A Trump impersonator and opera singers: CPAC was a spectacle, but the right still can’t agree how to take down Labor

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The Guardian reports on a theatrical Conservative Political Action Conference in Brisbane, featuring a Trump impersonator and performances, as Australian conservatives debate how to challenge the Labor government. Disagreement over political preferences is presented as a key obstacle ahead of a possible third consecutive election defeat.

Preferences proved the sticking point at the conference as conservatives face the prospect of a third successive election defeat Get our new political email, free app or daily news podcast Many mainstream Australians would feel as if they’d been dropped in a foreign country at the Conservative Political Action Conference, lost amid oblique references to transgender swimmers, blue hair, women’s bathrooms, jokes about falling off stages and Matt Canavan in hi-vis and speed dealer sunnies. It’s an interesting spectacle. At this year’s conference in Brisbane, rightwing campaigner Monica Smit was deep in conversation with a Donald Trump impersonator, opera singers belted out the national anthem (the first verse, twice, for unknown reasons), senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and her folk singer husband sang the anthem again, and Stefanovic jokingly thanking CPAC for “rudely interrupting my unemployment”. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...