That sentence alone will irritate the right people.
Over the past two days, the speculation turned into confirmation. Bernardi is joining One Nation and will lead its ticket for the South Australian Legislative Council at the March South Australian election.
If you want to know why the South Australian political class is suddenly sitting up straighter, it is because the upper house is where the comfortable lies go to die. It is where governments get dragged out of the press-release bubble and forced to justify what they are doing, line by line, clause by clause. It is the part of the system the majors fear most, because it is the part they cannot always control.
Bernardi is not returning to politics to recite the approved talking points. He is returning because too much of modern Australian politics has become a performance. Big promises, small courage, and absolutely no accountability when it all goes wrong.
He has said what millions already suspect. The majors increasingly behave like a practical uniparty, squabbling over trivia while agreeing on the big stuff. More spending, more bureaucracy, more regulation, and less tolerance for anyone who does not clap on cue.
That diagnosis is not fashionable, which is another way of saying it is usually accurate.
And there is a particular resonance here for readers of Confidential Daily. Bernardi is not just a candidate. He is the founder of Confidential Daily, the platform built on the unfashionable idea that plain speech and first principles still matter. That heritage matters because it explains the difference between a candidate who wants office and a candidate who wants outcomes.
South Australians are not short of politicians. They are short on representation.
A Legislative Council seat is not just a line on a ballot paper. It is leverage. It is scrutiny. It is the ability to demand answers instead of accepting slogans. In that setting, Bernardi will ask the questions others will not, and he will not be intimidated by the people who confuse their outrage with moral authority.
The establishment will try to turn this into a personality story, because personality stories are safer than policy arguments. They will sneer, they will moralise, they will clutch pearls on command.
But Bernardi’s candidacy is not about their comfort.
It is about giving voters a serious conservative voice in the chamber designed to hold governments to account, and reminding South Australia that politics does not have to be managed decline, conducted politely.
Sometimes it can be a fight for the country you actually want to live in.
Thought for the Day
“Diplomacy is about surviving until the next century; politics is about surviving until Friday afternoon.” – Sir Humphrey Appleby
I’m a journalist, former politician, Christian, and campaign director for CitizenGO Australia. My mission is to challenge the media lies, government overreach, and corporate censorship that threaten our freedoms.
