Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate my colleague Senator Alex Antic on securing the very highest spot on the South Australian Liberal Party ticket. Good job, Senator Antic! While the Liberal Party seems all but dead in my home state of Victoria, there may still be some life—some, but not much—left in the party of Menzies.

Senator Antic is a rare conviction politician, and he fights for what is right. He has the courage to speak the truth and defend Australian values. There are people in the Liberal Party right now who have criticised the decision by the members. Those people are LINOs: Liberals in name only. They recognise neither the democratic process of their own party nor the desperate need to elect true Liberals. I won't hold my breath—obviously not—but I hope that Senator Antic's preselection is a sign that the Liberals are returning to the conservative values of Menzies.

The UAP will never, under my leadership, move away from having an Australia-first attitude and from having a steadfast commitment to reducing the size of government and bureaucracy, to reducing legislative burden, to protecting the family, to pushing back against globalist interests, to eliminating the scourge of Marxism in our institutions and to upholding the Judaeo-Christian values that our nation was founded on. Can the Liberal Party be reformed? Only God knows; quite frankly, many of their members should just quit—quit! I'm looking at you guys!—and join the Labor Party or, potentially, the Greens.

But I do welcome the news that the Liberal members have voted for a true Liberal. Bravo, Senator Antic; we need more base people like you in this chamber. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!