We know that state politics by-and-large is populated by nutbags on a scale that even Federal Parliament can’t handle, but even by that standard this is… rather insane.
The WA Liberals have passed a series of motions it would like debated as the state parties prepare to descend on the Liberal Party‘s federal council, which is slated to go down in Sydney on June 23rd and 24th.
The council is a chance for state parties to raise any concerns they have with Federal policy directly with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
For the Western Australian-arm of the party, two of the issues they dearly want debated essentially constitute:
- That they would like to be able to freely kill great white sharks in the name of “protection.” And;
- That they are so petrified of Chinese military action that they are demanding an increased Armed Forces presence to help stave it off.
That is ah… quite serious.
Fairfax Media has this afternoon published details on the motions which will be taken to, and very seriously discussed at, the Federal council.
One motion asserts that the WA party would like great white sharks removed as a “vulnerable and threatened” species, which would allow for open shark culls in the event of any attacks on humans in the ocean where the sharks live. The party is arguing, in this instance, that protecting the safety of humans who enter the water is the greater priority.
The second, and far more radical, motion (that, again we stress, was passed as a topic of debate that will be taken to the Federal council) calls for Malcolm Turnbull to beef up Australia’s military presence on the western and northern shores of Western Australia as a direct response to increased military activity by China in the South China Sea.
75-year-old former Federal Senator Alan Eggleston is reported to be behind that piece of brain-busting logic, who has previously relayed personal fears and assertions that China could cripple Australia’s economy “in three weeks” should China ever chose to clamp down on key shipping routes.
Other less outrageous motions passed by the WA Liberals include one that continues the state’s long-running sook about the distribution of the GST, as well as one that takes aim at the Labor-founded Fair Work Commission.
But there you have it, folks. Western Australian Liberals: scared of China, keen to shoot sharks.
There you bloody well have it.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Dave J Hogan/Getty.
