Crisafulli’s direct threat to LNP party faithful
By James Hall
Australia’s highest-ranking elected conservative politician, David Crisafulli, has delivered a blunt warning to the Liberal-National faithful urging rank and file members and parliamentary colleagues to “not be distracted by ideological issues”.
In his first address to the LNP state convention as Queensland Premier on Sunday, Crisafulli said vocal sections of the party must drop their campaigns on culture wars, environment and immigration and instead focus on issues discussed at kitchen tables.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told the LNP state convention the party needed to focus on “kitchen table issues”.Credit: Dan Peled
Crisafulli said this approach would be key to both his own government’s re-election but also turning around a disastrous federal result after the Coalition bled 14 seats in the May national poll.
“There is a reason why Mr Albanese was returned to the lodge with a primary vote of just 34.5 per cent,” he told the LNP convention in Brisbane.
“A plethora of well-meaning right-wing campaign groups and minor parties fractured our vote. The more we tried to appease them, the further we got from the middle ground of Australian politics who shifted their vote elsewhere.”
Crisafulli’s comments were a rallying cry for the party’s federal branch after its May loss, which led to the Nationals splitting from the Coalition before it reformed days later, while the Liberals were entangled in a bitter leadership contest between Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor.
But it was also a direct warning to the broad church of the LNP government’s parliamentary factions in Queensland, who have previously voiced opposition to progressive abortion reforms and climate policies.
“We cannot be distracted by internal squabbles and we cannot be captured by those who seek to divide us,” the premier said.
“We’ve got to remember why this party was formed – for small and family business dragged down by regulation, for those who just want to own a home, for those who want to live in a society where the legal framework keeps them safe, for those who wish for a government to get out of their lives.
“We are also nation-builders who aim to create opportunities for our citizens to thrive – the land of opportunity for those who come across the seas to share those boundless plains.
“We must push back against those who come to this place and don’t wish to contribute or worse undermine our values, but we can’t allow a failure to plan as an excuse to push an anti-immigration agenda.
“Without immigration, Queensland would be a vastly different state, and in my opinion, a much poorer one. Our party leadership would be different.”
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