Australia’s conservative Coachella, CPAC, is returning after a year-long hiatus with its 2022 conference later this year.
The organisation has already announced most of its lineup of speakers plucked from the star-studded international right-wing speaker circuit: a former Trump-appointed attorney-general who held the role for four months, Matthew Whitaker; Brexit campaigner turned professional Cameo-maker Nigel Farage; and Zuby, a British rapper who rose to fame after posting a video of himself “breaking the women’s deadlift world record” because he jokingly claimed to identify as a trans woman (he doesn’t).
But there are still some surprises yet to be revealed. Between Australian headliners like Country Liberal Party Senator Jacinta Price, CPAC Chairman Warren Mundine, and failed Liberal candidate Katherine Deves, CPAC 2022’s website promises a “to be announced” former prime minister.
Given there are only a few former prime ministers who would be caught dead at the conference home to the hard right of Australian politics, names such as Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott and John Howard have been floated (although last month CPAC founder Andrew Cooper hosed down the suggestion of Morrison, saying he wouldn’t be in high demand).
CPAC’s website appears to reveal the answer. The URL for the webpage for the mystery prime minister’s speaker page is https://cpac.network/keynote-speakers-2022/tony_abbott, which seems to confirm Australia’s 28th prime minister as the slated speaker.
The source code for the conference’s webpage for all the speakers also hints at other as-yet-unannounced speakers. These include foreign affairs writer and Fox News regular Gordon G Chang — whose Wikipedia entry pointedly mentions that he wrote a book predicting the collapse of China in 2011, and subsequently “changed the timing of the year of the predicted collapse to 2012” in December 2011 — as well as Liberal Senator Jim Molan and law academic James Allan.
CPAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The self-proclaimed “top conservative talkfest in Australia” offers tickets starting from $119, going all the way up to $7249 for the “VIP Platinum” experience, which includes two private luncheons with the speakers.
CPAC takes its name from a US-based event of the same name. At the conference held in Dallas, Texas, earlier this month, speakers stood in front of a digital banner that said “We Are All Domestic Terrorists” and “You’re Next: The Rise of the Democrat Gulag”.
I guess it wasn’t that hard to pick. It’s a pretty far right conservative talkfest.
I’m surprised that Nigel Farage is allowed to have a visa, but given that they let in Lauren Southern and Ron Watkins I suppose I shouldn’t be.
And honestly, the ghosts of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst should come over here and haunt these people until they stop using the name of the White Rose Society. How dare people who aren’t that far from the positions that the people who executed the founders of the White Rose Society held use that name.
I was startled to see Nigel Farage’s name too! What on earth is wrong with these people? WHY, why, why??? Are they so dead-set to convert Australia to a fascist country? It is horrifying.
I shed a tear thinking about how much struggle and oppression these brave patriots have overcome to get where they are.
All merit, no handouts, no favours.
god bless each and every last one of them, they should all be given knighthoods.
Except the women… for obvious reasons.
Ha ha ha…good one, Damien.
Exactly. Especially our Tones.
Spare a thought for those sufficiently deluded to fork out $7249 for VIP access to these knaves. As Trump would say, ‘sad’.
But it will be as some sort of “Conference attending” taxation deduction rort!
Not if it was a “generous contribution” to whatever scam The Trump was running.
I wouldn’t cross the street to hear any of these speakers.
Your observation is reminiscent of the remark by US sportswriter Red Smith who opined that “if the NBA Final was being played in my backyard, I would probably close the drapes”.
I would cross the street if I saw any of them coming towards me.
are we still allowed to call Jim Molan, “the butcher of falllujah”?
Is Jim back in parliament again and if so was he actually elected this time or just appointed like he usually is?
He was #2 on the Senate party list for NSW so yes, duly elected.