By political reporter Latika Bourke, staff
Updated 1 hour 2 minutes ago

One of Tony Abbott's backbenchers has accused some women of using abortion as "an abhorrent form of birth control" and labelled those who advocate pro-choice as "pro-death".

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi has made the comments in his new book, The Conservative Revolution, in which he also calls for more flexible industrial relations laws, including a return to individual workplace agreements whereby penalty rates can be negotiated away.

The Federal Opposition is now urging Prime Minister Tony Abbott to completely disassociate himself from Senator Bernardi's "extraordinary reactionary agenda".

In his book Senator Bernardi rails against non-traditional families, surrogacy and euthanasia and calls on fellow conservatives to help to reverse the trends in social acceptance of changing attitudes.

It is "horrendous and unacceptable" that the abortion "death industry despatches 80,000 to 100,000 unborn children [in Australia] every year," Senator Bernardi writes.

"The political pressure from the left has ushered us into a morbid new world. It is not enough to stop the trend. What is needed is a reversal back to sanity and reason."

The number of Medicare rebates processed for abortions between July 2012 and June 2013 is 60,245.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Senator Bernardi defended his figures on abortion, saying they are based on evidence given by previous health ministers and Senate estimates.

"It's a lot and I don't know anyone in this country that wants to see more abortions; in fact, I think most people would like to see less abortions," Senator Bernardi said.

"I think we need to start to investigate measures and ways in which we can assist in that regard."

Senator Bernardi says the discussion about abortion being a woman's right has been shut down and it needs to be re-opened.

"The question is for everyone in this debate, is where does life begin?" he said.

"For me it's at conception, for other people it is 24 week of gestation, others say it's not until the child is born and a sentient being, some weeks after birth.

"I haven't said we should outlaw or prohibit abortion; I have said there is a right-to-life issue we should be exploring."

Step-families, single parents, surrogate parents singled out for criticism

Senator Bernardi's essay sets out five founding pillars for a "conservative revolution", including restoring the traditional family model to what he says should be its "prime position" over other family types like step-families, same-sex and single families, as well as couples with children born via surrogacy.

"Given the increasing number of 'non-traditional' families, there is a temptation to equate all family structures as being equal or relative," he writes.

"Why then the levels of criminality among boys and promiscuity among girls who are brought up in single-parent families, more often than not headed by a single mother?

"What is missing in the push for human cloning, in vitro fertilisation and surrogacy, for example, is the understanding that children come into families as gifts, not commodities.

"It is perfectly reasonable and rational therefore for the state, if it is to have a role in social policy and the affairs of marriage, to reinforce and entrench those aspects of traditional marriage that work, not undermine them and promote 'alternatives' which have led to social chaos.

"Competent social policy should be drafted by those who understand the primacy of natural law and who are able to see patterns in society."

Senator Bernardi told News Breakfast that the "gold standard" for children's development comes from having a biological mother and father who are married.

He says his book is about fighting the tyranny of political correctness and he says politicians must be prepared to discuss controversial ideas.

Senator Bernardi says his views are not far right, they are "enduring views".

He says his ideas are only controversial according to some elements of the media.

"These are traditional views that have stood the test of time and been developed over successive generations," he said.

"You can't tamper with tradition and not expect there to be adverse consequences.

"I'm making the case about why we should be preserving and protecting these institutions because I think they are important for the future prosperity of our country."

Greens, Islam threatening Christian values; Red Cross breakfasts for kids undermining parental responsibility

He also advocates removing Government welfare designed to assist children from families that experience a breakdown, arguing programs like the Red Cross's Good Start Breakfast Club remove parental responsibility and create a mentality that the state will provide.

Senator Bernardi also laments the absence of religion in politics and its diminished role in society, saying it has left Australia bereft of direction.

"I believe that by stripping God and religious principles from our culture (and our politics) we have become a nation which does not know which port it is sailing to," Senator Bernardi writes.

He argues there are two great threats to faith, and specifically Christianity: the "green agenda" which he believes places plant and animal life above humanity; and Islam, which he says is fundamentally incompatible with the Western way of life.

Comments come from one-time confidante of Prime Minister

Senator Bernardi is an influential member of the Liberal party's right-wing and has been a confidante of the prime minister, serving as Mr Abbott's parliamentary secretary in Opposition until he was demoted in 2012 for a speech in which he said gay marriage could lead to acceptance of bestiality.

His comments are bound to cause controversy for the Prime Minister, who in recent weeks has backed cabinet minister and prominent moderate Malcolm Turnbull in an internal dispute with the South Australian Senator over Mr Turnbull's public support for gay marriage.

Senator Bernardi says he could not comment on what Mr Abbott knows about the views expressed in his book.

In her infamous "blue ties" speech, delivered shortly before she was dumped as prime minister, Julia Gillard warned that "men in blue ties" would seek to make abortion rights their "plaything" if the Coalition won office.

That prompted Mr Abbott to pledge the Coalition had no plans for any change in the area.

Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese says Senator Bernardi's comments are "an offensive contribution to the policy debate".

"[Senator Bernardi] says that he's pro-freedom but he's against women's right to control their own bodies," Mr Albanese said.

"He says he's pro-religion but he's against any religion that isn't the same as his. He says he's pro individual rights, but in his advocacy of WorkChoices he would take us back to the Howard era that saw division in the workplace and saw workers discriminated against and rights being taken away.

"He says he's pro-family, but he's against any family that doesn't resemble his depiction of what a family is."

Mr Albanese is calling on Mr Abbott to respond.

"It's now up to Tony Abbott to completely dissociate himself from Mr Bernardi," he said.

Call to give employers free hand to hire and fire

The Coalition has been mute on workplace relations changes ever since John Howard's ill-fated Workchoices, which contributed to the Liberals' defeat in 2007.

Mr Abbott has reiterated that Workchoices is "dead, buried and cremated" during the two subsequent election campaigns, but Senator Bernardi says some parts of Mr Howard's laws warrant resurrection.

"Surely an employee should be free to negotiate an acceptable workplace agreement directly with their employer... free from government or union interference," he writes.

"Small business needs to be empowered to hire and fire employees free of illegitimate government interference."

I don't think you can blame Gen X for your choice of career that most people stop doing in their teens in favour of a real job that is secure and pays well enough where they can afford a house.

I support Cory Bernardi's right to have shit opinions, and my own right to consider him a reprehensible pile of trash for them.

+1

Reading that article made me feel ill

Government mulls lifeboats plan for intercepted asylum seekers

Just as well that we have global worming climate change otherwise the cold snap catastrophe across the globe we are experiencing would have ended in an Ice Age.

The Climate Change alarmist told us that the polar caps are going to melt and we will have beach front houses in Bathurst, some costal properties pay astronomical insurance rates due to these reports and we in Australia pay Carbon Tax for this lunacy introduced by Labor, policy that has destroyed manufacturing in this country (more manufacturing jobs are leaving our shores than new ones created).

How stupid did Bill Shorten and Penny Wang look the other day defending their decision to block the scraping of the Carbon Tax because Australia had the hottest year a temperature increase by 1.2*C.

Purpose to introduce Carbon Tax was to decrease the global warming. Well how much did the globe worm up looking at these pictures from Antarctica, North America and Europe?

Yeah funny how record hot temperatures proves how real global warming is but record cold temperatures doesn't prove anything, they argue is the selective cherry picking of data. Real funny

Do you even understand how the greenhouse effect works? Y'know, the whole EXTREMES in temperature thing?

Yeah, a cold snap IN THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY in NORTH AMERICA proves that Climate Change is false.

Labor party introduced Carbon Tax against voters will and stopped the scraping of it in the senate against the voters will again (Tony Abbott won the election on that promise).

Someone denying climate change because it's cold that day is the same as someone standing on the front of the Titanic and denying it's sinking: "Nonsense we're sinking! Look! We've risen 200 metres into the air!"

The "promise that tony abbott won the election on" changes depending on what dickhead policy the idiot LNP fanboys are arguing over. Last week it was immigration policies, today it's climate change, tomorrow it will be the NBN.

Never mind that Australia is the laughing stock of the international community, being the only industrialised nation not to send a delegate to the IPCC.

LNP can't even do basic fucking maths, if Labor's leadership problems are grounds to dismiss their stance on climate change then there's absolutely no fucking way on god's green earth that the LNP have any chance of remotely comprehending climate change.

Global Warming predicions state that the average global temperatures are going to increase significantly over the next 100 years, so mankind reduces atmospheric emissions, and subsequently scientists find that the increase in temperatures has slowed - and you conclude that Climate Change is a myth.

It gets seasonally cold in the middle of winter in northern america and you conclude that there's no such thing as global warming. That's like seeing that your house's window is broken and concluding that you haven't been robbed because the front door isn't open.

•   Entire Global Worming theory is based on computer modeling and the model is proven to be wrong

Labor party introduced Carbon Tax against voters will and stopped the scraping of it in the senate against the voters will again (Tony Abbott won the election on that promise).

Basically Tony Abbot got in to the government due to all the Labor failed policies

Global warming is a hoax

Hold on, so are we still calling it Global Warming, or do we call it Climate Change now? Or does it depend on what season it is?

That title was changed by the alarmist as they realized the planet is not worming based on the data for the last 16 years