Life and times of renegade Senator Cory Bernardi
BEFORE he was a politician, renegade senator Cory Bernardi rowed for Australia, worked as a stockbroker and built tents for Colonel Gaddafi. Now he is again preparing for a new life.
- THE FALLOUT: Cory quits — but what about SA election?
- THE REACTION: Furious Libs blast Bernardi’s move
- THE DECISION: Reluctant and relieved, Bernardi quits Libs
- ANALYSIS: Cory Bernardi’s real aim is to make himself redundant
BACK in 2011, Cory Bernardi’s wife Sinead offered up a succinct and humorous explanation to why the pair’s marriage worked so well.
“Cory and I always joke we have a wonderful life, lovely family, lovely friendship and things go beautifully because we are both in love with the same man,” Sinead Bernardi offered with a smile.
It is told in jest but it’s also a pointer to her husband’s bulletproof self-confidence. This, after all is a man, who has the arrogance to brand his own blog “Common Sense Lives Here”.
Over the years, the 47-year-old Bernardi has collected enemies as a child collects sea shells on the beach. Easily. Whether it be climate change, same-sex marriage, Islam, banning burqas, immigration, even swearing on TV, Bernardi has not been shy about having his say. Indeed he revels in the controversy he creates.
Along the way he has been called a racist, a bigot, a climate-change denier. He denies the first two. Is happy with the third and prefers the term “conservative” to “right wing”. And genuinely believes he represents the silenced voice of mainstream Australia.
“I think I reflect what a great many people think,’’ he said in that 2011 interview. “That might not be politically correct but based on the responses I get from ordinary Australians they are grateful that someone is prepared to do it.”
By cutting himself loose from the protective blanket of the Liberal Party, Bernardi is about to find out, to the last vote, whether or not he is correct in that assessment.
Bernardi has always held an interest in politics. When attending the elite private school Prince Alfred College he would write essays in praise of US president Ronald Reagan.
After school he joined the Liberal Party at the urging of his childhood friend, the now Defence Industries minister, Christopher Pyne — they grew up in the same Burnside street. The two would later fall out in spectacular style, but not before Bernardi worked on Pyne’s successful 1993 election campaign.
Before politics became his occupation, Bernardi led a diverse life. After PAC he won a rowing scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport and moved to Canberra. He was good at it, his 195cm frame, perfect for the sport and he rowed for Australia as a member of the coxless fours at the World Championships in Yugoslavia in 1989.
Representing Australia at the Olympics was the dream but a back injury forced him out of the boat and out of the team that became the Oarsome Foursome, winning gold medals in Barcelona in 1992 and again in Atlanta in 1996.
The end of the rowing career sparked an itinerant spell for Bernardi. He headed overseas and worked as a construction worker for a German company which erected marquees all over Europe and beyond. He even built one for Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
But a car accident in England — one of two near-death experiences for Bernardi — persuaded him it was time to go home where he worked in the family pub in King William St and met an Irish immigrant called Sinead working behind the bar.
Pub life was ended in unusual circumstances. Bernardi was diagnosed with the potentially fatal lung disease, tuberculosis. A year of isolation in hospital and at home followed and in the thinking time made two decisions.
One was to marry Sinead. The other to become more involved in politics. So while he became a stockbroker, he also became active in the Liberal Party, where he first became vice president then president of the party.
He missed out on winning preselection for the federal seat of Hindmarsh at the 2004 election (beaten by current senate colleague Simon Birmingham) but was installed in the Senate after Robert Hill’s retirement in 2006.
Many MPs disappear into the Senate and are never heard from again. Not Bernardi. He was a prime agitator that ended Malcolm Turnbull’s stint as Opposition Leader and installed Tony Abbot in his place. Twice he has been included in the Liberal’s frontbench. Twice he has lost his job for embarrassing the leader.
He created controversy for linking same-sex marriage legislation to “bestiality”.
Bernardi’s defection has long been speculated.
The final push, however, seemed to come during a three- month assignment with the United Nations in New York late last year. Bernardi has always hated the UN, but the posting gave him a close-up view of the election of Donald Trump. Trump won by harnessing voters who had grown increasingly cynical and disillusioned with politics.
As he said in his farewell statement to the Liberal Party yesterday: “For many years I have warned of the consequences of ignoring the clear signs. I have spoken of the need to restore faith in our political system and to put principle back into politics. I regret that too often these warnings have been lost on those who needed to hear them most.’’
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO CORY
Same-sex marriage
Senator Bernardi is a fierce opponent of legalising same-sex marriage, and questioned in 2012 whether allowing gay marriage would lead to bestiality. He branded debate over a plebiscite a “fifth-order issue”.
Border protection
Has long voiced a desire to increase border control and has repeatedly voiced concerns about Muslim immigration. Senator Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives Party is expected to advocate for immigration policies similar to new US President Donald Trump, who recently signed an executive order temporarily banning refugees from entering the US, as well as travellers from seven majority-Muslim nations. Senator Bernardi has described asylum seekers as “welfare squatters”.
Burqa ban
Has repeatedly called for Australia to ban the Muslim burqa, and has linked anti-terrorism raids with his campaign. He described the burqa as “a shroud of oppression” a “flag of fundamentalism” and has said banning them would resolve some security and identification issues. Also requested the burqa be banned from Parliament House in 2014.
Pensions
Senator Bernardi regularly criticised the Government’s pension changes and was among a host of conservatives in the Liberal Party to fight planned changes to superannuation. In his press conference, Senator Bernardi said the changes, which reduced the aged pension payment for people with assets over $500,0000, “upset a great many people” because it affected their plans for retirement.
Energy
Senator Bernardi has historically voted against investing in renewable energy and a fast divestment from fossil fuels. He urged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to scrap any idea of introducing a renewable energy target and his new party is expected to resist a push towards subsiding expensive renewable energy options.
