A closer reading of the book suggests otherwise. Written in a style that is part polemic, part manifesto, it has a simple structure beginning with a chapter entitled ‘A Time for Choosing’ and followed by four chapters discussing four pillars: faith, family, our flag, and free enterprise. Two chapters follow: freedom and future. Paragraphs and chapters end with the refrain ‘and that is why we need a conservative revolution’.

In ‘Faith’, the pre-eminent religion is Christianity, and there is more than a hint that Bernardi’s own Catholicism is seen as the best brand. George Pell and B.A. Santamaria are quoted as authorities: the first on the primacy of Christianity; the second on the need for political activism by Christians. Quoting Churchill, Tocqueville, and Pell, Bernardi asserts that Islam is fundamentally anti-democratic and that, while moderate Muslims may practise their culture safely in our society, there ‘is no such thing as moderate Islam’.

‘Family’ is defined narrowly and in a traditional way. Bernardi sees threats to the family at every turn, including cloning, IVF, and surrogacy. He argues that the traditional family – mother, father, children – underpins a prosperous economy and social stability. Alternative families lead to social disorder and poverty. Political correctness is blamed for the decline of the family. In one example, he cites the case of the Queensland gay couple who acquired a surrogate son in Russia and were the subject of an ABC documentary. The parents were later revealed to have sexually abused the child. Bernardi ascribes some culpability to the ABC for supporting the way the child came into the lives of these two men, an example of ‘… the “progressive” cheering of such ideas by the politically correct and therefore ignorant mainstream press’.

‘Family’ is defined narrowly and in a traditional way. Bernardi sees threats to the family at every turn, including cloning, IVF, and surrogacy.’

‘Our Flag’ is an essay on patriotism. Sovereignty is in part defined as not being beholden to external authorities like the United Nations, with suspect causes including global warming. Migrants should conform to a pre-existing Australian culture. The Constitution implies Christianity because it is established ‘under God’, and the monarchy is seen as an independent constitutional safeguard. Federalism, despite the cost of duplicate bureaucracies, helps because it decentralises power, enabling, in Bernardi’s view, more freedom for the individual.

‘Free Enterprise’ is a call to smaller government and less interference. The individual deserves priority over the group, small business should have unfettered opportunities, government should not invest in failing businesses, taxes should be low, and employment agreements unregulated. These assertions and many of the arguments in the book are supported with references to other conservative polemicists and rarely to objective or factual analysis. A vague call to a generalised shared past is sometimes used in passages like ‘History has demonstrated that lower tax and a greater emphasis on personal responsibility and individual autonomy is in the best interests of a free and prosperous nation.’ One might ask, ‘Which history and which historian?’

The chapter on ‘Freedom’ is based on a premise that anarchic individual freedom should be moderated by shared social mores. These mores reflect the kind of society outlined in the earlier chapters: Christian, heterosexual, patriarchal, market-driven. Education is given special attention, with Bernardi asserting, ‘It has been well documented that our educational institutions are considered to be bastions of left activism.’ His evidence for this is one submission to a Senate Standing Committee in 2008 by Nigel Freitas, a director of the 2008 Make Education Fair campaign, which found examples of political bias across course guides in universities. Like many assertions in the book, the evidence is hardly objective.

The final chapter, ‘Future’, ends with a call to personal action and an eight-point reflection for the reader of the book. These bookend B.A. Santamaria’s eight-point apologia for organised Christian involvement in the political process that Bernardi quotes earlier. This reveals much of his personal inspiration and that of many members of the current Federal cabinet. Christopher Pyne’s attack on the national curriculum, Scott Morrison’s prosecution of ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’, Kevin Andrews’s criticism of welfare payments and his offer of marriage counselling vouchers, the sustained criticism of the independence of the ABC, the denial of any legitimacy to calls for marriage reform, and Joe Hockey’s stand on industry assistance can all find support in the pages of this book. The very male, Christian, and indeed Catholic tenor of this government supports the conservative revolution that Bernardi advocates. For that reason this is an important book: it reveals the faith-based ideas that now drive the government that acts in our name to prosecute a conservative revolution.