Cory Bernardi stirs dissent
The Liberal Party has paid the price for turning its back on its conservative base and Malcolm Turnbull bears much of the responsibility, says the right-wing South Australian senator.
PT2M32S 620 349Conservatives are too individualistic to act collectively and lack the energy and youth to door-knock and carry out social media campaigns, an expert says, as hard-right Liberals try to emulate activist group GetUp!.
GetUp!'s role in deposing at least two Coalition MPs at the federal election, and badly eroding the margins of others, has prompted right-wing senator Cory Bernardi to urge the formation of a rival people's revolution.
Coalition MP George Christensen describes the Australian Conservatives as "a new movement for common sense". Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Dubbed Australian Conservatives, Coalition MP George Christensen has described it as "a new movement for common sense", adding "if we do nothing, we will let the forces of socialism and globalism conquer".
But University of Sydney governance expert Stewart Jackson warned that the nature of conservative politics "doesn't lend itself to this sort of movement-building".
"Conservatives … tend to be quite focused on the individual as opposed to collective action," he said, adding such efforts traditionally only worked when centred on specific issues such as gun owner rights.
Ousted Liberal MP Andrew Nikolic, pictured with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, has said a campaign by GetUp! has cost him his seat. Photo: Andrew Meares
Dr Jackson said groups such as GetUp! appealed to younger people, such as students, who "generally...have more time and more energy", and were more savvy at online campaigning and engagement.
"There are some quite radical older people but they are in much smaller proportions," he said.
"As people get older they tend to be a… little bit more circumspect about engagement … [they think] 'what are the ramifications, will it actually change anything?'
"Whereas if you're young it's like 'no, we can change the world'."
It is not the first time Senator Bernardi has tried to mobilise conservatives into a grassroots movement.
In 2009 he set up the Conservative Leadership Foundation, which claims that left-wing ideology dominates the media, universities and public discourse, and "it can seem very lonely being a voice of reason".
He also established the Conservative Action Network or CANdo – an initiative GetUp! national director Paul Oosting said had "flopped".
"They had a crack and it failed," he said.
"I don't think they have a good sense of how to be involved in grassroots community campaigns, and I don't think people were particularly passionate around corporate tax cuts for multinationals or cutting funding from schools and hospitals."
CANdo executive director Jai Martinkovits said his group had enjoyed "limited success" but was "not really active in the same capacity that it was".
Mr Martinkovits said CANdo influenced bipartisan border protection policies and the Coalition decision to pursue a same-sex marriage plebiscite.
"In terms of its contribution on different issues, [CANdo] certainly gave a voice to people who wanted to support those campaigns … I'd say that was a success," he said.
"Obviously it hasn't been as successful as GetUp! in changing the results of elections and I think that just comes down to the resources that are behind it."
Senator Bernardi declined to comment on the prospects of Australian Conservatives, saying critics were "entitled to their opinions".
University of Sydney political sociology professor Ariadne Vromen said Facebook and digital campaigning had become mainstream, even among "older politicised conservatives" and the right could emulate GetUp!'s success.
"The main challenge would be to figure out how to stick to core issues, positive stories and targeted campaigning," she said.
"These have worked for GetUp! over time but will be harder to create for a base that is mainly angry at social change and not focussed on … their core goals."
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