First principles
The Prime Minister’s recent speech on identity politics is significant. It is less about what we should be doing in government but why we as Liberals should be doing it. By Nick Cater.
The Prime Minister’s speech is available in printed form or as a digital download.
For a hard copy, please email watercooler@menziesrc.org
or click here to download the digital version.
The political debate runs at a frenetic pace in the digital era. It threatens to occupy the entirety of our waking lives, robbing us of the opportunity for reflection that is essential to sound judgement.
Correlation is not causation, but it is instructive to note that the first iPhone was released in 2007, the year that Kevin Rudd became prime minister in an erratic and unanchored government that moved from one policy disaster to another without ever pausing to think.
That is why this speech by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, is significant. It is less about what we should be doing in government but why we as Liberals should be doing it. In public policy, “why?” is frequently the least answered question, even though it is always the most important.
The inherent dignity of all human beings is the foundation of morality, grounded in the Judeo-Christian ethos which guides so much of his life. It is also the foundation of Liberal philosophy, recognising the freedom to do one’s best and make one’s best better. It draws no distinction between classes such as gender or race.
Mr Morrison’s speech is timely at a time when these fundamental principles are facing the profound challenge of identity politics. The crude notion that one’s identity is bound to one’s class is fundamental to Marxist ideology old and new. To Marxist thinkers, every human interaction is a political act in a world divided between oppressors and the oppressed.
In this thoughtful speech to the United Israel Appeal Dinner, delivered on 29 April, 2021, Mr Morrison eloquently disputes that view, confronting its falsehoods and warning of its dangers.
“You are more than your gender, you are more than your race, you are more than your sexuality, you are more than your ethnicity, you are more than your religion, your language group, your age,” he said.
“Throughout history, we’ve seen what happens when people are defined solely by the group they belong to, or an attribute they have, or an identity they possess. The Jewish community understands that better than any in the world.”
By publishing this speech in printed form, we hope that it will be widely read and considered by all aligned to the Liberal project. More importantly, it should be amplified and acted upon, lest we become captured by the illiberal doctrine of woke.
The Prime Minister’s speech is available in printed form or as a digital download.
For a hard copy, please email watercooler@menziesrc.org
