OUTGOING Victorian Liberal Party MP Cathrine Burnett-Wake has denounced extremists in politics during her valedictory speech.
Ms Burnett-Wake, the Victorian Liberal Party Upper House MP for Eastern Victoria who lost her pre-selection in July, hit out at “extremists” in politics in her valedictory speech in Parliament on September 21.
Sale-based chiropractor and City Builder’s Church member Renee Heath won pre-selection against Ms Burnett-Wake by a vote of 53 to 55, and will appear on the ballot for the Legislative Council representing the Liberal Party in the November state election.
Ms Burnett-Wake said that her committee work had been an “unexpected highlight”.
“I have had the privilege of working on three different inquiries: the inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system, the inquiry into children affected by parental incarceration and most recently the inquiry into extremism in Victoria,” she said.
“I have learned a great deal from these inquiries, and they were all important; however, the extremism inquiry is especially timely.”
Ms Burnett-Wake said that there was a mood for change in politics that was an opportunity for “change and improvement”, but that extremist groups could also take advantage to set the agenda.
“We can see that voters are also worried by these groups – as they should be. When voters are disappointed by all the choices offered to them, they lose faith in democracy,” she said.
“A lesson from the extremism inquiry is that extremist groups share a range of toxic characteristics that do not appeal to the majority. Most have an anti-democratic, autocratic agenda. They may disguise this as restoring freedoms or correcting fabricated injustices, but their real goals are to increase the power, wealth and influence of their self-appointed leaders and to scapegoat minorities for fiscal and legal policy failings.
“It is their determination to subvert democracy and the law that makes them unacceptably extreme. They cannot win mainstream support legitimately, and they rely on misinformation and cult-like practices to build a following.”
Ms Burnett-Wake said that Victorians needed to be aware of the “threat” from these groups.
“Ordinary Victorians need to awaken to the threat from these groups. Some are involved in politics, building factions with detailed and effective plans to undermine and corrupt democracy in Victoria and Australia today. ‘Infiltrate, impact, impel’ is their strategy,” she said.
“Politics is a transactional numbers game … if we do not have a representative parliament, but groupings who have extreme views and hold the numbers, it means they will be able to set the legislative agenda without democratic checks and balances. That is concerning.”
ABC Gippsland reported in August that a number of Liberal Party members in Gippsland worried about infiltration by church groups had decided to leave the party.
Ms Burnett-Wake said that despite her concerns, she wanted to remain positive, and was committed to public service and being active in the local community.
“I believed that becoming involved in politics was the right way to be most effective and to do the most good, not in service of some abstract cause or idea or for the bidding of others but directly for the benefit of the eastern region, Victoria and Australia.
“Moving forward I am not sure if I will return to politics. That is yet to be determined.”
