More words, no courage...

The Liberals offer continuity and drift, not the renewal the country needs.

Here is a short 5 dot point summary of my thoughts:

• Angus Taylor’s leadership speech confirmed my fears, plenty of words, but no substance.

• I heard clichés and safe platitudes, not a bold plan to fix Australia’s problems.

• We need clarity and courage on immigration, spending, tax, Net Zero and civil liberties, not managerial drift.

• His record shows he is no reformer, having backed damaging climate targets and failed to defend freedoms during COVID.

• This is not renewal, Australia deserves stronger, more principled leadership.

Watching Angus Taylor address the nation as the new leader of the Liberal Party of Australia confirmed my worst fears. The man has mastered the ancient art of saying absolutely nothing in a great many words.

The speech was a banquet of motherhood statements. Families are important. Small businesses matter. Australians are doing it tough. The future must be stronger. The middle must be supported. You know, that sort of thing.

If clichés were currency, we’d have paid off the national debt by dinner time.

Those who backed Angus Taylor as the alternative are not offering renewal. They are offering continuity, more of the same drift, more of the same managerial politics.

In his speech, Mr Taylor was very specific about what Anthony Albanese and Labor are doing wrong, energy policy, cost of living, housing, immigration, a forensic catalogue of failure. But none of that is news, we knew that already.

Oppositions that merely describe the problem are like doctors who solemnly inform you that you are very sick and then wander off for sushi. Helpful, but only in the sense that now you’re depressed as well as dying.

What he should have done but did not was outline precisely how he intends to make things better.

Here is a list I drafted on my phone in under two minutes:

1. Cut immigration to net zero. One in, one out.

2. Deport those who reject Australian Western values.

3. Slash the bloated public service.

4. Reform the NDIS to serve those who genuinely need it and prosecute the rorters.

5. Cut government spending across the board.

6. Reform the tax system, scrap some excises, cut income tax massively and raise the tax free threshold.

7. Introduce income splitting for families to support stay at home parents (income splitting lets married couples share their income for tax, so families with one main earner pay less)

8. Reward married couples raising children with lower taxation.

9. Properly fund the military.

10. Drop Net Zero and exit the Paris Climate Accord.

11. Tell the UN and WHO to take a hike.

12. Repeal every last hate speech law.

That is what clarity looks like. Instead, we got vibes.

On Net Zero, Angus Taylor is not a reformer. As Energy Minister, he bound Australia to targets that are driving up power prices and undermining industry. The Liberals know Net Zero is damaging, yet they are too afraid of hostile headlines from the ABC to scrap it outright. So they manage it instead.

They promise to administer decline more competently.

During COVID, Mr Taylor stood alongside Scott Morrison as lockdowns were endorsed. He was no voice of resistance and he was not a defender of civil liberties. For Australians who lost livelihoods and freedoms, silence still matters.

He did not speak plainly when his party worked with Labor to pass so called “anti free speech” laws either.

On immigration, he talks about percentage reductions rather than firm caps. In trying not to offend anyone, the Liberals convince no one.

As economic spokesman, he failed to articulate a bold alternative while families buckled under cost of living pressures. According to some within his own party, his nickname is “TACO” Taylor Always Chickens Out.

Jane Hume as deputy offers no course correction. In 2024 she voted against my urgency motion stating that babies born alive after a failed abortion deserve care.

This is not renewal, this is not courage. Australia does not need more reviews, frameworks and committees. It needs strength.

The Liberal Party today is bereft of people with courage and full of people who believe in nothing. They are worse than Labor, like a ship drifting at sea without a rudder, hoping the currents of public opinion will carry them somewhere safe.

Angus Taylor has spent his life preparing for this moment, only to bore the nation with platitudes.

If this is the grand renewal of the conservative movement, someone has misplaced the movement. For goodness sake, stand for something. Or close up shop and let someone else have a go.

The Liberal party cannot be saved. It is rotten from the inside out.

Senator Ralph Babet, Senator for Victoria, United Australia Party.