According to The Australian, Queensland’s Liberal National Party is under threat from a sinister “pro-life takeover plot.” That’s the headline. And like so many headlines these days, it says far more about the journalists who wrote it than the situation they claim to describe.

What actually happened was far simpler: young conservatives and Christians gathered at an event I hosted to learn how to participate in politics—something every Australian should be encouraged to do. But for the Lying Harlot Media, ordinary democratic engagement becomes a “plot” the moment Christians are involved.

Let me set the record straight.

When The Australian published its December 5 piece, the language was predictably loaded—“plot,” “takeover,” “activist.” If you want to villainise someone, just call them an activist and imply they’re hatching a scheme. Never mind that political parties are made up almost entirely of activists. Never mind that the entire premise of our democracy is participation. Never mind that compulsory voting exists precisely because we believe in civic involvement.

But apparently if you’re conservative, Christian or pro-life, participation becomes “dangerous”.

The article centred on Barclay McGain, the general manager of CPAC, who—contrary to the journalists’ dismissive language—hasn’t merely “reckoned” he’s been blocked from the LNP. It’s a matter of fact. He has applied again and again, and each time he has been rejected or ignored. If the party wants to contradict that, they’re welcome to simply accept his membership. But they haven’t.

Barclay was forced out in 2019 over a video the Left labelled “racist,” despite the fact he wasn’t the one making the comments. An interviewee criticised the historical cultural achievements of Indigenous Australians before European settlement. These are matters of historical fact, not racial animus. Calling that racism is simply the undefinition of words—a favoured tactic of the modern Left.

But even if someone disagrees with him—so what? In a democracy, if you don’t like someone’s opinion, you vote against it. You don’t exile them from the political process.

The article also breathlessly reports that Barclay “boasted” of recruiting 200 new members to the Young LNP. If that’s true, he deserves a medal. The real scandal isn’t that he’s promoting participation—it’s that the structure of the LNP unfairly amplifies certain branches, like the youth and women’s wings, giving them extra representation. If The Australian wants to talk about threats to democracy, they’re looking in the wrong direction.

Let me explain what actually happened. I hosted a Church and State event designed to encourage young adults to engage in politics. Three right-of-centre parties were present. I encouraged attendees to join whichever party made the most sense to them. That’s it. No takeover plot. No clandestine operation. Just democracy.

Barclay spoke about the need for young Christians to join the LNP and influence pre-selections—again, something every party encourages (unless the recruits are conservative Christians, apparently). He said the LNP could become a pro-life party if enough members joined. That’s not radical; that’s how parties are supposed to work. The grassroots theoretically shape the direction of the movement—not a handful of power-brokers who ignore their own constitution whenever it suits them.

Let’s be honest: ending abortion is no more extreme than ending slavery was. The moral comparison holds. The Wilberforce generation didn’t apologise for demanding justice; they organised, they recruited, they campaigned. Christianity birthed the world’s first grassroots human rights movement. And it will be Christians again who take up the moral emergency of our age: the systematic destruction of unborn children.

My generation will end abortion.

Instead of seriously engaging with that conviction, The Australian’s writers resort to sneering euphemisms and hyperventilating pejoratives. They paint us as extremists, wicked, dangerous—because we believe in the sanctity of life and the integrity of Truth. They call good evil and evil good. Let’s be very clear: God is not on our side; we seek to be on His.

The LNP should welcome members who want to defeat the progressive, Marxist drift of Labor and the Greens. But if certain power-brokers feel more threatened by conservatives than by the Left, then it becomes obvious that the real power struggle isn’t ideological—it’s personal. They fear losing their little kingdoms.

And that leads to my warning. If the LNP wants to stop thousands of Christians and conservatives from joining, they will need to turn the party into an open dictatorship. They will need to ban debate and suppress discussion of the health and safety of women and children. They will need to protect abortionists from scrutiny while pretending—dishonestly—that they protect children. People like David Crisafulli can repeat that line all they like, but their actions betray them. They defend not children, but the industry ending children’s lives.

The Truth is simple: mothers must not be given the right to unalive their children. Abortionists must not be shielded by law from the harm they inflict. And the people who call this moral clarity “extremism” are the ones history will judge harshly.

So let me be plain. Join the Liberal Party—not because it is perfect, and certainly not to support it unconditionally—but to save it. Help make it the party it claims to be: democratic, principled, representative of its members, and committed to the protection of the most vulnerable.

My generation will end abortion. And with God’s help, Australia will be renewed.

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Dave Pellowe is the founder of 'Church And State', a nationwide ministry equipping Christians to be public salt and light: redeeming the culture and advocating for righteousness in government. Dave teaches Christians how God’s unchanging Word answers all the controversial questions. Specialising in what God says about complex ethical and social issues, Dave Pellowe is a guest speaker at churches, youth groups and Christian schools, TV, radio and podcast interviews and other secular and Christian forums where love of Truth and honest thinking are valued. [more]

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