Tuesday, 2 June 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (15:44): Never in the long history of the Liberal Party has a former prime minister served as our Liberal Party federal president, but last week that all changed. My friend, our nation’s 28th Prime Minister, the Honourable Tony Abbott AC, was elected unopposed as federal president. While Tony left the Lodge over a decade ago, his fighting spirit has never abated. He is joined by one of the finest political strategists in the nation, Brian Loughnane, who is now state president of the Victorian Liberal Party. They, like me, like Angus Taylor and like Jess Wilson, are not in the business of appeasement. We are drawing the battlelines for the fight between patriots and traitors. Labor is the party of broken promises, toxic taxes, union thuggery and social engineering. We are the party of patriots. We treasure our traditions, honour our flag, respect our history. We do not say sorry for who we are or bow down to the noisy, flag-burning activists. We protect the rights of women and girls and do not let men in women’s spaces. We love celebrating Australia Day, not banning it. We do not do what is easy, we do what is right.