Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley has fired a warning shot at so-called culture warriors within her party.

Essentially she’s saying the Liberals are not interested in the Culture Wars because it’s not the pathway to power.

In an opinion article for the Australian, Ley reflects on the tenth anniversary of the election of the Abbott government.

It’s a rallying cry for unity and the jettisoning of distractions.

‘We are not a party for single-issue culture wars, dominated by reactionary populists,’ she writes.

In 2013 ‘we weren’t bogged down in culture wars’.

Ley doesn’t define what these ‘culture wars’ are or who the ‘single issue reactionary popularists’ are.

But we can guess.

There has been a trend of late made by moderate members to isolate Liberals like Katherine Deeves, a former federal candidate and current high-profile party member, and Moira Deeming, a Victorian Upper House member of Parliament.

Both have been criticised by ‘moderate’ Liberals for advocating for the rights of girls and women to be safe from radical LGBTQ+ gender fluid ideology.

Abortion, the killing of unborn babies even while there is a healthy baby and a healthy mother, is another issue commonly lumped into the ‘culture war’ basket which only deplorables dare raise in political discourse.

Deeming’s pro-life position, something that is supposed to be welcome in the Liberal party, came under attack from one of her colleagues speaking anonymously (and gutlessly) to the media.

‘If you’re joining the Liberal Party to implement regressive politics such as repealing abortion or turning back voluntary assisted dying, it’s not the party for you,’ he or she said.

Liberals fail to realise that many of their Republican party counterparts in the US are winning culture war issues.

Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida and a possible Presidential candidate, recently signed into law a bill that protects unborn children with a beating heart.

The climate-driven energy debate is also seen by elites as a culture war issue that is settled.

Those highlighting the folly of Net Zero policies with no baseload power plan, such as Senators Matt Canavan, Alex Antic, and Gerard Rennick, are marginalised figures.

Incidentally, these Liberals are also pro-life and pro girls’ and women’s rights.

Side-ling those concerned about gender clinics harming children as ‘single issue reactionary popularists’ is like saying the 19th Century anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce was too narrowly focused.

By the way, anyone who knows anything about today’s ‘culture warriors’ knows that like Wilberforce, they are anything but single issue focused.

But wise heads will say that good policy is good politics.

The problem with modern politics is the only politics it is interested in is power politics, regardless of whether the issue is good or truthful.

Mainstream Australians don’t want their children confused about their gender at school, they don’t support our laws which allow abortion right to the moment of birth, and they want an economy that flourishes because of the provision of reliable and affordable electricity.

Elite opinion demands acquiescence to abortion on demand, the LGBTQ+ political agenda (no matter how radical its claims), and genuflection to climate ideology.

The remaining moderates are simply trying to pull their troops into line.

But these issues are not settled. They are not fringe. They have massive implications for civil society and they should be matters for debate and discussion in the body politic.

By denying this and marginalising those who seek to prosecute them, the moderate Liberals are driving mainstream Australians away from the Liberal Party.

This is not a new phenomenon and Ley’s missive yesterday is just the latest attempt to ensure awkward issues for elites don’t get a profile in the party.

It’s why parties like Family First must exist. These are issues of social and economic importance, and they must not be cancelled from the political discourse.

Lyle Shelton is National Director of the Family First party.

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