Liberal preselection, for the blue ribbon federal Sydney seat of Mitchell, has been completed , with the election of Alex Hawke. He is a 30 year old, Anglican with strong Hillsong affiliations, defeating David Elliot, a hotels industry lobbyist , securing 81 of 107 votes.
“This process of labelling people just because they’re Christian and because they’re socially conservative as extreme is something that I regard as unfair and particularly nasty,” he said in response to earlier comments made by Anthony Albanese, who branded him as an "extremist".
Hawke is a former staffer for the most prominent Christian right-wing NSW Liberal MP, David Clarke, and has previously worked for federal right-wingers Ross Cameron and Helen Coonan. They had worked together to build a conservative religious network within the party and end the small 'l', long held control.
In his maiden speech in 2003, his mentor, Clarke, promised to “uphold and advocate the conservative, mainstream and Christian-based truths and values that I believe our nation is based upon … with missionary zeal”. As Chloe Hooper, in a 2005 issue of Monthly, wrote and then continued... "this has included hot-housing young religious conservatives. The NSW Young Liberals were long considered the jewel in the moderate Liberal crown but, as one young New South Welshman tells me, Clarke “kind of got people together to take over”. With Clarke’s support, recruiting from organisations such as the secretive catholic Opus Dei movement, the NSW Young Liberals now have the largest membership base of all the states."
Mr Brogden, former leader of the NSW liberal leader, claimed his downfall was partly related to the behind the scenes work of conservative forces, particularly Hawke. He was regarded as too socially liberal, on issues such as republicanism, abortion, heroin injecting rooms and homosexuality.
Hawkes' precocious rise to power may well consign the Liberal Party to many years in the wilderness or, Australia, permanently, to the style of the religous right , that the libs are becoming infamous for. A sought of merger between church and state that will gladden the hearts of George Pell, et al.
