Thursday, 15 August 2019

 Mr LIMBRICK (South Eastern Metropolitan) (09:54): After hearing Senator Kristina Keneally promote the inaugural Conservative Political Action Conference in Australia, I thought I should check it out. I was a bit concerned that it was for conservatives as I am a libertarian, and Senator Keneally seemed to suggest that I might turn into some nasty extremist if I talked to people with different opinions. Fortunately not only did the organisers say that I was welcome, but they also invited me to speak. So I ended up on stage with former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman talking about how many conservatives are changing their mind on the issue of drug decriminalisation. It was not really much of a debate, though, with him actually being one of those conservatives who had changed their mind. In what may come as a surprise to Senator Keneally, the people in the room that disagreed with me did so politely, without suggesting I should not be allowed to speak. Even more encouraging was that many of them agreed with me. I would like to think that drug decriminalisation is one area that conservatives, libertarians and the left can one day agree on, but before that happens we will have to talk with people that we do not always agree with.