Amanda Stoker

Stoker is a self-described "proud conservative" Christian who believes Christian values are "under attack". Her political heroes are former prime minister John Howard and former UK leader Margaret Thatcher.[27] In 2019, Crikey reported that she is a social and fiscal conservative who had positioned herself as a champion of free speech and religious freedom. She claims conservatives are "misunderstood".[27]

In an Australian Senate committee hearing, Stoker complained that the use of the term "right-wing extremism" by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is offensive to conservatives. That came after ASIO chief Mike Burgess used the term in the context of combating terrorism.[28] Labor Senator Murray Watt suggested Stoker was sensitive to the term due her attendance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a suggestion she denied.[29] Stoker has been a speaker at that and other conservative events.[30][31][32]

Stoker is an outspoken Christian.[27] She has spoken out against abortion and opposes the introduction of voluntary euthanasia legislation.[27][33] She has also opposed the transgender rights movement,[24][34][27] has claimed that sexuality is a "choice", and has stated that her political opponents prioritise the human rights of the LGBTIQ community over the "rights to freedom of conscience, religion and speech".[27] As a Senator, Stoker launched a petition against an alleged transgender activist agenda.[24]

In 2018, Stoker opposed a proposed bill to remove an exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 that allows religious schools to discriminate against students on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.[35][36] In articulating her opposition to the proposal, she expressed concern that children may want "to run a gay club within the school".[35] On the other hand, Stoker is a proponent of the introduction of a "religious discrimination bill".[37]

Stoker advocates for the repeal of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. In 2018 she said: "I think 18C has got to go. I think 18C is a drag on our society."[27] The Opposition responded by saying this would "water down protections against racist hate speech".[38]

Stoker has said she disapproves of women in politics "playing the gender card",[39] and has implied that women with children were "baggage" from an employer's perspective. She has pushed for nannies to be tax-deductible.[27]

Stoker blames unions for the casualisation of workplaces, and argues against raising minimum wages and penalty rates because doing so would "reduce job opportunities for those most in need".[27] She has also described unfair dismissal laws as a "block to growth".[40]

Stoker supports the development of an Australian nuclear energy industry.[41] She opposed the Government ban on the personal import of liquid nicotine used for vaping.[42]

While most media reporting covers Stoker's socially conservative views on gender and religious freedom, The Catholic Leader stated that, in her maiden speech, she had made the "brave observation" that "Australians don’t trust politicians. In fact, Australians are losing faith across the four sectors of the economy – government, media, corporate and non-government organisations".[33]

In June 2020, during a televised interview on Sky News, Stoker criticised Queensland's decision to close its borders during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk "knows she is absolutely choking our economy by having these borders shut – she is the knee on the throat of businesses of Queensland, stopping them from breathing".[43] Indigenous Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy labelled the comments as "abhorrent and insensitive" for apparently invoking a reference to the killing of George Floyd.[43] Stoker's spokesman had initially said she would not be backing away from her comments,[44] but a day later Stoker apologised to anyone genuinely hurt or offended saying it was not intentional nor premeditated.[45]

In the same month, the Brisbane Courier-Mail reported that Stoker had been using the pseudonym "Mandy Jane" to post comments on her own official Facebook site which defended and argued for the senator's views on topics including race, family law and religious freedom. Posts using Stoker's Mandy Jane profile referred to Stoker in the third person and copied the senator's own comments, while changing the pronouns to make it appear that they were from a different person. The Facebook profile photo of Mandy Jane was that of a storybook character. Stoker's spokesman said the Mandy Jane account was the senator's personal profile but denied she should have disclosed that before posting the material on her own page.[46]