Why we need a 'conservative spring'

Almost 75 years ago, Sir Robert Menzies gave his famous "Forgotten People" address .

He spoke of the middle class as the nation's backbone, individual enterprise, governing for everyone and family as the cornerstone for society.

Whether it was Robert Menzies or John Howard – it is Liberal governments, following these timeless principles, who generate wealth, opportunity and progress.

But we cannot rest on our laurels. We live in an age of disruption – and politics is no exception. From Trump to Sanders, from Corbyn to Brexit, the tectonic plates of the political landscape are shifting.

There is a loss of faith in public institutions, the political class and its programme.

Establishment parties overseas are perceived as being on a unity ticket - of big government globalism, crony capitalism and minority fundamentalism.

The frustrated centre is rejecting this elitist agenda and looking elsewhere for solutions - ending up in the arms of reactionary parties.

Much of the success of these reactionaries has been their willingness to challenge political correctness and be a voice for the dispossessed.

Here in Australia, we have seen the minor party vote surge. This is a warning shot across the bow of the conservative establishment.

There is a real danger here, just like Uber disrupted the taxi industry, that reactionary parties will displace the traditional conservative movement.

I believe our problems start with a lack of clarity about our purpose.

No one would be under any illusions as to the goals of the political Left. Their original aim of social justice, through helping the working class, has been left far behind. Today they cloak their politics in the sweet rhetoric of fairness, equality and tolerance – but their agenda is far from benign.

They are motivated now by a burning hostility to our culture and heritage. They are not seeking reform, but revolution.

It's no coincidence they want to redesign our flag, rewrite our anthem, remove ANZAC Day, replace our constitution, repudiate our Judeo-Christian heritage and rename our national day.

The very things that make us who we are, are the very things they want to do away with.But for all their faults, they know their purpose – and they are ruthless in implementing it.

So what is our purpose?My personal view is if our destiny is to be nothing more than the speed bump on the Left's eventual road to victory, then all we are doing is wasting our time.

We are not conservatives because we believe in doing the same things, only slower.We are conservatives because we believe in different things.

Our purpose is not just to oppose the agendas of others, but to propose agendas of our own.

Our current prosperity is not the result of some giant cosmic accident. It is the social dividend from our conservative past.

While the Left seek to destroy what they don't like, we begin with gratitude for what is good, for what works and then we seek to build on that foundation.

What is tradition but inherited knowledge?

This is the essence of conservatism – the Burkean partnership between those who have gone, those who are present and those who are yet to come.

But around this permanent core, we should innovate everything else for the good.

Part of the reason conservatives struggle with purpose is because we struggle with vision.We know what a future left wing society would look like because they keep telling us about it. The reality is the Left do vision well.

Many conservatives feel more comfortable talking about the past, rather than focusing the future. We need to paint a compelling vision of a conservative future – and bring people with us on the journey.

And it must be built on our values of freedom, opportunity and human dignity.

A vision is more than just the economy – it is a picture of the type of society we want.When there is no vision, the saying goes, the people perish.

The real crisis in conservative politics is our unwillingness to engage in the battle of ideas, to take up the challenge intellectually to our opponents.As John Howard has said "It is not just important to win elections, it is also important to win arguments."

Too often we accept without question the ideological premises of the Left, unwilling to mount a counter-argument. This is why, often even when we are in government, we are rarely in power.

We need an "ideas boom" in the conservative movement. It must be proactive and call for things, not merely reacting to the ideas of others.

And there must be a moral energy to our cause where we talk about values, not just policies.

This cannot just be an abstract exercise.

We must look to the work of reform conservatives who are relating conservative values to the practical realities of everyday life.

Our poverty of ideas is reflected in a poverty of language.We used terms like "lifters and leaners". The "taxed and taxed nots". These might go down well at a Liberal SEC meeting – but they don't resonate with the general public and strike the average punter as sterile and heartless.

The Left talk about emotion, fairness, hope, change – and we talk about economies, tax rates and GDP. We are not just an economy – we are a community, a nation, a people – but listening to us speak, people may think money is all we care about.

By only talking in economic terms, we risk being seen as just the clean-up crew for Labor's economic mess.And all we become is nothing more than the funding arm for Labor's cultural Marxism.

We also talk about 'small government', as if it were some kind of Holy Grail.This is a classic example of confusing the ends with the means.

Yes we believe in small government – but that's because we firstly believe in good government.

As British PM Theresa May said recently, it's time we conservatives started talking about the good that governments can do.Small, lean and focused governments are good because they can deliver the services and programs we need more effectively. They also leave space for what really makes our communities tick – families, civic groups and small business.

Small government, strong economies and balanced budgets aren't the end goal.They are but a means to secure more freedom, better opportunity and human flourishing.

We must change our language to speak to hearts, as well as minds.

Instead of talking just about the economy, we must talk about people first – how we are empowering individuals, families and communities to reach their potential.

Sometimes our movement also seems too willing to surrender its principles on key issues.Increasingly what we are seeing today is the mobilisation of state power to attack the sacred foundations of our democratic contract.

Things like the rights of freedom of thought, speech, expression and association. It's telling that modern day conservatives can stand by and not do anything about 18C.

What happened to Andrew Bolt, Bill Leak and the students at QUT is not a peripheral issue – it goes to the very core of what we believe in.

We live in a pluralistic society and I have zero tolerance for racism.

But I also have zero tolerance for people being subjected to secret trials by highly paid government bureaucrats, for simply expressing opinions that other people disagree with.

While people are blaming the human rights machinery, it is a Liberal government who is presiding over this system and seems unwilling or unable to end it.

As the home of the centre right tradition in this country, it is the Liberal Party who is most susceptible to the kind of disruption we are seeing overseas.While many in the Republican Party complain about Donald Trump – he is a product of their own creation.

They embraced an elite big business agenda, shut out their base and did not respond to the growing disillusionment around them.

Here, we are in real danger of forgetting the Forgotten People ourselves and we cannot make that mistake.There is and always will be a centre-right vote in this country. That doesn't mean the Liberal Party will always be its natural home.

To win elections, you have to appeal to the middle ground.But you always lock in your base first. Unless you have the base behind you, you can't even get through the gate to fight for the middle ground.

We should not be scared of our own base.They are crying out for thought leadership and alternative policies.

Conservative politicians are there to serve and represent, not control and exclude.

The world is changing around us and it is difficult to predict what may happen next.What is certain is that a new political force is rising in this landscape. We can either tap into the energy and the passion of those calling for change – or we can be overwhelmed by it.

We must disrupt – or we will be disrupted.This is not something I want to see happen to the Liberal Party. That's why we need A Conservative Spring…where the authentic voices of mainstream Australia are heard – especially within the Liberal Party.

To channel Menzies, we are at our best when we are striving for what we believe in and governing for the benefit of all.

If we do this, the times, once again, will suit us.