seat and One Nation joins the majors

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Pauline Hanson's One Nation is now the main conservative party in Australia

The Coalition appears to have abandoned their followers who sweated blood for them over the past 30 years. Further, the minor conservative parties brought about their own demise by trying to play off against one another. Rising from the ashes of the socialist’s recent election victory is One Nation. Soon to approach its thirtieth year, One Nation is now the only real chance for conservatives to hold the Uniparty to account.

What can conservatives do to help One Nation?

Terry Barnes had this to say in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy is encouraged that the surprise Senate gains of One Nation put it in reach of official party status at five seats, and the resources that status brings. But based on the troubled party’s history, and especially how all One Nation senators since 2016 – Malcolm Roberts excepted – have fallen out with their leader and party founder, your scribe remains unconvinced that One Nation is poised or savvy enough to make the breakthrough to make it a strong player in the Canberra parliamentary game. Let’s wait and see.

My latest opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, One more seat and One Nation joins the majors.

Introducing One Nation’s first WA Senator, Tyron Whitten

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Pauline Hanson with One Nation's first WA Senator, Tyron Whitten.

One Nation is officially the most successful conservative minor party following the recent election. Today I spoke with Tyron Whitten, the first One Nation senator to be elected outside of Queensland this election, and asked him a few questions.

My latest interview for The Spectator Australia, Introducing One Nation’s first WA Senator, Tyron Whitten.

"These Greens and Teals live in the concrete jungles of the city ... they’re happy to have all this green energy, but not in their backyard. You know, it doesn’t impact their lives, but let’s cut down some rainforest somewhere in someone else’s backyard."https://t.co/H8PXOVl5zx

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) May 30, 2025

Socialism dressed up in the politics of empathy

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We're all just getting along, now, ain't we?

Labor’s ‘values-based capitalism’ and energy policy echo Klaus Schwab’s ‘stakeholder capitalism’ that asks big government and big business to implement Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks. ESG is on the nose and so is ‘nature positive’, but with the Uniparty’s other leader agreeing to whatever Labor says about environmental policy, we’ll get it, and we will love it.

Every new policy and political event push us closer to socialism. Like cancel culture, you cannot debate it because then you are toxic or unkind or some other wimpy label. When you get cancelled or sacked for disagreeing, it is all about ‘empathy’.

Terry Barnes had this to say in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy goes hard against the socialism that now penetrates every pore of our major parties’ policies and messaging. I quibble with his ‘socialism dressed up as empathy’ argument, however: in Australia, major party socialism is rampant and it’s naked, not dressed up as anything other than what it is. He could, however, have mentioned Alexander Dubcek’s ‘socialism with a human face’, so we could add that there’s no Australian political leader who comes within a bull’s roar of the courage shown by Czechoslovakia’s Dubcek in 1968.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Socialism dressed up in the politics of empathy.

I hate to say it, but the Nats need to split

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David Littleproud has decided to split the Nationals from the Coalition. My prophetic article below.

The wets in the Liberal Party have gone full Woke. They have destroyed the most successful political party in Australian history. If the Liberals had held true to Sir Robert’s vision for the Forgotten People, the Liberal Party would not have forgotten them like the United Australia Party did in 1940s.

The fractured conservative vote of the last election would not have occurred to the same extent if the Liberal Party had spoken to its base. I don’t care what self-professed psephologists say, there were so many of my conservative colleagues who wanted to punish the Liberal Party for abandoning them that, against all my hoping, the election outcome was a fait accompli.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

The Liberal Party seems to be having some sort of mid-life identity crisis, talking about going off to ‘rediscover’ itself in the wilderness of opposition. Under the leadership of Sussan Ley, the blue ribbon that held Australian conservatism together isn’t quite sure what it stands for, if it stands for anything, except it doesn’t like any of the policies put forward by its (former) Coalition partner. That would be the partner that performed better than it did at the federal election. It’s no wonder the Nationals are fed up and walked off in a huff. Sure, the Liberals will be free to snaffle up all the Shadow Cabinet seats and draft whatever Labor-lite, Tealish policies it likes, but it will also be free to make a real mess of itself as it puts the revered ‘values’ statement in the shredder.

My prophetic article in The Spectator Australia, I hate to say it, but the Nats need to split.

The Great Liberal Split of 2025

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Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price were the Liberal Party's last hope.

Today will go down in history as the beginning of the end for the Liberals. Why would you bother voting for them when you can just vote Labor? At least Labor wins elections.

This has nothing to do with gender, and it is all about the dysfunctional NSW Liberals. Indeed, Angus Taylor might be in serious trouble if the last exclusive in the Daily Telegraph is anything to go by.

Conservatives are now starved for choice. There is a clear divide between One Nation and Gerard Rennick supporters. Calls for a conservative unity ticket are misguided – the Liberal Party was that very unity ticket that conservatives are now dreaming of.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

I don’t know about you, but I’m electioned out. So, today’s related comments are brief. Sussan Ley beat Angus Taylor for the Liberal leadership yesterday by not much. She is the first female Liberal federal leader: good for her. But her leadership debut was underwhelming, and her quarter-century as an MP doesn’t reveal what absolute convictions she holds. I give her till Christmas next year – at the latest – to shape up the Liberals and get some real centre-right policy out there to prove to anti-Labor voters there’s hope. Otherwise, Taylor and the ambitious likes of hyper-confident Tim Wilson will be breathing hard down her neck. Then again, the thing about having low expectations about someone is that can clear them fairly easily. I doubt she can do even that, but Michael de Percy is even more blunt about her election and what it means.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, The Great Liberal Split of 2025.

Reform Oz? One Nation or bust

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I think I am done with the Uniparty

The success of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is dominating conservative thinking in Australia. Some see Gerard Rennick as the leader of such a movement, but with his pending defeat by One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts in the Senate, Rennick has been unable to do what Pauline Hanson did after she was disendorsed by the Liberal Party in 1996.

If there is any chance of a Reform Oz party, it would be via One Nation, but it couldn’t do so with the moniker ‘Pauline Hanson’s One Nation’.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Reform Oz? One Nation or bust.

Littleproud paves the way for Ley-Wilson Wokefest

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Canavan was a missed opportunity for the Nationals.

The National Party had a chance to give conservatives a sense of dignity by electing Matt Canavan as their new leader. Instead, we will get more of the same. This will embolden the Liberal left (I can’t believe such a term even exists) against Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. The worst outcome will be a Sussan Ley-Tim Wilson win tomorrow. I think that will spell the end of the Coalition as we know it.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Bunfight at the OK Tearooms. Yes, that was an episode of The Goodies. But it could just as well be the Liberal party room this morning, when leadership contenders Angus Taylor and Sussan Ley may as well shoot clotted cream and tomato sauce at each other, as neither have any real policy ideas. As stated yesterday, I have no confidence whatsoever in either of them to bind party wounds, start on developing costed and funded sensible centre-right policy nor, indeed, drag the Liberals back to the sensible centre-right zone where most voters tend to congregate if they have a viable choice. Michael de Percy shares my pessimism about Ley at least, especially after Matt Canavan went down to David Littleproud in yesterday’s leadership ballot for the Nationals. My expectation is Ley will just have the numbers, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tim Wilson, having ruled out a leadership tilt because ‘it’s not my time’ (ie, ‘I don’t have the numbers’) pops up as Ley’s deputy, defeating Jacinta Price. The ultra-ambitious Wilson will hitch himself to a dud if he does that, but that’s his call.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

That dream was a dying gasp, nothing more, from a Coalition that has spent all of its time and money listening to people who want it to lose. Sometimes it’s tempting to believe that the Coalition doesn’t want to win. I’ve heard that repeated by our readers. That, like their Victorian state counterparts, they enjoy being curled up in the corner of Parliament like cats with no responsibility and endless free meals. I’m not so sure I believe that anymore. Rather, perhaps the situation is more serious, and the federal Coalition believe their ideas are good and that victory lies in chasing voters to the left. If they win they reach socialism first, they can form government. But who would that be a victory for?

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Littleproud paves the way for Ley-Wilson Wokefest. 

The Great Reset

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Matt Canavan at CPAC 2024.

All hell broke loose on Friday afternoon as the frustrated Liberal and National parties announced separate leadership challenges that will be settled early next week. Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s defection appears to have been the catalyst for the leadership implosion.

With Dan Tehan ruling himself out of the leadership race, Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor will go head-to-head at a party meeting on Tuesday next week. Taylor announced his tilt at the leadership on Friday afternoon. Price is expected to run as Taylor’s deputy.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The Great Reset.

Factions killed Liberal broad church

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The same factions that lost the 2022 election are back in strength. In my opinion, the Liberals are done.

Formalised factions are commonly associated with socialist political parties. Marx viewed religion as the opiate of the masses. No wonder whoever dreamt up formalising factions for the Liberal Party is responsible for killing the broad church.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

They absolutely need to get some fresh direction or these will be the last three years of their Coalition.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Factions killed Liberal broad church.

Greens leader Adam Bandt is gone!

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It seems that you can stop the music. Bye, Felicia!

While I don’t like the Labor Party, the gracious exchanges between Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese gave me some hope for our democracy. I have never wanted Labor to win so much as I did in the seat of Melbourne.

While I think Labor in their current form are socialist, they are a reflection of the weakness of conservatives in Australia. The Greens, however, are extremists. In my opinion, they have no place in Australian politics.

The good news is that Adam Bandt is gone!

Writing in Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Despite a few ‘glimmers of hope’ (for Adam Bandt), it seems inevitable that he has lost his seat and the leadership of the Greens. His arrogant campaign to ‘keep Dutton out and get Albanese to act’ failed to resonate across the country. Although Bandt’s problems were also local, with a 2024 redraw of boundaries robbing the Greens of a few strong suburbs. Bandt wasn’t brilliant, but I fail to see how the movement can survive with someone like Mehreen Faruqi in charge. How many old school environmentalists envisioned their tree-hugging party as a Palestine-centric, rainforest-bulldozing, communist machine?

Terry Barnes had a few words to say, too, in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy’s working overtime in this election season. Today he rejoices in the demise of the diminutive leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, and the possibility the party of hard left activism will have no seats in the lower house. However, the Greens are not gone – this carbuncle on the bottom of Australian democracy still has power and influence in the Senate, wielded by people even more unpleasant and toxic, if that be possible, than Bandt. We are not done with this malevolent incubus yet, more’s the pity.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Greens leader Adam Bandt is gone!

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, I salute you!

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Hopefully this isn't the last we will see of this talented conservative politician

One of the conservatives who understands Australia better than most politicians has been returned to the Senate for the Northern Territory.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, you rock!

I’ve seen this honest and forthright politician speak at CPAC and she is all charisma and wisdom. The whole package.

What I love about Senator Price is that she is as Aussie as they come. Every bit of her being represents what we wish we were before the Woke nonsense came to our shores.


My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, I salute you!

Zoe Daniel is done and dusted

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Zoe Daniel is officially the biggest Teal loser [Fourishingfood CC BY SA 4.0]

It’s been an annoying weekend for conservatives, but the weather is always warm if you wait long enough:

Zoe Daniel is gone!

Liberal MP Tim Wilson has claimed Goldstein from Simon Holmes e Whatsit’s Teal party non-party MP Zoe Daniel.

What makes the victory sweeter is that Daniel claimed victory on Saturday night.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter Terry Barnes had this to say:

For those of us disgusted with the Blue team gifting the Red team another two terms at least (hope I’m wrong on that, but it doesn’t look good), watching Liberal Tim Wilson zoom past his Teal nemesis Zoe Daniel in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein yesterday was a consolation prize. Michael de Percy celebrates Wilson’s resurrection as a tonic for conservatives but, as Wilson has always defined himself as a classical liberal, and is certainly not socially conservative, Michael should, perhaps, just welcome Wilson’s return as an intellectually-talented Liberal capable of bolstering a devastated Opposition’s denuded brainpower. Now to see whether accident-prone Monique Ryan in Kooyong and that Teal lady in Sydney’s Bradfield will join Zoe Daniel in the electoral out-tray. We certainly hope so, and that peak Teal has been passed.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

It is a weird point in the election process and no one is quite sure what’s going to happen in several critical seats with all the re-counts in progress. Candidates who claimed victory yesterday have found out this afternoon that they lost their seats. One of these casualties is is Teal ‘independent’ Zoe Daniel. As far as anyone can tell, she’s done and dusted – and soon to be joined by at least one more. Maybe even Greens Leader Adam Bandt. There are lots of upsets in progress – although almost none of them are likely to favour the Liberals. They were roundly thumped.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Zoe Daniel is done and dusted.

Angus and Dan can save the Liberals

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Angus Taylor at the National Press Club during the 2025 election campaign

The mainstream media keep banging on about how the Coalition lost because they aren’t left enough. That is absolute nonsense. The Liberals facilitated the fracturing of the conservative vote by being Labor-lite. Every conservative knows this is true. Conservatives don’t want the Liberal Party to go left – they want the Liberal Party to be conservative.

Even NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman wants to drag the Liberals further to the left and to introduce gender quotas. We already have socialist parties. Conservatives want a conservative party, and they don’t care what woke wets think is best. But the only way Angus Taylor and Dan Tehan can save the Liberals is if they stand up to the Woke rot and represent conservatives with no excuses.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

As the Saturday night dust continues to settle, the Liberal party has sank into a morass of recriminations, back-stabbing and finger-pointing. And yet their first order of business is choosing a new leader from current deputy Sussan Ley, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, and immigration spokesman Dan Tehan. Michael de Percy is advocating for a Taylor-Tehan unity ticket. Your scribe’s response is that Taylor must not be rewarded for the damage he has done the centre-right cause, allowing the Coalition’s key selling point of superior economic manager to be trashed to the point of being irrecoverable. Sussan Ley, who added a letter to her name for numerological harmony, for goodness’ sake, has history that Labor would exploit ruthlessly and, really, what has she done? In my view, Tehan is the short- to medium-term answer: someone who can keep the remnants of the team united, is policy-savvy yet knows how the political sausage machine works. Being a rural MP doesn’t matter, as he has an urban background. Reverse the de Percy ticket order and it might just work, or keep Ley in her current position with Tehan as leader. But put the political stake through Angus’s leadership ambitions.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Angus and Dan can save the Liberals.

A great day for Albo’s Mediscam

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Albo during the 2025 election with his ubiquitous but otherwise useless Medicare card

Every time I see Albo wave his Medicare card around, I know he is gaslighting us. Labor has promised to increase the number of bulk-billing general practitioners (GPs) and to ensure that most Australians will be no more than a 20-minute drive away from a bulk-billing clinic.

In the lead-up to the election, the Australian Association of Practice Management said it was all ‘smoke and mirrors’. Here’s how the details are massaged.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

Michael de Percy has also revisited Labor’s Mediscare 3.0 (or is it 4.0?) and labels it, with good reason, Mediscam. In that, he is perfectly right. I have some skin in the health policy game, not least around what patients pay for GP services. Given that, I predict Labor’s $9 billion GP bulk-billing boondoggle will not raise Medicare rebates high enough to tempt GPs to socialise their billings much, if any, more than they are now. It was rubbish when it was announced, it was rubbish when the Coalition stupidly ‘me-tooed’ it, and it is rubbish now.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, A great day for Albo’s Mediscam.

One Nation the big winner this election

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Pauline Hanson's One Nation increased its primary vote this election. [Source: X]

The real winner of this election was Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. Unlike the other conservative parties, Pauline stuck to her guns. She didn’t deliberately antagonise the Coalition and for the most part her preferences were directed to them.

Not like the other conservative parties who did little more than fight against the Coalition. They deserve much of the blame for Labor’s win. Working Australians would have been better off if Clive Palmer had played lawn bowls.

What we needed was a conservative leader who would fight for us. Instead, we had conservatives fighting each other. Except Pauline.

My election comment in The Spectator Australia, One Nation the big winner this election.

Election 2025: Peter Dutton vs. the world

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Peter Dutton vs. the world.

Menzies’ party has been the most successful in Australian political history. Even in the last tumultuous decade, the Liberals have been in power for much longer than Labor. It’s a good thing, too. With the polls now pointing to a Labor minority or majority government, the next three years will be tough.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Michael de Percy says that it seems as if the election campaign has been a case of Peter Dutton vs. The World. ‘It’s not just the unions that help Labor. Our entire education system is geared towards supporting progressive politics. While once upon a time universities were the forum for a contest of ideas, now they are a training ground for progressive politics.’ Indeed, the rising youth voting is almost a guarantee of a future uphill battle for any conservative leader. 

My election eve coverage in The Spectator Australia, Election 2025: Peter Dutton vs. the world.

Working Australians get nothing!

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Albo pulled his lame Medicare card stunt at the National Press Club, 30 April 2025.

From the National Press Club: Peter Dutton made a mistake by refusing to address the National Press Club this week. In recent memory, the two other (electoral) losers who decided to campaign in the final week rather than address the Press Club were Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison. I rest my case.

Albo is a smooth performer, and today he didn’t miss a beat. But make no mistake, if you are not on welfare, or you are not a member of a union, then Albo’s campaign slogan could rightly be summed up as:

Working Australians get nothing!

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

As Michael de Percy points out, in this election campaign, working Australians get nothing from Labor. As a late Boomer, I’ll go further: my generation gets nothing from either side, except abuse. You see, we’re seen as on the way out, although we’re still the biggest generation on the electoral roll. It’s Millennials and Gen Zs they want, and both sides are happy to tell those younger voters that Boomers are stealing their homes and wealth, instead of thanking us for creating both for them. Message to Boomers; when this election is over, go forth and spend your kids’ inheritance! They deserve it!

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Working Australians get nothing!

If we can’t talk about Welcome to Country, are we truly one and free?

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If we can’t talk about Welcome to Country, are we truly one and free?

Events in Melbourne have shown how strongly differing political views can dominate mainstream discussions. It’s concerning that past political perspectives might shape how we address important national topics today.

The left and right of politics do not go off in a straight-line ad infinitum, they curve towards each other. Extremes on both the left and right can lead to authoritarianism, which is a concern for our democracy. Having these two political extremes play out on Anzac Day serves as a reminder to protect our social cohesion.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

Your scribe has never made an Acknowledgement of Country, and never will. Michael de Percy makes the point that if those on the left shut down a national conversation about whether such things are ‘overdone’, can we be truly be ‘one and free’ as in the Morrison-bastardised version of the national anthem? His is an interesting article, written from a perspective you may not expect.

My commentary on the Welcome to Country for ANZAC Day Dawn Service in Melbourne for The Spectator Australia, If we can’t talk about Welcome to Country, are we truly one and free?

Albo’s Mediscare has gone nuclear

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Albo and his asinine Medicare card stunt at the National Press Club, 20 April 2025.

Anthony Albanese is desperate to hold on to power. He revels in being an underestimated political underdog. Behind the scenes, he is a ‘factional ninja’ whose experience has been ‘shaped by decades of internecine feuds’. As a beta male, Albanese’s power is wielded most where it is shielded most – in the opaque world of Labor’s internal politics.

My report from the National Press Club for The Spectator Australia, Albo’s Mediscare has gone nuclear.

Time to honour our Anzacs and ramp up defence spending

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Marching with veterans in Gunning, ANZAC Day 2024

Australia has a habit of being caught with its pants down when it comes to defence spending. In 1938, Australia’s defence spend was a miserable 1.6 per cent of GDP. In the last ten years, it has wavered around 1.9 to 2 per cent. While the measure of defence spending as a percentage of GDP does not necessarily reflect the capability of one’s defence force, it does indicate that Australia has not been pulling its weight.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Time to honour our Anzacs and ramp up defence spending.

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