Bernard
Gaynor’s Australian Liberty Alliance party (ALA) has been out and about,
spreading their far, far right wing message through the eastern states. In
doing so, they both sought and attracted the attention of various members of
the Coalition government with their uncompromising messages of anti-Islam,
anti-LGBTI, anti-Halal, anti-progress. In fact, the ALA’s own ‘Manifesto’ lists
some of the most uptight, backward looking policies imaginable.
 |
| Bernard Gaynor |
Mr Gaynor
has been hovering in and around minor conservative politics for several years,
holding positions inside the Katter Party, the Queensland Party and Family
First. He is the only ALA candidate on the Queensland senate ballot paper and leader of the party.
ALA New South
Wales Senate Candidate is Kirralie Smith, who is the Director of Halal Choices,
a special interest group devoted to removing Halal certification from the
Australian products.
Just last
week, the ALA announced that they were running a high profile second Senate candidate
in New South Wales. Former rocker Angry Anderson has been convinced to sign on
to the ALA ticket. It’s not his first attempt at a political career; the 67
year old was officially preselected in 2014 by the Nationals to run in the
Hunter Valley state seat of Cessnock, but pulled out in 2015 “for personalreasons”. Prior to this, he was linked with the National Party’s federal campaign. The third candidate on the ticket is water rights campaigner Ron Pike.
 |
| Angry Anderson |
An
additional two candidates in Western Australia, one in South Australia and one
in Victoria have been named, yet it’s still the three major names, Gaynor,
Smith and Anderson, who are attracting attention.
Bowman’s
perpetual back-bench Liberal, Andrew Laming, attended an ALA meeting inCleveland. Bernard Gaynor recognised Mr Laming and snapped a pic of him
taking notes. The pic was tweeted to the local paper, the Redland City
Bulletin, and to the ABC. Both published the story and pic online, along with
comments from Bernard Gaynor and from Andrew Laming.
According
to Mr Laming, he attended the meeting to correct any errors that the ALA may have
made about Liberal policy. Apparently there were quite a few errors, and Mr
Laming spoke to almost all of the attendees, presumably correcting the record
in what he described as a series of “interventions”.
Mr Gaynor said Mr Laming
attended to “assess the damage that (Prime Minister) Malcolm Turnbull has
inflicted on the Liberal Party with his pro-Islamic rhetoric”.
However, Mr Laming said he
attended to see if there were any inconsistencies or errors that he could
address.
“I’d go to any meeting
where alternate political views are expressed,” he said.
The MP said he spoke
to about 30 of the 37 attendees.
“It was an effective
intervention to speak to anyone who was contemplating voting for the ALA,” he
said.
He said Mr Gaynor had
conveyed errors and misconceptions about issues including Islamic school
funding, how halal works and government debt.
A sneaky
peak at the ALA’s Facebook page suggests that some ALA members would be
delighted to have Mr Laming within their ranks. But Mr Laming is not the only
Coalition MP being courted by the ALA. In a role reversal, Mohammed has indeed
gone to the Coalition mountain.
Buzzfeed
Australia has reported that Kirralie Smith, ALA’s New South Wales candidate forthe Senate, has met with several Liberal and National Party MPs and senators inCanberra, presenting them with a petition in support of dismantling the Halal
Certification “industry”. Choosing to stay with the conservative right, Ms
Smith met with Senator Cory Bernardi, Queensland MP George Christensen and NSW
MP David Gillespie. Both Bernardi and Christensen are known to exist at the
crispy conservative edge of the Coalition pie; Dr Gillespie is Ms Smith’s local
member of parliament.
According
to website theyvoteforyou.org.au, Dr Gillespie’s voting record in the House of
Representatives is identical to extreme anti-Islam group Reclaim Australia
sympathiser George Christensen’s record, which places them in alignment with the ALA.
The most
prominent policies of the ALA are those that deal with Islam and Muslims in
Australia. These include a ten year freeze on people from any of the
Organisation of Islamic Countries nations from immigrating to Australia, the
end of Halal food certification in Australia, the banning of full face
coverings in public, and the prohibition of Sharia Law, particularly as it
relates to finance.
Other highlights of the ALA's raft of policies include:
o
rejection of
same sex marriage and same sex adoption,
o
rejection of
climate science as described by the IPCC
o
rejection of
the UN Charter on Refugees,
o
rejection of
assisted euthanasia
o
beefing up of
the military,
o
preservation
of the monarch as head of state
o
retention of
the current flag
 |
| Lord Mayor-Elect of London, Sadiq Khan |
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