Cory Bernardi | |
|---|---|
 Bernardi in 2008 | |
| Leader ofAustralian Conservatives | |
| In office 7 February 2017 – 25 June 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Party established |
| Succeeded by | Party abolished |
| Senator forSouth Australia | |
| In office 4 May 2006 – 20 January 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Hill |
| Succeeded by | Andrew McLachlan |
| President of theSouth Australian Liberal Party | |
| In office 1998–2000 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Lawson |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Downer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1969-11-06)6 November 1969 (age 55) Adelaide,South Australia, Australia |
| Political party | Independent(since 2019) |
| Other political affiliations | Conservatives(2017–2019) Liberal Party(2006–2017) |
| Residence(s) | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| Alma mater | South Australian Institute of Technology Australian Institute of Sport Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh Business School |
| Profession |
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| Signature |  |
| Website | corybernardi |
Cory Bernardi (born 6 November 1969) is an Australianconservative political commentator and former politician. He was aSenator forSouth Australia from 2006 to 2020, and was the leader of theAustralian Conservatives, a minor political party he founded in 2017 but disbanded in 2019. He is a former member of theLiberal Party of Australia, having represented the party in the Senate from 2006 to 2017.
Cory Bernardi was born inAdelaide on 6 November 1969.[1] His father was an Italian immigrant who migrated to Australia in 1958.[2] His maternal grandfather was a trade unionist and staunchLabor supporter.[3]
Bernardi took a business and management course atSouth Australian Institute of Technology,[4] before winning a scholarship and furthering his rowing career at theAustralian Institute of Sport in 1989.[3][5]
After a back injury terminated his rowing career, Bernardi travelled in Europe and Africa, working as a labourer. Returning to Australia, he managed the family's hotel before spending four months in a hospital withtuberculosis. He subsequently worked as astockbroker and financial adviser before entering politics.[3]
Bernardi entered politics in 2006 when he was selected by theLiberal Party to fill a Senate seat vacancy for South Australia left by the resignation ofRobert Hill. During his time in Parliament, Bernardi attracted controversy over several statements and views. On 7 February 2017, he announced that he would be leaving the Liberal Party to form his own party, theAustralian Conservatives.[6] In June 2019, Bernardi announced that he was disbanding the Australian Conservatives and the party was voluntarily deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission on 25 June 2019.[7][8] Bernardi announced his resignation from politics on 19 November 2019,[9][10][11] and on 20 January 2020 resigned from the Senate with immediate effect.[12]
After leaving the Senate, Bernardi became a commentator and podcaster withSky News Australia.[13]
Bernardi made state representative appearances for South Australia in the State Youth VIII at theAustralian Rowing Championships in 1987 and 1988.[14] In 1988, as part of aMercantile Rowing Club eight, he won theLadies' Challenge Plate—open to 2nd grade/varsity/college crews below the heavyweightinternational standard—at theHenley Royal Regatta in England.[15]
In 1989, Bernardi was selected in the seven seat of the South Australian Men's Senior VIII. Unfortunately, thenationals interstate events that year were cancelled when a cyclone hit the Wellington Dam course in WA, part-way through the programme of events. Three weeks later at Carrum in Victoria, Bernardi's South Australian crew placed second in an unofficial men's eight race attended by the Victorian, Western Australian and South Australian crews who raced for the Patten Cup.[16] That same year Bernardi became an Australian national representative when he was selected in the three seat of the coxless four which competed at the1989 World Rowing Championships inBled—formerly ofYugoslavia but what is now theRepublic of Slovenia—and placed tenth.[17] Later that year Bernardi suffered a back injury that effectively ended his rowing career.[2][failed verification]
After South Australian SenatorRobert Hill resigned from the Senate to become Ambassador to the United Nations in March 2006, Bernardi was selected by the Liberal Party to fill the vacancy, officially commencing his senate term on 4 May 2006.[18] On 17 February 2007, Bernardi was pre-selected ahead ofSimon Birmingham and SenatorGrant Chapman by the State Council of the South Australian Liberal Party to be the number one candidate on the South Australian Liberal Senate ticket for thefederal election[citation needed] to be held in late 2007. At the election, Bernardi was elected to a full six-year term. He was again given the first place on the Liberal ticket at the2013 federal election and was re-elected. Following adouble dissolution of Parliament at the2016 federal election, Bernardi was re-elected from the second place on the Liberal ticket. He was elected for a term of six years, ending on 30 June 2022.
In December 2007, Bernardi was appointed the federalCoalition's Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services. On 19 March 2008, Bernardi was named in a story published inThe Australian newspaper as having been linked to a scheme that sold financial advice on how divorcees could hide money from their former spouses.[19] In a media statement released shortly after the article was published, Bernardi described the story as "a rehash of a factually incorrect story that first appeared in 2006 before my appointment to the Senate." Bernardi claimed that he had been "made aware that a colleague [had] been approaching numerous journalists in an attempt to 'push' this matter as a means of personally attacking me." In a statement he went on to say, "I find it disappointing that there are people who clearly pine to background journalists with half-truths and mischievous suggestions in an attempt to smear others. The people who creep out of their darkened closets to resurrect previously discredited accusations do no service to themselves or the community. Politics is a battle of ideas, not a battle of smears."[20]
On 20 March 2008, Bernardi introduced a motion calling for a Senate inquiry into swearing on television and the effectiveness of the Code of Practice after a television show was broadcast at 8.30 pm containing the word "fuck" eighty times in 40 minutes.[21] The Senate supported the motion. Then in June, Bernardi stated his personal view on onlineopinion.com.au regarding a proposed reform relating to same-sex relationships. He stated, "Same-sex relationships are not the same as marital relationships and to treat them the same is to suspend common sense."[22] A month later, Bernardi questioned the ethics of granting human rights to great apes while ignoring the rights of the unborn child[23] on the ABC "unleashed" website.
In August 2008, theHerald Sun newspaper reported that the Federal Parliamentary Library had, following a request from Bernardi, identified a loophole in government legislation that allowed some women who aborted their pregnancies to claim a $5,000 "baby bonus". The Government later stated that the bonus was not available for aborted pregnancies and was committed to following up on any such occurrences.[24]
In September 2008, new Federal Liberal leaderMalcolm Turnbull appointed Bernardi the Coalition Spokesman for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector.[25] In October, Bernardi caused a stir with a speech to the Senate against theSame-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws-Superannuation) Bill 2008[26] supported by the Liberal Party. The bill led to discontent within the Party's conservative faction—of which Bernardi was a key figure. Turnbull was "unhappy that Party authority was being challenged" by Bernardi.[27] In Bernardi's speech, he complained that society should not "throw open the doors and welcome into the fold those whose relationships are uncharacteristic of the most basic elements of a marital union."[28] The next morning Turnbull rang Bernardi to "chip him", having felt the speech was intemperate in tone and that it went against the party line and Turnbull's own leadership.[29]
Bernardi was removed from the Shadow Ministry by Turnbull in February 2009 after reportedly making unsubstantiated claims regarding a fellow Liberal MP in his weekly blog. Recalling an encounter with the Liberal MP at theRoyal Adelaide Golf Club about 14 years before, he wrote:
In response to my question of why he joined the Liberal Party, the MP blithely responded "I live in a Liberal seat so I had to be a member of the Liberal Party to get into Parliament. If I lived in a Labor seat I would have joined the Labor Party." Frankly I was aghast at this response. Where was the conviction, the beliefs, the values that I believe should motivate our political leaders? Several follow up questions disclosed that the only motivation for his own political involvement was for him to become Prime Minister.
The MP involved was thought to beChristopher Pyne, who denied the allegations as "preposterous".[30][31][32]
Following the election ofTony Abbott as the leader of the federal Liberal Party in late 2009, Bernardi was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Population Policy, and in August 2012 was appointed Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate. In September 2012, Bernardi resigned from his position as parliamentary secretary as a result of statements he had made the day before, when he argued that permitting same-sex marriages would lead to legalisedpolygamy and bestiality.[33]
In January 2014, Prime Minister Tony Abbott again distanced himself from Bernardi after the latter called for a new debate on abortion, called for more flexible industrial relations laws, stated his belief in the primacy of the traditional family and claimed that non-traditional families may cause negative social outcomes,[34] linked a secular polity with Australia having lost its way, and claimed that Christianity was under siege from both the politicalGreens and Islam.[35]
Bernardi was re-elected for a six-year term in the Senate at theJuly 2016 election.[36]
In September 2016, Bernardi spoke in favour of the repeal ofsection 18C of theRacial Discrimination Act, which prohibits speech that is reasonably likely to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate on the basis of race, colour or national or ethnic origin".[37][38] In December 2016 Bernardi got into a public spat with former prime ministerTony Abbott over reports that Bernardi may start his own party.[39][40]
In the same month, it was reported that Bernardi in 2009 set up an entity called the Conservative Leadership Foundation, "a fundraising entity that inhabits a grey area in the political donations system and permits gifts from foreign donors." and that "it has never made a disclosure to the Australian Electoral Commission as an associated entity, nor disclosed any political expenditure."[41]
In February 2017, seven months after the 2016 election, Bernardi left the Liberal Party to form a separate party, theAustralian Conservatives, which was born out of Bernardi's Australian Conservatives movement.[6][42][43] The Australian Conservatives movement was formed by Bernardi in July 2016 to "unite conservatives",[44][45] and which by August claimed 50,000 members.[46]
In June 2019, Bernardi announced that the Australian Conservatives would apply to be voluntarily deregistered with the Australian Electoral Commission. He cited a poor result in the2019 Australian federal election, and that the removal ofMalcolm Turnbull as prime minister meant that his supporters would return to the Liberal Party.[7] The AEC confirmed the party had been deregistered on 25 June 2019.[8]
In November 2019, Bernardi announced that he would resign from his Senate position;[9][10] his resignation formally occurred on 20 January 2020.[12][47] Because he was elected as a member of the Liberal Party, a member of that party would fill thevacancy caused by his resignation. The formerPresident of the South Australian Legislative CouncilAndrew McLachlan filled Bernardi's vacancy on 6 February 2020.
Prior to forming theAustralian Conservatives, Bernardi was a member of theconservative faction or right-wing of theLiberal Party.[48]
On 21 April 2007, Bernardi published an essay questioning whetherglobal warming was caused by human activities. Environment MinisterMalcolm Turnbull and other Liberal parliamentarians promptly distanced themselves from his views.[49]
Bernardi has been publiclycritical ofIslam.[50][51] In 2010, he wrote an opinion piece calling for aban on wearing the burqa in public.[52]
In 2011, Bernardi opined that it was "wrong" for the government to pay for funeral expenses for asylum-seekers. He also said that "Islam itself is the problem—it's not Muslims", and that multiculturalism had failed. He later clarified his view, saying that it was "the fundamentalist Islamic approach of changing laws and values does not have my support."[53] For these comments he received death threats.[54] Liberal leaderTony Abbott distanced himself from the comments.[55]
Bernardi has shared values with Dutchanti-Islam politicianGeert Wilders, whom he met while on a trip to Europe.[56] Bernardi offered to assist Wilders in a visit to Australia but, in February 2013 when Wilders did come, Bernardi did not meet with him. Wilders stated in an interview that Bernardi's decision not to meet him was a "sad but true" reflection on politics, particularly in an election year.[57][58]
In September 2016, Bernardi proposed that theTurnbull government take up a modified version of the immigration policy ofPauline Hanson's One Nation, aiming to mollify people fearing Muslim immigration as he felt soft immigration policies were to blame for a fall in government support.[59] In February 2017, he attracted criticism for speaking at theQ Society of Australia. The event received protests who called the event "racist".[60]
In 2013 Bernardi expressed his concern over the effect of Australia's public broadcaster, theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation, on commercial operators. His view was that the ABC had grown beyond its initial charter and its size was unjustifiably encroaching into the online news sphere at the expense of commercial operators and media diversity. However, he supported the continued existence ofABC iView and ABC podcasting services, and agreed that the ABC provides useful services to regional areas often under-serviced by commercial operators.[61]
Bernardi has said that permitting same-sex marriages would lead to legalisedpolygamy andbestiality;[33] and said that the "safe schools program" designed to make homosexual children feel safer at school "bullies" heterosexual children.[62] Several of his colleagues from the Liberal Party at the time distanced themselves from Bernardi's comments, includingTony Abbott, who also opposes same-sex marriage. Bernardi was one of twelve senators who voted against what became theMarriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017.[63]
Bernardi isanti-abortion, saying those who support it are "pro death".[64][65][66] On 16 November 2017, Bernardi moved a motion in the Senate to ban abortion on gender grounds. He was one of the 10 senators who voted in favour of the motion, which was defeated 10 votes to 36.[67][68]
Bernardi supports the legalisation ofnuclear fuel cycle activities in Australia which, as of November 2017, are prohibited under theEPBC Act and ARPANS Act. In November 2017, he presented the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (Facilitation) Bill in the Senate to repeal these prohibitions, effectively enabling future proposals for activities such as:nuclear waste importation, storage and disposal,nuclear power generation, further processing ofuranium and thereprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.[69]
Bernardi is the author ofThe Conservative Revolution, published in 2013.[70]
On 28 September 2015,Tony Jones, host of the television programQ&A onABC, referred to "Cory Bernardi's Golden Dawn or something" in the context of the prospect of Bernardi forming his own political party.[71] The Greek political partyGolden Dawn has been characterised as neo-fascist. ABC later stated that the words were intended only as shorthand for a new conservative party and not to suggest that Bernardi shared the views of Golden Dawn.[72][73]
In February 2016,LaborOpposition LeaderBill Shorten labelled Bernardi a "homophobe".[74] In March, student protesters trashed Bernardi's Adelaide office and wrote slogans such as "stop homophobia" after Bernardi raised concerns about the content of theSafe Schools Program. Bernardi claimed the program was indoctrinating minors.[75][76]
Bernardi was criticised for comments regarding the role of women in the military.[77] Liberal SenatorLinda Reynolds called Bernardi a "disgrace" in response to Bernardi's condemnation of women seeking combat roles in the military.[78]
Bernardi is a conservativeCatholic Christian.[79] He and his Irish-born wife Sinéad, an economics graduate,[3] have two sons.[80]
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