A Caffeine Hit to Your Hip Pocket
Australia's coffee culture is set to experience a massive price hike. Are other sectors set to follow?
The process of Senate estimates continues its relentless pace, sitting from 9am until 11pm through the week. The usual ‘gotcha’ moments have been relatively sparse this week as Labor struggle to land a decisive blow against the government.
I managed to sneak some time off on Monday evening to be a guest (sacrificial lamb) on the Q&A program.
To my surprise I wasn’t the only conservative on the show. Irrespective of the relative philosophical or political outlook of the other guests, I found them to be courteous and pleasant behind the scenes.
Many readers wonder why conservatives like me even bother going on programs like Q&A where the audience and questions often seem stacked against us. Personally I can take it or leave it and reject many more invitations than I accept.
However, conservatives simply cannot vacate the public square just because we might be given a tough time. We should be confident in the correctness of our views and never be afraid to put them forward in a logical and consistent manner.
If we don’t then we leave the field to those with a radical progressive agenda. This leaves those who share our sentiments relegated to wondering if they are a minority rather than part of the great silent majority of Australians.
And frankly, I think it is starting to work. Once you ignore the socialist students and rent-a-crowd unionists lobbing up at anti-government rallies around the country, people are rejecting the ‘politics as usual’ mantra.
That doesn’t mean they are entirely enamoured with the decisions of government (the polls alone demonstrate that) but there seems to be a thirst for a common sense approach to running the country. Perhaps the common sense revolution will catch on after all!
Speaking of protesters, I delivered a speech to a crowd of 400 or so in Brisbane last Saturday. Its focus was on the core principles of restoring a conservative agenda for our country.
The organisers were warned that a ‘huge crowd’ of protesters was going to turn up and make things difficult for the attendees. This resulted in the police being engaged as a precautionary measure. In the end, a handful of communist flag waving whingers turned up to shout about not very much at all.
And that just about sums up where I think the country is at right now. For every radical socialist, there are hundreds of people who are receptive to the common sense conservative message. We need to help them know that they are not alone and that the radicals really are just a noisy (but tiny) minority.
Of course we aren’t all in a position to get on television or give speeches but we can all do something to spread the message.
You can do your bit by encouraging people to subscribe to my weekly email or writing a letter to your local paper. Ring talk back radio or give your local MP’s office a call. Every contact counts in restoring common sense in our country.
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