The number of significant political events that have taken place over the past week or so should, when taken together, set multiple alarm bells ringing in the minds of all right-thinking Australians. The forces of the political Left are now so cocksure of winning power that, even though an election has yet to be declared, they no longer bother to disguise how willing they are to sell out their country, and lower the employment opportunities and living standards of their fellow citizens, if it will advance the international, not to say Internationale, ideology of open borders, unrestricted immigration, one world government and abolition of the nation state.

Witness the strong border protection policies put in place by the Abbott government in 2013. They stopped the boats, put an end to the illegal arrival of more than 50,000 paying customers of people smugglers, and put an end to the deaths at sea. This was not only a triumph of political will but also a great humanitarian success. It has now been seriously undermined by the combined votes of the ALP, the Greens and so-called ‘cross-benchers’. No longer will the government decide who comes to Australia. Any two medical practitioners can now certify that any detainee on Manus and Nauru be admitted to Australia ‘for medical treatment’. Just try keeping ‘human rights’ medicos away from that role. Of course, the real objective is to ensure that every detainee is so certified, for the internationalists know that once they set foot on Australian soil the taxpayer- funded, lawyer-ridden, immigration advocacy industry can start the endless legal appeal process that normally ends with each detainee being permanently accommodated here in Australia at public expense. But not, of course, anywhere near the expensive homes of the bleeding-heart, progressive leftist elite.

There currently remain about 1,000 detainees on Manus and Nauru; 520 are from Iran,142 from Pakistan, 113 from Afghanistan, 109 from Sri Lanka and 122 deliberately undocumented. The majority are single adult males. Whilst some may be genuine asylum seekers, the fact that they all boarded boats in Indonesia or Sri Lanka clearly shows that Australia was not their ‘country of first asylum’ and that they are far more likely to be economic migrants looking merely to be provided with a better standard of living.

Witness also the decision of the Chief Judge of the NSW Land and Environment Court in the matter of the Rocky Hill Coal Project. In a landmark judgment he refused development consent for a new coal mine in the NSW mid-north for reasons including that any new fossil fuel development would have a detrimental effect on climate change and, because of our signing the Paris Agreement, to meeting our emissions reduction targets. Most observers were not aware that the government’s ratification of Paris translated without further legislation into domestic law. Certainly the view put forward by the UN at the time was that each nation’s proposed emissions reduction targets would be merely a voluntary statement of political intent and not legally binding. However it appears that NSW state law has quietly and for some years required consent authorities to consider CO2 emissions and the impact on climate-change.

However, there is also the question of apprehended or perceived bias. Third-party objectors opposing the mine were represented in court by the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), an official-sounding, anti-development activist organisation registered as a charity and in receipt of NSW taxpayers’ funding of $200,000 last year alone. The EDO was founded in 1987 by Brian Preston; principal solicitor for eight years before leaving for the Bar. The very same gent, now the Chief Judge of the NSW Land and Environment Court, who not only felt it unnecessary to recuse himself from hearing the case but failed to mention his links to the EDO when he ruled in their clients’ favour.

And witness also the latest attempts by the Green/Labor axis to stop the Adani coal mine in Queensland. First there was the yakka skink, then the ornamental snake. Now they’ve dredged up the black-throated finch. It would be quite amusing were it not for the fact that these self-appointed, self-satisfied and self-important zealots are doing more to reduce the living standards of ordinary Australians than could ever be done by CO2 emissions or climate change.Our exports of coal last year were worth $66.2 billion. That equates to around $2,650 for every man, woman and child in Australia. In other words, if these wreckers were successful in stopping just existing coal exports, the average family of four would in terms of income and public services be more than $10,000 p.a. worse off.

It’s not just federal parliament, state government departments and the courts that are under attack from those who put international interests before Australian ones, it’s most of our remaining institutions as well.

Call it what you will, this battle for our culture, values and democratic freedoms is now being fought in everyday Australian life. May the best man (or non-cisgender woman) win.