CPAC brings the spectacle

Australia's Conservative Political Action Conference in Brisbane featured a Trump impersonator, opera singers, senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price singing the national anthem, and Karl Stefanovic joking about his unemployment.

The real issue: preferences

Beneath the spectacle, the conference focused on one question: how Australia's fragmented right could cooperate to defeat Labor at the next election.With ninety four Labor seats and a split conservative vote, it's a tall task.

The problem CPAC identified

CPAC warned attendees that if One Nation voters won't preference the Coalition, or Coalition voters won't preference One Nation, they risk reinstalling Labor at the next election.

“If you support One Nation but won't preference the Coalition, or support the Coalition but won't preference One Nation, you risk reinstalling Labor.”

Hanson pledges cooperation

Pauline Hanson signed a pledge to work together with the Coalition, challenging Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan to follow suit. But hours earlier she'd called the Liberal leader a smarmy management consultant.

Hanson: no longer the bridesmaid

Hanson said she would no longer be the bridesmaid to the Coalition and put the ball in Taylor's court on how the two parties would coexist. She told the conference they shouldn't trust the Coalition.

“no longer be the bridesmaid”

Taylor dodges the question

Coalition leader Angus Taylor avoided answering Karl Stefanovic's questions about cooperating with One Nation, drawing boos from the audience. He apologised for net zero, pandemic spending and immigration increases under Coalition governments.

CPAC's track record

In twenty twenty two, CPAC urged opposition to the Indigenous voice referendum. A month later, the Nationals opposed it, followed by the Liberals. In twenty twenty five, the Coalition split again and dumped net zero.

No clear path forward

By the conference's end, it remained unclear how the Coalition and One Nation would cooperate. The conservative side of politics still lay splintered as the next election approaches, due by May twenty twenty eight.