Ex-Howard ally Ross Cameron leads new Senate push

Disaffected hard-right libertarians are working to tap into anti-lockdown sentiment to take control of the Senate.

Ross Cameron.

Disaffected hard-right libertarians are working to tap into anti-lockdown sentiment to take control of the Senate and challenge the Coalition, ramping up efforts to attract big political names to their cause.

Ross Cameron – a controversial member of the Howard government and ex-Sky News host – has joined the Liberal Democrats and is helping create a single-message, anti-lockdown strategy for the next election. He is also involved in recruiting people for the Senate tickets.

The Australian revealed on Monday ex-Queensland premier Campbell Newman had quit the Liberal National Party and was set to run for the federal upper house, with the Liberal Democrats his most likely new team.

The Liberal Democrats in recent months have been focused on recruiting Liberals disaffected with anti-coronavirus lockdowns and the Coalition’s big-spending policies under Scott Morrison.

Campbell Newman. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Mr Cameron told The Australian his new party had attracted significant new financial support and wanted candidates with big profiles to win it Senate seats.

“We are actively looking for the biggest, most magnetic candidate in every state — a recognisable figure — with the aim of winning the last senate quota in each of them,” he said. “The party is enjoying quite strong financial support and we are testing a number of different names and candidates. We will be running an anti-lockdown message like Nigel Farage’s single-message campaign on Brexit.

“I was a member of the Liberal Party for 40 years and I can say we will tear strips off the Liberals and Nationals like hammerhead sharks tearing at the carcass of a sperm whale.”

The party is actively courting candidates such as Mr Newman to run for Senate tickets.

The Australian understands former Nationals leader John Anderson – who recently attempted a political comeback via a failed bid for the top spot on his party’s Senate ticket – has been approached but has so far declined.

Mr Newman, Queensland premier from 2012-15, has accused the Coalition of abandoning its principles, largely through its response to the pandemic, and its imposition and acceptance of lockdowns and border closures.

He is most likely to join the Liberal Democrats, which would be a significant boost for the party, which formerly held one Senate seat through NSW’s David Leyonhjelm, replaced by Duncan Spender before the seat was lost at the last election.

Conservative commentator Alan Jones – the nation’s most prominent critic of Covid lockdowns – said on Monday he was detecting mass disillusionment with the Liberals in conservative ranks and Mr Newman and the Liberal Democrats could benefit.

“There’s an undercurrent out there. Thousands feel as Campbell Newman does … Is the Liberal Party for the little bloke? No. Is the Liberal Party for small government? No. Is the Liberal Party for greater freedoms? No,” he said.

John Ruddick.

“I’ve got 800 letters a day from people who say they have nowhere to turn and Campbell Newman is someone they could end up turning to. Disillusionment with the lockdowns is rampant. The polls don’t lie.”

Liberal MPs across the party’s spectrum were largely dismissive of the Liberal Democrats, but said branch members were threatening to leave over big government spending, and federal and state support for lockdowns.

A Queensland LNP MP said Mr Newman – a recent trustee of the party who lost government after a term – was not popular enough to get more votes than the Coalition or One Nation. A NSW MP said anti-lockdown concerns would dissipate by the next election, most likely next year, with more people vaccinated.

Liberal Democrat Warringah candidate John Ruddick – until recently a Liberal Party activist – said more members of his old party were looking to defect. “We used to have leaders like Jeff Kennett and Richard Court and Nick Greiner, who believed in a Margaret Thatcher-style economic reform agenda. Now three Liberal PMs have spent $1.3 trillion. A majority might support lockdowns but one in three Australians see they are insanity,” he said.