Boxers, Accountants & Emperors

In cleansing the Liberal Party, their anti-corruption consultant has scored another victory. The latest culprit is ‘Joanne’, a respected great-grandmother from Sydney’s North Shore. While her cover has long been to raise funds and do voluntary work, the depths of her treachery rocked the Liberal grandees clustered into their William Street bunker. Joanne’s crime was to write to a newspaper posing the heretical question why the Turnbull government had broken their promise never to touch her superannuation. The purge is said to cost $80,000. To cover this, loyal members are happy to pay substantial fees to attend their coming convention, where they’ll eagerly swear the loyalty oath, ‘to turn up, pay up and shut up’.

When Jai Martinkovits and I proposed to the joint standing committee on indigenous recognition that there be an elected convention to consider this and other constitutional issues, we pointed out there would have been no federation had the issue not been taken out of the hands of the politicians. After a political impasse, the colonies eventually adopted Sir John Quick’s 1873 Corowa proposal that the question be referred to an elected convention. After consultation with politicians and public, it would finalise the constitution, which would then be referred to the people for decision by referendum. The crucial point is that if the question had not been taken out of the hands of the politicians − more independent and better prepared than today’s − we’d probably be several countries on one continent, like South America. Sir John Quick is unknown today. He should be venerated, with his face on the currency. The committee noted our proposal for a convention and the government seemed to like it. But then they decided that only the indigenous should be represented. The convention surprised everyone, especially many embarrassed corporate heads, by dropping constitutional recognition. Instead they want what would be a third indigenous parliamentary chamber to advise the other two. As the elites are confirmed believers in identity politics, we shall no doubt soon see proposals from the Human Rights Commission for umpteen parliamentary chambers representing as many sexes as they can imagine – and their imagination is very rich – as well as every race and religion in the world. (Note, to allow for freedom of choice, the elites use the grammatical term ‘gender’ for ‘sex’.)

June 30 being the end of the financial year, I recall my astonishment one year at seeing the distinguished accountant Peter Cavanagh at a monarchist function. Accountants, even the chartered, usually go into seclusion that day, no doubt to toast whoever decided their year should end then, thus producing the rivers of gold which flow into their coffers. June 30 has been different this year, at least for those whom Menzies called ‘the contributors’ – those who keep the country going. They’re all receiving letters from accountants warning them of the heavy and confusing compliance burden which the Turnbull government has imposed on present and intending Self Funded Retirees. The Turnbull government has thus ensured there will be a constant reminder that they had broken their solemn promise not to touch superannuation. Their justification that this was to deal with very large superannuation funds was groundless, as for years contributions have been limited by law. If alienating SFR’s were not enough, the Turnbull government has alienated Catholic parents who’ll be similarly reminded of this every time they pay school fees, as everybody else is with every electricity bill.

There’s an old saying that no man under 30 who’s not a socialist has a heart, while no man over 30 who’s still a socialist has a brain. (In its French origin it was about republicans. I think I shall revive that.) Socialism, where politicians and bureaucrats run our lives in minute detail doing what a competitive market always does better, has long been the religion of the elites. These have been joined in recent years by an increasing number of Liberal politicians. This of course contradicts the very raison d’être of the party. It’s a pleasure then to speak to university Liberal clubs and to find that the young people there are usually truly committed to classical Liberal principles about small government and the empowerment of the individual, principles which Menzies so eloquently promoted. After addressing their federation in Melbourne recently, I had to ask one of them to guide me on how to get out of the University grounds otherwise I would still be there wandering around.

I regaled my Uber driver, a charming Ethiopian, with details of the recent visit to Australia of the grandson of the Emperor Haile Selassie on the 50th anniversary of his visit to Australia. He, Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selaisse, through his intelligence, humility and lack of ambition for power, is a living demonstration of the great advantages of constitutional monarchy, especially of keeping at least one state position out of the hands of politicians.

‘As handsome as a Paris model… neither arrogant nor boastful…but with an inner calm,’ said Alan Jones, Macquarie Radio’s Renaissance prince who uniquely combines a belief in classical political thought with a passion for both sports and culture. He was interviewing champion boxer Jeff Horn. Horn is a gentleman and a credit to his family, including Joanna, his ‘beautiful wife’, as he never fails to describe her. He will go far, with sponsors and promoters already at his door. Australians should rejoice that our next generation contains such quality. Pity then that the politicians are not only saddling the young with massive debt, they have foolishly destroyed Australia’s once secure and low-cost energy supply. If they’re not stopped, they’ll turn our nation into the Venezuela of the South Seas, all for the global warming fiction. They should follow President Trump’s magnificent dissent at the G20, declaring what common sense tells us, the warmist Emperor has no clothes.