The National Conservative Institute of Australia (“NCIA”) is a new think tank focused on putting the nation-state and traditional conservatism back at the heart of policy formation and decision making in Australia. The NCIA is philosophically aligned with other institutes and thinkers globally who, while they might have individual differences, have broadly embraced the “national conservative” label.
The statement of principles issued by the Edmund Burke Foundation is a useful starting point to understand this new global movement: https://nationalconservatism.org/national-conservatism-a-statement-of-principles/
The key areas where national conservatives differ from the current largely bipartisan political consensus in the western world, are in relation to immigration, trade, and foreign policy. National conservatives also offer a sophisticated diagnosis for what has ultimately caused so much destruction to many of our traditional institutions including the family.
Immigration
National conservatives believe mass immigration poses an existential threat to many Western nations and that there needs to be a reassessment from first principles as to what level and what type of immigration, if any, makes sense for Australia. We have no animus towards other countries or peoples. However, we believe we need prioritize re-establishing social cohesion, a shared sense of national identity, and prosperity for our own citizens and current immigration policy is actively working against these aims. We also believe the Australian economy needs to be significantly restructured so that is it not reliant on immigration for growth.
Trade
National conservatives believe that large numbers of Australia’s existing trade and investment agreements, including but not limited to the one we signed with China, will need to be torn up or at the very least significantly redesigned. We are against the utopianism that believes that the most appropriate and optimum trading policy at all times and in all eras is a zero-tariff regime on imported goods regardless of which country they come from. We believe policy makers have forgotten that trade policy is not simply a question of economics but is an element of foreign policy and social policy. Trade policy needs to adjust to our current geopolitical and economic environment rather than rely on out-of-date views of the world.
Foreign Policy
National conservatives believe that the reckless evangelism that has characterised Western military interventions since the end of the Cold War need to stop. What is needed instead is a new prudence that is focused on our vital interests (narrowly defined) and which is far more selective about the conflicts we allow ourselves to be dragged in to.
Traditional Institutions and the Family
National conservatives also believe that in the same way the current form of liberalism has been hostile to national borders and identity, it has also been very corrosive to traditional family forms, definitions, and ways of life. We do not believe that maximizing individual autonomy or and enhancing GDP should be the sole metrics in assessing whether a policy is good. Instead, the focus should be on whether policies are good for the formation and preservation of families, whether they make it easier for people to have and raise children, and whether they assist the transmission of our culture and our way of life to the next generation.
What does this mean for Australia?
It is a truism to say that new political leaders across the western world have tapped in to discontent with the existing consensus. The elections of Donald Trump in the United States, the Brexit vote in the UK and recent elections across Europe attest to this fact. But we believe is important that this national conservative movement is not reliant on individuals alone, who can be erratic or unreliable in implementing policies, and who can misunderstand the mandates they are provided.
While Australia has not seen yet the same type of political upheaval as has been witnessed in other Western countries to date, it is likely to do so in future. We believe it is important that growing dissatisfaction with the current approach be properly channelled into and tethered to a coherent alternative philosophy. The existing consensus is being upended but it is crucial it is replaced with something that is comprehensive, enduring and that has strong intellectual foundations. This is the role the National Conservative Institute of Australia believes it can play in hopefully improving the future of our nation and our people.
