Opinion
There are political leaders who make their valedictory addresses a fitting sign-off for greatness. Eisenhower’s prophetic warning of a “scientific-technological elite”, for instance. Others make an apparent valedictory address as the keystone of a mere interregnum in a long and storied career, such as John Howard’s speech relinquishing the Liberal leadership in 1989.
Then there are those who show, in their valedictory address, a rare flash of the sort of courage and wisdom we could only wish they’d showed in office.
Scott Morrison has urged Australians to reconnect with the Judaeo-Christian values that underpinned the country’s successful representative democracy, warning the nation risked a loss of identity in the face of authoritarian challenges to Western civilisation.
He has also warned against the re-institutionalisation of the economy at a time that would leave the country vulnerable to the global threats to Australia’s sovereignty.
The former prime minister and member for Cook, who on Tuesday will deliver his valedictory speech to parliament after announcing his retirement from politics, will warn of the “drift of secularism” amid a rise of anti-Semitism and identity politics.
In part, this is surely calculated to trigger yet more exploding heads on the left, who are absolutely convinced that Judaeo-Christianity, not to say the entirety of Western civilisation, is an edifice of unalloyed evil. The only problem is that history shows they are utterly incorrect.
Take any value the left profess to hold dear: human rights? A Western invention, enabled by the Judaeo-Christian concern for the poor and oppressed. Feminism? Another Western invention. Abolitionism? You guessed it: the West.
But, wait — didn’t the West invent racism? Nope — Western colour racism was a very late development, arising in the latter part of the 19th century, post-Darwin. For centuries before that, though, the Arab world had practised the most grotesque colour racism, courtesy of their slave trade, which valued white slaves far more than black. Even so, the Arabic slang for blacks, “Abed”, literally means “slaves”.
“Australia is arguably the most successful democracy in the world … It is the basis on which we stand up to autocracy and authoritarianism,” Mr Morrison told The Australian.
“But how do we stand? And on what ground?
“Well, on the very same ground that established our Western civilisation that inspired and enabled the modern, pluralist representative democracy we now enjoy.
“We stand on the values that built our successful, free society.
“All of these stem from the core principle of respect for individual human dignity, as does representative democracy and even a market-based capitalist economy. This is a uniquely Judaeo-Christian principle.”
Cue mass meltdowns in the left-media.
But Morrison is not just looking backward, he’s also calling the current government to account for its opportunistic weakness in the face of resurgent anti-Semitism.
“We need to keep standing up to the arc of autocracy, the communist government of China, Iran and Russia and North Korea,” Mr Morrison said.
“We need to stand up to Hamas and Hezbollah … We need to stand with Israel as we stand with Ukraine and stand together against authoritarianism and the totalitarianism of the Chinese Communist Party.
“This is something we need to not just be a party to but be a driver of in our hemisphere.”
The Australian
Standing up to the CCP is one genuine strength that Morrison can point to, from his tenure. If only he could have been so strong in standing against, not just the Labor state governments, but the watermelon wets in his own party.
Still, no matter how poor a job Morrison did, Australians could always elect someone far worse. Which they duly did.