CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ACTION CONFERENCE (CPAC) 2025
THE STAR EVENT CENTRE

BRISBANE

**CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY**

Saturday, 20 September 2025

E&OE……………

 

Hello CPAC – how wonderful is it to be here with you all!

I want to give a big shout out to Andrew Cooper, Warren Mundine, Barclay McGain and the entire CPAC crew – just look at what you are achieving.

It’s great to be back at CPAC.

For a start, I commend you for being here.

And for sticking with our values through thick and thin.

Right now, it’s tough to be someone of conservative convictions and values.

It’s tough to be a proud supporter of conservative politics and our centre-right tradition.

But we’re here because we believe in something bigger than ourselves – in family, in freedom, in community, in responsibility – in good old, true blue Aussie Values.

Now I’ve had a tough few weeks.

But it’s one thing to be bruised in the battle of ideas and politics.

It’s another thing altogether to be held against your will by terrorists, or to lose your life.

To the hostages still being held in Gaza – you have my support, my prayers, and my hope that you will be reunited with your families.

To the family of Charlie Kirk – you have my respect, my prayers, and my condolences for your loss.

Around the world, there have been many moments of silence for Charlie Kirk – and rightly so.

But I want something different today:

Friends, please be upstanding.

Let me hear you clap, let me hear you cheer, and let me hear you roar your support for Charlie – and for freedom of speech.

There are a great many things we share with Charlie Kirk:

We believe in a way of life worth protecting.

We believe in values worth standing for.

And we believe in a future worth building.

But to succeed, our movement must be smarter, sharper and true.

We must be smarter.

Because the challenges we face are real:

Rising costs, struggling families, communities under pressure, and a weaker nation.

We cannot afford lazy thinking or second-hand solutions.

We instead need bold, practical, and imaginative answers.

We must be sharper.

Because politics is crowded with noise – slogans, spin, and distractions.

Our job is to cut through it with clarity, conviction and courage.

We must also be true.

Because, above all, we must remain true to our values:

To family, responsibility, freedom, community and nation – which are the heart of who we are.

Today, I want to touch on a few policy areas where we must be smarter, sharper and true.

# # #

Energy is the economy.

Under Labor, electricity is up 39 per cent.

And gas is up 39 per cent.

When energy prices skyrocket, it costs more to grow food.

More to manufacture goods.

And more to run homes, businesses and factories.

Energy costs are having an inflationary impact across Australia.

We need affordable and reliable energy.

But we won’t get that with a net zero target.

I believe the federal Liberals must courageously abandon net zero.

We must relentlessly prosecute the case against net zero zealotry with arguments grounded in economics and pragmatism.

Australia contributes just over 1 per cent of global emissions.

Reaching net zero could cost a staggering $7 to $9 trillion dollars by 2060 – as estimated by independent experts.

And consider the top emitting countries – China, the United States, India and Russia – which are responsible for about 60 per cent of global emissions.

Their emissions are increasing – and there’s zero chance they will meet any net zero commitments.

These facts simply aren’t called out readily enough.

Net zero is an absurd policy.

It will impoverish and de-industrialise our nation to achieve an emissions reduction target that – in an Australian context – will not alter global temperatures one iota.

Labor’s overbuild of renewables – and enforcement of draconian emission reduction policies – are only going to cause more harm:

Power bills will continue to climb.

More businesses will close.

And more industries will move offshore.

We have an opportunity to pre-empt the public ‘greenlash’ that will come – just as it has in Europe and America.

Net zero isn’t just an energy policy that will cause your power bills to keep going up.

It’s about the government dictating how you and your family should live, what you should drive, and what you should eat.

It’s about telling businesses how to operate.

It’s about restricting what our farmers can produce and what our manufacturers can make.

Net zero is about reducing your freedom.

It’s time the Liberals pushed back against this freedom-eroding nonsense.

We need to embrace technologies that ensure affordable and reliable power.

And we need to simply commit to lifting Australia’s ban on nuclear power to test its commercial viability.

# # #

On the economy, Australia is in a real mess.

Federal and state government responses to the pandemic have instilled a cultural attitude that government is the solution to every problem.

That mindset has been seized upon by the socialist Albanese Government which wants to increase the power of the state.

Consider what we’ve seen under Labor:

We’ve seen record government spending – our economy will soon be burdened with a trillion dollars of debt for the first time.

We’ve seen the bloating of the public service – Australia’s public-sector workforce is now one of the largest in the world on a per capita basis.

We’ve seen an appetite for government intrusion into the lives of Australians – Labor has enacted some 5,000 new regulations.

We’ve seen interference through policies related to energy, the environment, industrial relations, and industry.

In so many ways, the heavy hand of Canberra hovers over Australian families, small businesses, and manufacturers across the country.

Alarmingly, Labor is moving Australia away from a free-market economy and towards a state-directed and controlled economy.

Labor has embraced the same statist ideas that have devastated economies and people wherever they’ve been implemented.

But you can’t subsidise your way to success, or spend your way to salvation.

The Liberals must prosecute the need for a profound cultural shift:

We need less government spending – to reduce our vast level of debt that will immiserate future generations of Australians.

And we need less government interference – to re-energise the economy and unleash the magic of the marketplace.

# # #

Let’s talk about migration.

We all recognise the important role that migration has played in building our nation.

We all recognise the contributions that so many migrants have made over many generations – migrants who have become cherished Australian citizens.

Undeniably, a defining national achievement has been the weaving together of the Indigenous, British, and broader migrant threads of our story.

Each bestows an inheritance.

My concern – as it is for millions of Australians – is Labor’s mass migration agenda and its ramifications.

Labor has opened the migration floodgates.

It has brought in a record 1.2 million people in its first term.

Yes, we need migration.

But there’s a big difference between controlled, planned, and sustainable migration – on the one hand.

And on the other hand – uncontrolled, unplanned, and unsustainable migration.

Migration at the current scale and pace is putting excessive pressures on housing, infrastructure, and services.

That makes life tougher for everyone.

And not just for Australian citizens.

But for recently arrived migrants and permanent residents who want to join Team Australia too.

I believe the Liberals can win public support to substantially lower migration.

We just need to make families the focus of the migration debate.

Specifically, the betterment of all families – whether you’re a migrant, a resident, or a citizen – and regardless of your background.

Reducing mass migration means more housing, less congestion, better services – and that benefits all families.

We have many intergenerational challenges:

Anaemic economic growth.

An ageing population.

And declining workforce participation.

By prioritising the institution of the family ahead of migration as critical for our nation’s future success, the Liberals can differentiate themselves from Labor.

Yet is it any wonder that the institution of the family has been weakened?

Too many young Australians are locked out of the property market – or can only afford homes that are ill-suited for raising a family.

And too many couples are putting off having children until later in life – or not having them at all.

We need to champion building townhouses over tower blocks.

We need family tax benefits to encourage Australians to have more children.

We need flexible choices in childcare – rather than parents being forced to rely on centre-based childcare.

And we need to restore the teaching of civics in classrooms.

Because responsible and proud citizenship underpins better families – and a better nation.

# # #

Migration is not just about numbers.

It’s about who we are.

Labor and the Greens treat culture as disposable.

They undermine and re-write history, mock tradition, and replace unity with division.

But we here today – and all over this great nation of Australia – know better.

We know that family, community, and pride in our nation holds us together.

Without a strong cultural identity, no economy will stand.

Without social cohesion, no defence force can hold.

The referendum on the Voice proved it:

Australians reject identity politics.

They want unity, not division.

They want equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome dictated by bureaucrats.

Australia’s success as one of the most cohesive and diverse nations on earth is fragile.

And cohesion depends on remembering what binds us together.

We must fight for that.

John Anderson often says that politics is downstream from culture.

He is right.

Our culture – and our values – are worth remembering, protecting and defending.

# # #

Let me turn to defence.

It’s impossible to sell a defence and deterrence policy if you cannot speak frankly about the threats to peace, regional stability, and national sovereignty.

The Albanese Government is silencing a candid national debate on a great danger of our age:

And that’s the danger posed by the Chinese Communist Party’s military aggression in our region and its foreign interference in our country.

And I want to be precise in my comments on this issue too:

We seek only the best for the Chinese people who desire the same peace and prosperity that we all want.

And we cherish Australians of Chinese ancestry who – like their fellow countrymen – treasure the freedom and opportunity this country provides.

We must always differentiate the Chinese Communist Party from both the Chinese people and Australians of Chinese ancestry.

Of course, China is a major trading partner.

And both our peoples benefit from a productive trading relationship.

But we must not bury our heads in the sand to facts.

There is now a litany of examples of the Chinese Communist Party causing tensions across our region with its military adventurism, coercion and aggression.

Its navy tested weapons off our east coast – and then circumnavigated our continent.

That wasn’t a benign exercise – it was a rehearsal.

The Chinese Communist Party wanted to show its ability to project and use power.

Their missiles can strike Australian bases and civilian infrastructure.

We were once largely protected by the ‘tyranny of distance’.

Now, new weapons of war have turned safe distance into perilous proximity.

There can be no doubt that the Chinese Communist Party wants to see China become the dominant power in the region.

Were that to transpire, the character of the region would change drastically.

An expectation of subservience to the Chinese Communist Party would erode the sovereignty of nations.

Here’s the important point:

If a threat is disregarded, downplayed, or left undiscussed by the government, two things happen:

First, Australians are unlikely to appreciate the threat.

Second, they’re unlikely to understand the need for policy responses – or indeed support them.

The more Australians understand the danger posed by the Chinese Communist Party, the more they will appreciate our nation’s urgent need to bolster defence.

The Liberal Party must speak-up.

We must awaken all Australians to a significant danger of our age.

Predictably, Labor will accuse us of ‘beating the drums of war’, ‘playing politics’, or ‘fearmongering’.

But it’s not fearmongering to point out irrefutable facts.

The Albanese Government’s resort to such smears is a convenient excuse to avoid putting money where their mouth is when it comes to defence.

We need to lift defence spending to at least 3 per cent of GDP.

That’s what’s needed to equip our defence force with the weapons it needs to deter aggression and help maintain peace in the region.

# # #

Friends:

Labor did win a significant 94 seats at the last election – assisted by preferential voting.

But don’t be mistaken.

A primary vote of 34 per cent is no ringing endorsement from the Australian people.

The election of 3 May was less about a victorious Labor Party.

Rather, it was more about a Coalition failure.

We lost our nerve to prosecute policies of difference from Labor.

And the lessons are clear:

We need to stop being a Labor-lite party – or ‘Labor in blue’.

We need to offer a clear distinction from Labor.

We need to return to being a strong centre-right party – in conviction, in policy, and in practice.

I don’t believe Australians have made a sweeping turn towards the Left.

But I do know that one of the most radically Left governments in our history is changing Australia – and changing it for the worse.

This Labor Government – backed by the Greens – have given us higher costs, weaker growth, and a country that is more divided and less secure.

They have chosen bureaucracy over business.

Ideology over industry.

Division over unity.

Dependency over sovereignty.

They are not leading Australia forward.

They are holding us back.

And Australians can see our country going downhill fast.

If you’re one of those Australians, then I say to you:

Don’t sit on the sidelines.

And if you’re a young Australian:

Who can’t get onto the property ladder.

Who yearns for the joy of starting a family, but feels that’s out of reach.

Who is looking to the future not with optimism, but with dread.

Who fears expressing your ideas in public – or God forbid – your love for this country.

Then I say to you in particular:

Don’t sit on the sidelines.

Help shape our country by joining and shaping the Liberal Party.

We need a people-led movement that reflects the country that the majority of Australians want:

An Australia where energy is affordable and reliable – not unaffordable and unreliable, as it is today.

An Australia that’s re-industrialising – not de-industrialising, as we are today.

An Australia that prospers from free enterprise – not suffers under state control, as we are today.

An Australia where children are educated – not indoctrinated, as they are today.

An Australia where more people own a house – not rent forever, as too many are today.

An Australia that’s underpinned by stronger families – not propped-up by mass migration, as it is today.

An Australia that’s strong and defended – not weak and unable to deter aggression, as we are today.

And an Australia where we express national pride – not national guilt, as so many on Left want us to feel today.

Conservatism has never been about resisting change for its own sake.

It’s about resisting bad change.

It’s about refusing to go with the prevailing winds when one can see those winds steering us into a storm.

Right now, we need to mobilise the conservative instinct in Australians to stop our nation changing for the worse and ensure it changes for the better.

Our movement must be smarter, sharper and true.

Because when we’re smarter, sharper and true – our movement will succeed – and our nation will again too.

Thank you, CPAC. God bless you, and God bless Australia.

 

[Ends]