Australians live in a dangerous era. The Prime Minister of the day, a communist sympathiser in his youth, wishes to impose a fundamental change upon our constitutional democracy without actually having bothered to read the fine print himself describing what that change will look like. At the same time, our tertiary education institutions continue their downward trajectory compared to their international peers and our schools give up any pretence of being anything other than left-wing propagandists poisoning young minds with a hatred and shame towards Australia’s traditions and history. Sadly, the majority of our politicians prefer a timid ‘don’t rock the boat’ approach, fearful of factional deals, polling numbers, pre-selections and the like. Matching them, the vast preponderance of our business, corporate and media leaders simply shrug their shoulders and happily pander to whatever woke fad tickles their marketing department’s fancy, giving little concern to the tastes and sensibilities of mainstream Australians. To compound these assaults on what should be a vibrant democracy, Australia now finds itself at the mercy of a veritable army of taxpayer-funded bodies and bureaucracies entirely captured by the long-warned-of ‘march through the institutions’ who are hell-bent on imposing their socialist agenda through all means at their disposal.

Surely a conservative correction is long overdue?

The sad and unavoidable truth is that Australia is cursed by its own success. We are the most successful multiracial nation on earth and thanks to our abundant resources – predominantly fossil fuels – have known nothing but wealth, prosperity, peace and harmony with only the occasional blip since the second world war. To say that we take our good fortune for granted is a sad understatement. The horrors of uncontrolled mass illegal immigration that has done so much damage to most other Western societies have in reality barely touched us here, largely thanks to the sterling work of Tony Abbott and the late Jim Molan. Decades of a comfortable, suburban lifestyle have seen the cheerful and optimistic ‘She’ll be right’ attitude of the past morph into an unpleasant and grasping sense of entitlement fuelled by the ever-expanding generosity of a bloated welfare state. Worse, Australians’ famed larrikin disdain for authority and rigid conformity has, perversely, seen us – especially but not uniquely during Covid – slide into a creeping, unquestioning acceptance of draconian rules and stifling regulations imposed from on high. Individualism has been viciously squashed in favour of suffocating collectivism, with virtually no thought given to the loss of those very precious values – freedom of expression, love of country, self-reliance, resilience – that we pay lip service to every increasingly fraudulent Anzac Day.

Historians and activists may choose to waste their time arguing about whether 26 January represents Invasion Day or simply the beginning of the Aboriginal peoples’ lucky break, given that settlement was inevitable and had it occurred under any regime or empire other than the British would in all likelihood have resulted in the extinction of their race. But the unavoidable realisation is that Australia is currently in the throes of a new invasion – the invasion of the socialists. Alas, as any number of Australians who had the good fortune to arrive here from either eastern Europe, China or other parts of the communist world can attest, being conquered by the hard left will only ever end in tyranny, oppression, poverty and misery for the vast majority of the population, whilst a small cohort enjoy plundering the riches that close proximity to power affords them.

Australia currently faces two terrifying threats. One, obviously, is the military threat posed by an increasingly belligerent China under Xi Jinping. Australia urgently needs to bolster its defence forces, particularly in the north. This will be one of the priorities of an incoming Dutton government. But conservatives will need to do what they have not done for a long time in this country, and that is to begin the fight against socialism in a serious and determined fashion. Sadly, Major General Molan is no longer with us, but an incoming Liberal government needs a cultural version of Operation Sovereign Borders – a well-thought-through plan to rapidly and efficiently ‘Turn back the Wokes’. On day one the ABC gets put on a subscription model; university funding is slashed from all subjects with a political bent; an immediate unbanning of nuclear energy combined with a repudiating of all net-zero policies and targets; a comprehensive cleaning out of the upper echelons of the public service; no more government contracts to woke companies; an immediate overhaul of the national curriculum, etc.

Conservatives need to get back in the ring and fight. Beginning at this weekend’s CPAC event in Sydney. The days of pandering to focus groups must end – indeed, there needs to be some serious soul-searching within the Liberal party itself.

Much as the times suited Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, so too do the times now suit a determined conservative leader, as we are witnessing across Europe. The overreach of the left on net zero and the resulting cost-of-living nightmare, the destruction of small business and the insanity of the Voice are all fertile ground for conservatives who have a genuine plan, as opposed to the unctuous and failed Turnbull-Morrison Labor-lite, sit-on-your-hands and grovel to the elites approach. Happy CPAC!