When Angus Taylor finished speaking to a room of conservative faithful in Brisbane this weekend, about 50 people stood to applaud him.
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people → speak → him
A few minutes later, hundreds rose to their feet to give Pauline Hanson a standing ovation simply because the One Nation leader had walked out onto the stage.
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leader → rise → stage
Such was the contrast in reception, that anyone might reasonably question why Mr Taylor had bothered to attend this year's Australian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at all.
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Taylor → question → Conference
No sitting Liberal leader before him had attended CPAC, a gathering once viewed as too far to the right of the Coalition's mainstream.
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leader → sit → mainstream
But as the Liberals and Nationals have adopted more of the populist conservative policies championed at the conference, the distance between them has narrowed.
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distance → adopt → them
Mr Taylor's address hit many of the same points as the speech delivered by Ms Hanson, but it was clear the audience was giving all the credit to the latter.
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audience → hit → latter
The Opposition leader also pulled his punches when it came to One Nation despite the party's surge in the polls correlating with the Coalition's decline.
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surge → pull → decline
Ms Hanson showed no such qualms, delivering a sharp jab in Mr Taylor's direction as she noted while voters did not want Anthony Albanese as prime minister, neither were they keen on a "smarmy management consultant".
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they → show → consultant
When speaking to the media later in the afternoon Ms Hanson denied her words were aimed at Mr Taylor, but she may as well have winked as she said so.
Mr Taylor may not have won hearts and minds, but his willingness to participate had a notable effect on the tenor of the proceedings.
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willingness → speak → proceedings
United by a common enemy
The line to get into CPAC snaked outside the Brisbane venue on Saturday morning as hundreds of attendees arrived early, eager to get a good position for the headline speeches.
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hundreds → get → speeches
Inside, the lights cast an eerie red glow over the crowd, while posters featuring giants of conservative politics adorn the walls.
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posters → cast → walls
Under the stern gazes of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, the audience sat through an introductory video urging them to back "Angus", "Pauline", and "Matt" (Nationals leader Matt Canavan).
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audience → sit → Angus
The organisers made no secret of their desire to emphasise what united the three parties rather than what divided them.
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what → make → them
Mr Taylor's presence made that possible, even if Ms Hanson remained the undisputed favourite.
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Hanson → make → ?
Throughout the day the audience oscillated between rapt attention and listlessness with heckles generally targeted not at the speakers, but the subjects of their shared ire.
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audience → oscillate → ire
Net zero, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant (the "Karen of the internet" according to Ms Hanson), Anthony Albanese, "woke" school curriculums and Welcome to Country were among the topics most likely to elicit a boo.
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Net → accord → boo
And nothing revived a fading crowd more than a dig at Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, whose name came up so often he was probably owed an appearance fee.
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he → revive → fee
CPAC chair Warren Mundine revealed Mr Bowen's name alone gave him "chills" and recounted his visceral reaction when the pair once crossed paths in the street.
"My mate had to grab me to say, 'It doesn't go well on your CV if you murder a federal minister'," Mr Mundine quipped.
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Mundine → reveal → minister
The fight for the right
But a shared opposition to Labor does not entirely resolve the Coalition's electoral woes.
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opposition → share → woes
The question hanging over the conference was whether the Liberals were witnessing the consolidation of a broader conservative movement or the gradual erosion of their own place at the centre of it.
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Liberals → hang → it
Rather than compete with One Nation on its own turf, Mr Hastie has increasingly sought to make the conservative case to voters beyond the Coalition's traditional base.
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Hastie → compete → base
Last week, he appeared on a live episode of the Brine & Biff, a podcast billed as a place for thoughtful political debate, albeit where one host is portrayed as a cartoon gherkin.
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host → appear → gherkin
Mr Hastie cracked out the sales pitch for the Coalition's plan to slash migration but also argued "chasing One Nation down the rabbit hole" was not going to win his side government.
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chasing → crack → government
His willingness to confront One Nation, rather than accommodate it, puts him at odds with the political future CPAC's organisers are trying to build.
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organisers → confront → future
The Australian event's founder Andrew Cooper closed day one by painting a vision for a future "Coalition of the willing" between the country's three conservative political parties.
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founder → close → parties
In the meantime, he urged the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation to "share" preferences at the next election.
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he → urge → election
He warned "ego" and infighting over "minor differences" would only "hand power" back to Labor.
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ego → warn → Labor
But the media was not outside, we were in the building wearing bright red lanyards emblazoned with the tagline "fake news".
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we → wear → tagline
They're standard issue at every CPAC, where the ambition to become part of the political mainstream has apparently not extended to retiring jokes from its fringe days.
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ambition → become → days
The Aporia
