As Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor addressed a meeting of powerful people in London this week, a massive irony escaped him. Hailing the Victory of the “No” case in the recent Voice referendum. “A powerful well-funded, and vocal coalition supported the Voice,” Taylor said. “Big business, government bureaucracies, state premiers, most media commentators, celebrities, sporting codes, cultural institutions.”
He had a point. The Yes campaign might have had too much of an elite feel. But the irony was the crowd Taylor was speaking to. He was at the the newly founded ARC Forum, a gathering for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, a well-funded gathering of what can only be described as a global conservative elite. ARC is itself described by UK conservative commentator Guido Fawkes “unofficially, it is being touted as the antidote conference to the Davos/WEF [World Economic Form] worldview – according to Jordan Peterson, it aims to end the catastrophising prevalent in Davos because … it is existentially perilous to insist upon the impending end of the world in this doomsaying manner—lest the ensuing panicked tyranny produce exactly the result that is, in principle, most feared.“
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Jordan Peterson is a figurehead for the new group, but it is funded and owned by Legatum Ventures a Dubai-based investment management group and British investor Sir Paul Marshall owner of a massive hedge fund, according to a Guardian report. The Legatum Institute CEO Philippa Stroud stepped down to be ARC’s founding CEO.
Legatum Ventures and Sir Paul Marshall are the founders of GB News, a UK talk TV channel, on the Sky News or Fox News model.
The advisory board for ARC is sprinkled with prominent Australians: Former PMs John Howard, Tony Abbott, former Deputy PM John Anderson and shadow minister Andrew Hastie and former Senator Amanda Stoker. They are all coalition politicians and Christians.
Both the new speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, and the former speaker Kevin McCarthy are also on the advisory board.
Key Australian Christian political activists are at the gathering. Wendy Francis National Director for Politics of the Australian Christian Lobby, John Steenhof principal of the ACL-linked Human Righst Law Alliance, Stephen Chavura, lecturer in history at Campion College and Mark Spencer, Director of Public Policy for Christian Schools Australia. Lyle Shelton of the Family First political party is present.
Besides Angus Taylor, other Australians reported to be there include include Senator Jacinta Price and Victorian Independent MP Moira Deeming.
It is a heavyweight meeting, and may well provide a counterweight to the Davos meetings dominated by big business. Most of the Australian politicians have a track record of electoral success, and it is common for politicians to meet with key leaders in global meetings like this.
But it is the blend of a small government agenda and faith that makes this conference of interest to the Other Cheek. Jordan Petersons words of invitation catch this link.
““We hope that men and women of faith and decisiveness can arrange their affairs with care and attention so that abundance and opportunity might be made available to all. We hope that the answers to our core questions, collectively generated, will help us all form a vision that is voluntarily compelling, motivating, stabilizing, and unifying.”
Lyle Shelton posted Peterson’s closing remarks “You are men and women made in the image of God stumbling uphill to that new Jerusalem. If we were wise and strategic we can spread that prosperity to everyone on the plant. Tilt the world towards heaven and away from hell. As responsible citizens we can obliviate the necessity for the tyrant and the slave.”
Wendy Francis has given The Other Cheek a brief description of her response to the conference. “Attending the inaugural ARC Conference with around 170 other Aussies, including at least 3 former Prime Ministers and an impressionable posse of Parliamentarians from both sides of the political fence was a privilege and an awesome experience.
“The overall theme of the conference has been hope and a call to live a life of self-sacrifice. A call to get outside of ourselves and serve a higher purpose – and that this is a better story than the current selfish cultural moment we are marinating in, in the West.
The three day program was packed with stunning renditions of great music from the likes of Hamilton and lemiserable as well as lessons from stunning Japanese art where mended items become more valuable than prior to being broken. Issues tackled included climate change, fatherlessness, childcare and education.
“Noone in the crowd of 1500 would have agreed with every word or concept. That wouldn’t be possible or even preferable. But I’ve been personally enriched and inspired to continue the good work of the Australian Christian Lobby with renewed hope for a world desperately crying out for truth.”
Francis might dispute our headline mentioning conservatives – it will be interesting to find out more about the Australians who attended.
However, a series of research papers canvassed by the ARC website indicate the sort of ideas that the conference is interested in.
• Ron Batterham, former chief Scientist of Australia, argues that going to net zero should include decarbonising energy exports which he estimates would require 450,000 new jobs. Another paper describes a “green game ” by the west because of Chinese dominance of the rare earths supply chain. Neither paper tackles the issue of climate change, rather both look at problems with net zero transitions.
• A paper argues that increased migration in western nations to offset declining childbirths, “results in an alienated and unequal society.” It argues that Israel is an example of a preferred “more children” model.
• A paper by Katy Faust, a well known christian speaker, argues children do best in a stable nuclear family raised by their biological parents.
• Christian author Os Guinness, argues for religious freedom as a key to Western civilisation
• A paper against “Environmental, social, and corporate governance” principles for companies arguing “ESG investment practices favour stakeholder capitalism over shareholder capitalism, which erodes companies’ conventional corporate governance structures. It turns companies into political actors.”
• The rise of childcare has come at a cost according to another paper “rather than simply ‘freeing’ women to pursue new opportunities, the shift to women working outside the home has created pressure for parents to fulfil the duties of three adults, rather than two. Both mothers and fathers are expected to work in full-time, salaried occupations, and also care for their young children. This squeezing out of care results in the additional burden falling disproportionately on mothers.”
• In a key paper on Responsible Citizenship former Deputy PM John Anderson argues for home ownership for the young. “Socialism will not be defeated by property-owning baby boomers morally condemning it. It will be defeated by allowing young people to experience the meaningful responsibility of living in homes they have the inalienable right to call their own. If responsible citizenship is to be revived in the ranks of our youth, our future workers and leaders, then they must be able to become responsible citizens. They must be able to access the benefits of responsible citizenship. They must have a stake in their own future, rather than being condemned to merely pay for the irresponsibility of their forebears.”
He argues that the role of the state should be reduced. He links this view to Christianity. “From the point of view of responsible citizenship, the citizenry that places God higher than the state holds the state accountable to Someone higher than themselves as individuals, or as a society, and certainly Someone higher than the state itself.
Marian Tupy argues that as population increases, innovation increases, meaning that there is no constraint on abundance. “The popular narrative of resource scarcity is false, and the prediction of eventual civilisational collapse is not a foregone conclusion. Far from being a net negative, as Malthusians argue, humans are a net positive. On average, every additional human being creates more than he or she consumes, thus building a world where everyone can thrive.”
Evangelical Christians will have a mix of responses to these papers. For example, this writer appreciates Os Guinness’s arguments on religious freedom , and would like to see John Anderson’s aspiration for home ownership of the young come to fruition – while acknowledging with him this will shape our society’s future.
On the other hand, the arguments of the “more children” rather than immigration proposal raises issues of where the 75 million displaced persons in the world might find a home. The papers on net zero appear to argue for a slowing down or cautionary approach to attempts to transition.
The purpose of this list is not to discern what may be wrong or right about ARC Forum’s research concern but to indicate that some will be shared by nearly all evangelicals Christians and others will not.
The overarching theme of ARC is toward small government – a political ambition of many conservatives but certainly not all evangelical christians.
For those attending ARC Forum, a key question is to what extent are you aligning Christianity with the wider policy goals of the politicians present?
Good question. Sometimes former leaders haven’t moved with the times, or aren’t conscious of their own biases – like John Anderson steadfastly talking up private home ownership and precluding conversations about alternative, sustainable housing strategies. In Vienna, for example, people can thrive without the stress of striving to buy a place to call home https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/rearvision/rear-vision/102525750