Australian senator urges conservatives to unite against 'leftwing globalists' at CPAC London
National Party Senate leader Bridget McKenzie told the CPAC London conference that conservatives are at war with mass immigration and 'woke' institutions, while Pauline Hanson's attendance drew domestic criticism.
Australian National Party Senate leader Bridget McKenzie used her appearance at the inaugural CPAC GB conference in London to declare that conservatives are “in a war” against mass immigration, “leftwing globalists” and “woke” institutions, urging rightwing movements across the English-speaking world to unite and fight back.
Organised by former British prime minister Liz Truss, the event featured McKenzie speaking on Saturday morning before joining a panel chaired by Truss alongside other rightwing figures. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson also attended, part of a British tour that has drawn sustained criticism at home.
McKenzie’s speech focused on Australia's immigration program, claiming Labor would oversee 2 million additional arrivals between 2022-23 and 2027-28 and arguing the country should be more selective about who settles there. In reality, the federal Labor government has left permanent migration steady at 185,000 arrivals this year, while net overseas migration fell to 306,000 in 2024–25 from 429,000 a year earlier.
“If you love your country and respect your past and want to build a future for your children, I believe you shouldn’t be apologising for discriminating about who can come and live in your country, not on race, but on values,” McKenzie said. She added that those who consider sharia law superior to Australia's inherited British laws should not settle there.
She framed many issues as part of a broader ideological struggle, claiming a global effort “to undermine the very best of our British heritage by leftwing globalists” who are well-funded, disciplined and relentless. “We need to professionalise, because our opponent is real, dangerous and wants to destroy us. And our own compassion, kindness, tolerance – all those great Christian values – are literally allowing them to do it to us,” she said.
McKenzie also claimed Australians were not consulted on transgender rights and net-zero policies. “Nobody asked Australians if they agreed that a man could be a woman; asked them whether it was OK for men to compete in women’s sports, to be housed in women’s prisons. All these decisions were made without the people’s permission,” she argued.
On the panel, she said Australia had become “the most woke” country in the Anglosphere and criticised successive governments for undermining national sovereignty through high immigration, net-zero policies and decisions by unelected bodies.
Hanson used her platform to attack trans rights, a stance criticised by Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who called the idea of transgender people taking over Australia “insane”. Labor frontbencher Andrew Charlton said Hanson’s comments were divisive, noting Australia is a multicultural country where migrants have contributed hugely. Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume condemned Hanson’s remarks as “unnecessary, divisive, inflammatory and totally un-Australian”.
