DLP MP Rachel Carling-Jenkins joins Australian Conservatives

THE state MP who will switch from the Democratic Labour Party to the Australian Conservatives has revealed why she made the switch and how it will affect the way she votes in State Parliament.

DEMOCRATIC Labour Party MP Rachel Carling-Jenkins says a defection to the Australian Conservatives won’t change her approach to state issues like the proposed fire services restructure.

Dr Carling-Jenkins told the Herald Sun she had decided to unite with outspoken federal Senator Cory Bernardi and join the party he set up after he quit the Liberal Party.

The state upper house MP, who was elected on a DLP ticket spruiking her social conservative values, said the new party has a “long term future” and called for other like-minded MPs to join.

“I think it’s time for minor parties, like-minded parties, to unite because the conservative vote has been fractured,” Dr Carling-Jenkins said.

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Social justice issues would continue to be her focus going forward, Dr Carling-Jenkins said and her change of party wouldn’t alter her approach to core issues the Legislative Council has addressed.

“On the firefighters issue I wouldn’t have changed my view on that needing to go to a Select Committee, whichever brand I had,” she said.

“One of the issues we have got here in Victoria is a lack of consultation from this government, whether it’s to home educators, whether it’s to parents about gender ideology programs they’re introducing, or whether it’s to the CFA volunteers.”

The fledgling Australian Conservatives, which has recruited thousands of members in the past few months, is now looking to expand its reach and will run candidates at the South Australian and Victorian state elections next year.

Rachel Carling-Jenkins with Cory Bernardi at Parliament House in Melbourne. Carling-Jenkins is joining the Australian Conservatives. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Senator Bernardi welcomed his new Victorian colleague to the party and said: “There is a real sense that the major parties are failing to deliver”.

“We have seen the status quo challenged in a range of ways in society and it’s happening in politics,” he said.

The DLP and Australian Conservatives have had different approaches to economic programs in the past, with Dr Carling-Jenkins elected promising to look after the “three pillars” in society that she said were “family, worker and community”.

Senator Bernardi said there was a common thread between the pair and the conservative values they hold, however.

“We both acknowledge that in order to provide appropriate social programs you have got to have a strong economy,” he said.

A looming energy crisis, law and order, as well as “social engineering” by state governments would be issues of particular interest for the party in Victoria, he said.

“Safe Schools is a catalyst for parental discontent right around the country, but the Andrews Government seems intent on its ideological pursuit. You haven’t even touched the sides of the energy crisis you are about to have — I have lived that in South Australia.”

Senator Bernardi said the Australian Conservatives would run candidates in the state election, with the Victorian Electoral Commission currently verifying its membership numbers in order to grant it party status.

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