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Not many people can make the nation's leaders sit down quietly and listen to their wide-ranging thoughts on whatever their pet issue might be.

But political conferences are pretty weird things.

Today, the Prime Minister, Treasurer, Liberal state premiers and a bunch of ordinary Liberal Party members are gathering in Canberra for the Federal Council.

The party comes together and talks about where it is going, and where it stands on a whole bunch of hot-button issues.

On the sidelines, deals are cut, numbers are counted and hands are shaken.

Does any of it matter? Sort of yes, and sort of no.

A few years ago, headlines blared that the Liberal Party wanted to sell the ABC.

And look, it did. The 2018 Federal Council voted for a "full privatisation of the ABC, except for services into regional areas".

But three years on, under a Coalition government, the ABC remains firmly in public hands.

At every conference, dozens of motions are put up for debate by various state branches, the Young Liberals and the Women's Committee.

They might be out of step with existing party policy (that's often the point) and they might be endorsed.

But as the ABC example shows, while those in power have to listen, they do not have to act.

Not every controversial idea is ignored.

Julie Bishop and Mitch Fifield are forced to pour cold water on motions passed at the Liberal Party's federal council, which insiders claim signify the "ascendancy of the conservatives" in the party.

The same 2018 Federal Council endorsed an idea to move Australia's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

That idea has since been adopted, with West Jerusalem recognised as Israel's capital, but the embassy is yet to actually move.

And even if those controversial motions do not wind up becoming reality, it is not like party leaders can just ignore their existence.

Politicians are forced to answer questions about why they "respectfully disagree"with the party membership.

If the party leadership really does not want to talk about some topics, they can be shuffled elsewhere for another time.

A 2015 motion calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the science behind climate change was sent off to an internal policy committee but the party denies that was to avoid a public discussion.

There is not anything as controversial as climate science or ABC funding coming out of this conference, and that is probably deliberate.

An election is due either late this year or early next year, so the Liberals (like Labor at their party conference earlier this year) are keen to avoid damaging headlines on sensitive topics.

It is not entirely free of contentious issues the Israel-Gaza conflict has already come up (the council actually began late yesterday), with a motion passed calling on the party to reject unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. But that is already in line with existing policy.

Motions calling for inquiries into 'Big Tech' and the introduction of voter ID laws passed too.

And the NSW Branch put up a motion on criminalising coercive control, which was also endorsed.

There are some more niche issues the Young Liberals want vaping legalised, which will come up today.

Over in the West, the WA Liberals want a renewed commitment to their minimum share of the GST pool.

All of which are interesting, some even provocative, but nothing that should have the Prime Minister answering extremely awkward questions next week.

These sorts of things are as much about the sideshows as the main event.

Factions get together themselves in private, and factional leaders meet to quietly broker arrangements and with an election on the horizon, there is plenty to talk about.

Talk has already begun of possible pre-selection challenges faced by four MP's in New South Wales, including two female MP's.

The Prime Minister has made it clear internally he would like see all four MP's re-endorsed, and the matter is almost certainly going to come up in private.

Pre-selection is a matter for state divisions neither the Prime Minister, nor the federal executive of the Liberals can formally dictate who is pre-selected where.

But those at the top of the party are very keen to avoid ugly pre-selection battles, particularly involving sitting female MP's.

With a weekend in Canberra with most of the party in town, it is one issue many would like to see resolved

See the original post here:
Middle East politics, climate science and selling the ABC: why the Liberals' annual get-together does (and definitely doesn't) matter - ABC News