Cory Bernardi (born 6 November 1969) is an Australian conservative political commentator and former politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 2006 to 2020, and was the leader of the Australian Conservatives, a minor political party he founded in 2017 but disbanded in 2019. He is a former member of the Liberal Party of Australia, having represented the party in the Senate from 2006 to 2017. Bernardi is a conservative Catholic Christian and author of The Conservative Revolution.[1][2]
Career
Bernardi entered politics in 2006 when he was selected by the Liberal Party to fill a Senate seat vacancy for South Australia left by the resignation of Robert Hill. During his time in Parliament, Bernardi attracted controversy over several statements and views. On 7 February 2017, he announced that he would be leaving the Liberal Party to form his own party, the Australian Conservatives.[3] In June 2019, Bernardi announced that he was disbanding the Australian Conservatives and the party was voluntarily deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission on 25 June 2019.[4][5] Bernardi announced his resignation from politics on 19 November 2019,[6][7][8] and on 20 January 2020 resigned from the Senate with immediate effect.[9]
After leaving the Senate, Bernardi became a commentator and podcaster with Sky News Australia.[10]
After a back injury terminated his rowing career, Bernardi travelled Europe and Africa, working as a labourer. Returning to Australia, he managed the family's hotel before spending four months in a hospital with tuberculosis. He subsequently worked as a stockbroker and financial adviser before entering politics.[12]
Bernardi and his Irish-born wife Sinéad, an economics graduate,[12] have two sons.[15]
In 1989, Bernardi was selected in the seven seat of the South Australian Men's Senior VIII. Unfortunately, the nationals interstate events that year were cancelled when a cyclone hit the Wellington Dam course in WA, part-way through the programme of events. Three weeks later at Carrum in Victoria, Bernardi's South Australian crew placed 2nd in an unofficial men's eight race attended by the Victorian, Western Australian and South Australian crews who raced for the Patten Cup.[18] That same year Bernardi became an Australian national representative when he was selected in the three seat of the coxless four
which competed at the 1989 World Rowing Championships in Bled—formerly of Yugoslavia but what is now the Republic of Slovenia—and placed tenth.[19] Later that year Bernardi suffered a back injury that effectively ended his rowing career.[11][failed verification]
Political career
Elections to the Senate
After South Australian Senator Robert Hill resigned from the Senate to become Ambassador to the United Nations in March 2006, Bernardi was selected by the Liberal Party to fill the vacancy, officially commencing his senate term on 4 May 2006.[20] On 17 February 2007, Bernardi was pre-selected ahead of Simon Birmingham and Senator Grant Chapman by the State Council of the South Australian Liberal Party to be the number one candidate on the South Australian Liberal Senate ticket for the federal election[citation needed] to be held in late 2007. At the election, Bernardi was elected to a full six-year term. He was again given the first place on the Liberal ticket at the 2013 federal election and was re-elected. Following a double dissolution of Parliament at the 2016 federal election, Bernardi was re-elected from the second place on the Liberal ticket. He was elected for a term of six years, ending on 30 June 2022.
Opposition under Brendan Nelson: 2007–2008
In December 2007, Bernardi was appointed the federal Coalition's Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services. On 19 March 2008, Bernardi was named in a story published in The Australian newspaper as having been linked to a scheme that sold financial advice on how divorcees could hide money from their former spouses.[21] In a media statement released shortly after the article was published, Bernardi described the story as "a rehash of a factually incorrect story that first appeared in 2006 before my appointment to the Senate." Bernardi claimed that he had been "made aware that a colleague [had] been approaching numerous journalists in an attempt to 'push' this matter as a means of personally attacking me." In a statement he went on to say, "I find it disappointing that there are people who clearly pine to background journalists with half-truths and mischievous suggestions in an attempt to smear others. The people who creep out of their darkened closets to resurrect previously discredited accusations do no service to themselves or the community. Politics is a battle of ideas, not a battle of smears."[22]
On 20 March 2008, Bernardi introduced a motion calling for a Senate inquiry into swearing on television and the effectiveness of the Code of Practice after a television show was broadcast at 8.30 pm containing the word "fuck" eighty times in 40 minutes.[23] The Senate supported the motion. Then in June, Bernardi stated his personal view on onlineopinion.com.au regarding a proposed reform relating to same-sex relationships. He stated, "Same-sex relationships are not the same as marital relationships and to treat them the same is to suspend common sense."[24] A month later, Bernardi questioned the ethics of granting human rights to great apes while ignoring the rights of the unborn child[25] on the ABC "unleashed" website.
In August 2008, the Herald Sun newspaper reported that the Federal Parliamentary Library had, following a request from Bernardi, identified a loophole in government legislation that allowed some women who aborted their pregnancies to claim a $5,000 "baby bonus". The Government later stated that the bonus was not available for aborted pregnancies and was committed to following up on any such occurrences.[26]
Opposition under Malcolm Turnbull: 2008–2009
In September 2008, new Federal Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull appointed Bernardi the Coalition Spokesman for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector.[27] In October, Bernardi caused a stir with a speech to the Senate against the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws-Superannuation) Bill 2008[28] supported by the Liberal Party. The bill led to discontent within the Party's conservative faction—of which Bernardi was a key figure. Turnbull was "unhappy that Party authority was being challenged" by Bernardi.[29] In Bernardi's speech, he complained that society should not "throw open the doors and welcome into the fold those whose relationships are uncharacteristic of the most basic elements of a marital union."[30] The next morning Turnbull rang Bernardi to "chip him", having felt the speech was intemperate in tone and that it went against the party line and Turnbull's own leadership.[31]
Bernardi was removed from the Shadow Ministry by Turnbull in February 2009 after reportedly making unsubstantiated claims regarding a fellow Liberal MP in his weekly blog. Recalling an encounter with the Liberal MP at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club about 14 years before, he wrote:
In response to my question of why he joined the Liberal Party, the MP blithely responded "I live in a Liberal seat so I had to be a member of the Liberal Party to get into Parliament. If I lived in a Labor seat I would have joined the Labor Party." Frankly I was aghast at this response. Where was the conviction, the beliefs, the values that I believe should motivate our political leaders? Several follow up questions disclosed that the only motivation for his own political involvement was for him to become Prime Minister.
Following the election of Tony Abbott as the leader of the federal Liberal Party in late 2009, Bernardi was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Population Policy, and in August 2012 was appointed Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate. In September 2012, Bernardi resigned from his position as parliamentary secretary as a result of statements he had made the day before, when he argued that permitting same-sex marriages would lead to legalised polygamy and bestiality.[35]
Abbott and Turnbull Governments: 2013–2017
In January 2014, Prime Minister Tony Abbott again distanced himself from Bernardi after the latter called for a new debate on abortion, called for more flexible industrial relations laws, stated his belief in the primacy of the traditional family and claimed that non-traditional families may cause negative social outcomes,[36] linked a secular polity with Australia having lost its way, and claimed that Christianity was under siege from both the political Greens and Islam.[37]
Bernardi was re-elected for a six-year term in the Senate at the July 2016 election.[38]
In September 2016, Bernardi spoke in favour of the repeal of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which prohibits speech that is reasonably likely to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate on the basis of race, colour or national or ethnic origin".[39][40] In December 2016 Bernardi got into a public spat with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott over reports that Bernardi may start his own party.[41][42]
In the same month, it was reported that Bernardi in 2009 set up an entity called the Conservative Leadership Foundation, "a fundraising entity that inhabits a grey area in the political donations system and permits gifts from foreign donors." and that "it has never made a disclosure to the Australian Electoral Commission as an associated entity, nor disclosed any political expenditure."[43]
Departure from the Liberal Party
In February 2017, seven months after the 2016 election, Bernardi left the Liberal Party to form a separate party, the Australian Conservatives, which was born out of Bernardi's Australian Conservatives movement.[3][44][45] The Australian Conservatives movement was formed by Bernardi in July 2016 to "unite conservatives",[46][47] and which by August claimed 50,000 members.[48]
In June 2019, Bernardi announced that the Australian Conservatives would apply to be voluntarily deregistered with the Australian Electoral Commission. He cited a poor result in the 2019 Australian federal election, and that the removal of Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister meant that his supporters would return to the Liberal Party.[4] The AEC confirmed the party had been deregistered on 25 June 2019.[5]
In November 2019, Bernardi announced that he would resign from his Senate position;[6][7] his resignation formally occurred on 20 January 2020.[9][49] Because he was elected as a member of the Liberal Party, a member of that party would fill the vacancy caused by his resignation. The former President of the South Australian Legislative CouncilAndrew McLachlan filled Bernardi's vacancy on 6 February 2020.
On 21 April 2007, Bernardi published an essay questioning whether global warming was caused by human activities. Then-environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull and other Liberal parliamentarians promptly distanced themselves from his views.[51]
Islam
Bernardi has been publicly critical of Islam.[52][53] In 2010, he wrote an opinion piece calling for a ban on wearing the burqa in public.[54]
In 2011, Bernardi referred to the controversy over paying funeral expenses for asylum-seekers, declaring it was "wrong" for the government to pay. He also said that "Islam itself is the problem—it's not Muslims", and that multiculturalism had failed. He subsequently clarified his remarks by stating "When I say I'm against Islam, I mean that the fundamentalist Islamic approach of changing laws and values does not have my support."[55]
For these comments he received death threats.[56] Liberal leader Tony Abbott distanced himself from the comments.[57]
Bernardi has shared values with Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders whom he met while on a trip to Europe.[58] Bernardi offered to assist Wilders in a visit to Australia but, in February 2013 when Wilders did come, Bernardi did not meet with him. Wilders stated in an interview that Bernardi's decision not to meet him was a "sad but true" reflection on politics, particularly in an election year.[59][60] The opposition treasury spokesman, Joe Hockey, said in response "Neither Cory Bernardi nor the Coalition will be facilitating this visit."[61]
Abbott rejected suggestions that Bernardi was trying to bring Wilders to Australia, saying the Coalition had nothing to do with the organisation of any trip.[62]
In September 2016, Bernardi proposed the Turnbull government take up a modified version of the immigration policy of One Nation, aiming to mollify people fearing Muslim immigration as he felt soft immigration policies were to blame for a fall in government support.[63] In February 2017, he attracted criticism for speaking at the Q Society of Australia. The event received protests who called the event "racist".[64]
Publicly funded broadcasting
Bernardi has publicly expressed his concern over the effect of Australia's public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, on commercial operators. His view is that the ABC has grown beyond its initial charter and its size is unjustifiably encroaching into the online news sphere at the expense of commercial operators and media diversity. However, Bernardi supports the continued existence of iView (internet based television service) and podcasting services. Bernardi agrees that the ABC provides useful services to regional areas often under-serviced by commercial operators; however, he suggests that the scale of the ABC's funding should be reviewed.[65]
Same-sex marriage
Bernardi has said that permitting same-sex marriages would lead to legalised polygamy and bestiality;[35] and said that the "safe schools program" designed to make homosexual children feel safer at school "bullies" heterosexual children.[66] Several of his colleagues from the Liberal Party at the time distanced themselves from Bernardi's comments, including Tony Abbott who also opposes same-sex marriage. Bernardi was one of twelve senators who voted against what became the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017.[67]
Abortion
He is anti-abortion saying those who support it are "pro death".[68][69][70]
On 16 November 2017 Bernardi moved a motion in the Senate to ban abortion on gender grounds. He was one of the 10 senators who voted in favour of the motion, which was defeated 10 votes to 36.[71][72]
Nuclear industrial development
Bernardi supports the legalisation of nuclear fuel cycle activities in Australia which, as of November 2017, are prohibited under the EPBC Act and ARPANS Act. In November 2017, he presented the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (Facilitation) Bill in the Senate to repeal these prohibitions, effectively enabling future proposals for activities such as: nuclear waste importation, storage and disposal, nuclear power generation, further processing of uranium and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.[73]
Criticism
On 28 September 2015, Tony Jones, host of the television program Q&A on ABC, referred to "Cory Bernardi's Golden Dawn or something" in the context of the prospect of Bernardi forming his own political party.[74] The Greek political party Golden Dawn has been characterised as neo-fascist. ABC later stated that the words were intended only as shorthand for a new conservative party and not to suggest that Bernardi shared the views of Golden Dawn.[75][76]
In February 2016, LaborOpposition LeaderBill Shorten labelled Bernardi a "homophobe".[77] In March, student protesters trashed Bernardi's Adelaide office and wrote slogans such as "stop homophobia" after Bernardi raised concerns about the content of the Safe Schools Program. Bernardi claimed the program was indoctrinating minors.[78][79]
Bernardi was criticised for comments regarding the role of women in the military.[80] Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds called Bernardi a 'disgrace' in response to Bernardi's condemnation of women seeking combat roles in the military.[81]
