Progressives want to attack Australian liberties, says PM
Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants to crack down on climate activists, but has also delivered a huge attack on one of the Left’s favourite words.
QLD Politics
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SCOTT Morrison has delivered a withering criticism of modern progressivism, claiming radical activists using the title wanted to attack the liberties of Australians.
In a landmark resources speech yesterday in Brisbane, the Prime Minister took aim at a progressive agenda he believed was fuelling a new breed of “apocalyptic” climate activists.
Wandering from his prepared notes, Mr Morrison said “progressivism” sounded like a “lovely word you can cuddle up to” to get a “nice warm glow”, but in reality was like a form of propaganda from George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984.
“Those who claim this title want to tell you where to live, what job you can have, what you can say and what you can think and tax you more for the privilege of all of those instructions that are directed to you,” he told a 1000-strong audience at the Queensland Resources Council’s economic contribution launch.
“I am very concerned about how this new form of progressivism, a newspeak-type term, intended, intended to get in under the radar, but at its heart would deny the liberties of Australians, and particularly in this state, of pursuing the life that they want to live, the town they want to have, the jobs they want to pursue and the futures that they’ve decided for themselves.”
He also gave his strongest hint yet that he supported a new coal-fired power station in north Queensland, saying a report into the power needs of heavy industry in the region would be finalised before the end of 2019.
“Obviously there’s the Collinsville (coal-fired power) project, which strikes me as being a particularly useful project, but its got to go through the same processes as all the other projects, and to identify what’s the best way that we can support ensuring that north Queensland’s heavy industry requirements are met,” he said.
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