analysis
Why Liberal powerbroker Nick Goiran’s views deserve more scrutiny than ever before

Before he was a powerbroker — before he was even a politician — Nick Goiran was a Christian. He still is. Goiran’s faith is inseparable from his politics. It was his reason for entering Parliament and the reason he is now refusing to quit — despite mounting pressure from within a WA Liberal Party he has methodically reshaped to fit his own agenda. While avoiding overt displays of ideology, Goiran has frequently made headlines for crusading against socially progressive issues including abortion, gay marriage and voluntary euthanasia. Freedom of worship is a core belief of the Liberal Party. But so is minimising government interference in the daily lives of Australians. Perhaps most importantly, so is winning elections. And Goiran’s internal detractors argue his religiously motivated moralising is out of step with the majority of West Australians. While even his fiercest critics concede Goiran is a gifted legislator, they point to candidates preselected with his blessing ahead of the last election as evidence of the pitfalls of mixing religion and politics. Andrea Tokaji, in Baldivis, was forced to quit the party after drawing bizarre links between 5G technology and COVID-19 in an article published on a conservative Christian website. The preacher husband of Victoria Park candidate Amanda-Sue Markham penned a book arguing homosexuals could be “cleansed” and that women should “submit” to their husbands. Markham then declined to discuss whether she shared those views. In Jandakot, The King’s Chapel executive pastor Mihael McCoy was quizzed about posting supportive comments on old blog posts by Christian commentator Bill Muehlenberg criticising same-sex marriage and, in one case, labelling the LGBTQ community “the Gaystapo”. Goiran’s position in the Legislative Council — where he has worked to enshrine himself as the Liberals’ No.1 candidate in the South Metropolitan Region — means he does not face the electorate directly. Opponents accuse Goiran of co-opting the Liberal Party to guarantee himself a seat in Parliament despite professing views rejected by the “quiet Australians” that form the party’s base. Worse, they say the droves of lay party members he has recruited over the past decade, who now form powerful internal voting blocs under Goiran’s command, have been drawn from churches preaching similar hardline positions on social issues. The scale of Goiran’s influence was revealed through the public release last month of thousands of WhatsApp messages among a group of Liberals calling themselves “The Clan”. The communications confirmed what had been the party’s worst kept secret for years: Goiran, along with fellow Upper house MP Peter Collier and former Federal Minister Mathias Cormann, had effectively seized control of the Liberals through years of strategic recruitment and branch stacking. But while Cormann has now departed for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Collier’s control over Perth’s north has always faced credible opposition from rival factions, Goiran’s iron grip on the south has only tightened in recent years. Five of WA’s soon to be 15 Federal divisions — Swan, Tangney, Fremantle, Brand and Burt — are now in thrall to Goiran. Last year — after Parliament blocked an attempt to extend emergency COVID-19 powers to the end of 2021 — the typically acid-tongued Goiran compared Premier Mark McGowan to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. “Members who are familiar with the Star Wars series will know that that individual loved and was obsessed with extraordinary powers. It seems to me that Premier Mark McGowan’s hunger and thirst for these extraordinary powers has no end, and that concerns me,” Goiran said at the time. But it is Goiran who now wields extraordinary power over his own party. It is a meteoric rise for a man who joined the Liberals in 2006 only after abandoning his family’s first party of choice — the Christian Democrats. Goiran’s father Gerard is a former president of the WA branch of the Christian Democratic Party, originally founded in NSW by Fred Nile, who infamously wrote that homosexuality should be classified as a “mental disorder” in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into same-sex marriage in 2013. Both Gerard and Goiran’s mother, Madeleine, have run as candidates for the CDP and Nick himself is a past member, having handed out how-to-vote cards and made financial contributions. In an article published in Australian Christian magazine Trowel and Sword in 2002, Madeleine Goiran wrote that “freedom of worship is continually eroded by legislation that promotes unhealthy, unrighteous lifestyles”. “I find it personally difficult to worship the God of the Bible when I am forced to pay taxes to support the Medicare refund of abortion,” she wrote. The piece goes on to outline the importance of Christians entering politics “to influence legislation as and when it gets debated”. Religion has played an outsized role in Goiran’s life since he was a child. The now 43-year-old attended Rehoboth Christian College, an institution that does not accept enrolments from non-Christian families and on its website outlines the important role of faith in everything from career goals to politics and sexuality. Goiran was also a long-serving board member of the Association for Christian Education Inc, which operates Rehoboth Christian College, including a stint as president from 2005 to 2007, just before entering Parliament. He sent his five children to the same school, which requires all staff to “demonstrate an active Christian faith” and not act in a way “contrary to the religious beliefs and values of the College”. Goiran has also hosted students from his old school at Parliament, as detailed in a 2016 entry on the college’s website. “At Parliament House, we were able to enjoy the architectural design, especially the Swan Feature. We also met with Nick Goran (sic), who told us about the importance of having God’s Word in our government,” one student wrote. Australian Christian Lobby WA director Peter Abetz recalls a 14-year-old Goiran as part of his Christian Reform Church congregation in 1991. “One of the things I always emphasised to the young people in my catechism classes was that being a Christian was not just about personal salvation, but also about being a godly influence in whatever sphere of influence God gives us, and to stand up for what is right and true — even when it is not the popular thing to do,” Abetz said. The pair would later enter Parliament together — Abetz elected as the Liberal member for Southern River at the same 2008 election that elevated Goiran to the Legislative Council. After leaving school — where he graduated as dux — Goiran studied law and commerce at Murdoch University and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor to the WA Supreme Court in 2000. Goiran’s legal career peaked when he rose to equity partner of a modest Maylands firm, Bruce Havilah & Associates, where he specialised in civil litigation. But — as he told Parliament during his inaugural speech — politics was never far from his mind. “Arguably the straw that broke the camel’s back for me and convinced me to commit wholeheartedly to a change in career was the immediate past Attorney-General’s attempt to legalise brothels in Western Australia,” Goiran said. In the same speech, he said “the notion that what people do in the privacy of their own homes is their own business” was “a notion for either the lazy or the unsympathetic”. To support that assertion, he pointed to children mistreated or sexually abused by their own families, which “becomes a matter of State interest”. No one would argue with the example provided. But it signalled the start of a persistent pattern of positioning government as the umpire for individual morality. In 2013, Goiran made headlines when suggesting same-sex marriage could lead to incestuous relationships, inventing a hypothetical situation where half-siblings “Ethan” and “Stephanie” fell in love with each other and want to wed. “For some reason, whenever we talk about (same-sex marriage), we talk about love and we are all too quick to permit almost anything whether it be good for society or not, or good for children or not,” he said. Three years later in March 2016, Goiran presented a petition to Parliament demanding the appointment of an “independent advocate” for every unborn child and that they be “granted an opportunity to plead for their life to a Court of law prior to any abortion being performed”. In 2019, Goiran attracted criticism when suggesting people considering a sex change should receive “psychological treatment” during debate on the Gender Reassignment Amendment Bill 2018. “In essence, there are only two alternatives. One perspective believes that the solution is a physical one — in other words, the State has a responsibility to assist and to engage at a physical level — whereas others, including me, believe that the solution should be to treat it psychologically,” he said. Goiran’s staunch opposition to voluntary assisted dying has been well documented. He listed 357 amendments to the Bill that passed Parliament in late 2019 and spent hours on his feet during debate on laws that polling showed were supported by more than 85 per cent of West Australians. In the years prior, Goiran tabled more than a dozen petitions opposing euthanasia and in 2011 he billed taxpayers $4200 to travel to Canada and speak at a conference organised by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. As recently as last month, Goiran was one of just three Upper House MPs who voted against the introduction of “safe access zones” preventing picketing within 150m of abortion clinics. While declining to go into the specifics of his faith, Goiran told The Sunday Times he welcomed “being held accountable for my transparent worldview, which happens too rarely in politics.” “Despite the concept of Christian fundamentalism being the antithesis to my actual faith, I made a decision long ago to ignore lawful labels thrown my way as they only serve to distract me from my resolute goal to seek justice for victims of sexual abuse, advocate for the vulnerable and uphold the rule of law,” he said. He added it was “improper to impute views within a petition” to the MP who tabled it in Parliament. Labor’s long-time leader in the Legislative Council, Sue Ellery, has viewed Goiran close up since he entered Parliament. “He has a good intellect, so he can get across complex legislation which is also not a common attribute among current Liberals,” she said. That is a view shared widely among Goiran’s own parliamentary colleagues — past and present. Former Premier Colin Barnett once sent Goiran a Christmas card, which read: “Annoying, but excellent scrutiny of legislation.” The card still sits in Goiran’s office. “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times — it’s a pain to be a pain,” Goiran said. “We need more parliamentarians with an indefatigable work ethic who are prepared to ask questions that need to be asked — especially at the moment when the Government has total control of the Parliament.” No one can question Goiran’s work ethic. But the fruit of his labour was called into question during a recent review of the Liberals’ precipitous decline that was scathing of the destructive nature of party factionalism. “Perhaps the factions should reflect on what the exercise of their power over the last decade or so has had on the fortunes of the party, which has in part, but admittedly not wholly, led to its near extinction,” the review said. Goiran was unmoved. He has repeatedly confirmed he has no intention of resigning and earlier this month threatened to launch defamation proceedings against the report’s authors. No one can claim they are surprised. While Goiran has been careful to conceal Christianity as his driving force, he has never been shy about his ambition. During a tribute to Federal Liberal colleague Don Randall after his death in 2015, Goiran provided an eerily candid insight into what was to come. “(Randall) said, ‘Well, Nick, I will give you some advice that Wilson Tuckey once gave me when I was first looking to join the party. He said to get 30 of my mates to sign up to the party and become a branch president,’” Goiran told Parliament. “A couple of weeks after this first meeting with Don Randall, I turned up with my 30 forms and Don said, ‘Strewth! You’re not mucking around.’ “I said, no. I told you I was selling out of my law practice. This is a big issue for me and my family. I’m not mucking around. “I was promptly made the branch president of what was then known as the Westfield Park branch of the Liberal Party and some might say the rest is history.”

analysisWhy Liberal powerbroker Nick Goiran’s views deserve more scrutiny than ever before

analysis
Why Liberal powerbroker Nick Goiran’s views deserve more scrutiny than ever before