June 1, 2025 • 15 mins
For anyone doubting her ability to rehabilitate the Coalition after its thumping May 3 loss, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has a message: people have questioned her capability and drive before.
Ley says she’s proven them all wrong – as a roustabout picking up fleeces in 40-degree heat or piloting aeroplanes low over western Queensland to muster cattle when no one thought she could.
Now, as the first woman to lead the Liberal Party, Ley promises to “meet modern Australia where they are” and to win back women, young people and inner-city voters by 2028.
Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Karen Barlow, on her conversation with Ley – and what it reveals about the Coalition’s path out of defeat.
If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.
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Guest: Chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Karen Barlow
Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, we're recording here, if you're recording there, Susan, how
do you see the task ahead to unify, to rebuild,
reach out. I guess the size and timing of it.
And do you have a message for anyone who might underestimate.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
You, Karen, It's important that when we look ahead, we
respect modern Australia, we reflect modern Australia, and we represent
modern Australia.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Karen Barlow is the Saturday Paper's chief political correspondent. She
sat down with a new opposition leader, Susan Lee, to
talk about how she plans to stitch the coalition back
together after its record May three defeat. A wife from
roused about the pilot the Parliament, she's spent a lifetime
proving doubt is wrong.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I don't mind what people think is me.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
My mum always used to say what people think of
you as none of your business.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Just get on and do your job.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
From Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM today.
Karen Barlow will the story the Liberal Party's first female leader,
who plans in opposition and whether she can turn a
shadded party into a credible alternative. It's Monday, June two.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Appreciating that you're here now, Will you, as leader, unlike
your predecessor, continue to put yourself regularly before the Canberra
Press Gallery and before a broad section.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Karen, when Susan Lee you first became leader a couple
of weeks ago, you asked her if she would commit
to putting herself in front of a broad section of
the media. This is one of the first questions she
actually got as leader. What do you think? That was
an important question to ask her.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It's just important to get that on the record, accountability
and to air ideas. Yes, I will, Sarah, And it
was an important factor, not the entire factor, but an
important factor in what went wrong for Peter Dutton. And
you know he didn't really put himself before the Canberra
Press Gallery and when it finally came to the election campaign,
(02:06):
he was not match fit and alban Easy absolutely was
and it really showed so on this absolutely she said
she is going to put herself before a broad section
of the media. As I asked the question, it was
for transparency, accountability and just airing ideas. You have to
look at the absolute debarcle of the work from Home
(02:30):
idea for Peter Dutton and Jane Hume. It was not
aired and when it finally got sort of it landed
in the middle of the election campaign. It was a stinker,
and they could have known beforehand that it was going
to be a stinker.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
And now you've had a chance to speak one on
one with Susan Lee, and you started by asking her
whether she had a message for anyone who might underestimate her.
Her answer was really interesting, can you tell me about it?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So, I mean, this is Susan Lee still introducing as
it has been an atypical path to politics for Susan Lee.
And in talking about this question of whether she's been underestimated,
she brings up not just a parliamentary career, but the
career before that.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Well, I've been underestimated a lot in my career. As
a rouse about picking up fleeces in sharing shed in
western Queensland, I was told I wouldn't be strong enough
to pick up eight hundred fleeces a day and run
up and down aboard of about eight sharers, and I
did in forty degree heat.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
It was a good lesson in life.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And I was probably underestimated as a female flying aeroplanes.
No one thought i'd be able to get a job
as a pilot, and I ended up mustering, which was
flying very small aeroplanes very close to the ground, and
I think people underestimated me there too, So I don't
mind what people think of me.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
After being the rout about and the pilot helping with mustering.
She's a thirty year old on the farm and she
tells us that she study economics to get extra income.
There's drought periods, there's difficulties on the farm, and this
is something that she had to do for the family. Ultimately,
she did pursue a path to Canberra, but it wasn't planned,
(04:13):
she said.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
When I hooked up the caravan and headed off down
the river, it was a funny experience because I expected
that people would want to acknowledge my economics degree and
I had a master's in tax law and accounting qualifications,
and in fact they didn't want any of that. They
just wanted to know that I was a person who
(04:35):
understood what their lives were like and who was prepared
to listen to them.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
What did she have to say about the state of
politics when she arrived in Canberra in the state of
the Liberal Party.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
When she arrived, she arrived in the John Howard years.
She's two thousand and one, actually the same year that
Peter Dutton came into Parliament. But she's someone who had
a background on the farm with a family, and she
writes and it is loki.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Everyone stood up and they had you know, they had
a lot to say. And I enjoyed the spirited debate
between different ideas and different thoughts within our party room.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
In terms of being a woman in that building.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Look, I had previous life experience as a woman in
careers that were dominated by men, so it wasn't altogether unfamiliar.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
She quickly got an assistant minister's position, She moved through
the rank. She has been the Minister for Health, she
has been the Minister for the Environment. She's had her
ups and downs, and you know this has made her
the tough woman politician that she now is as leader
of the Liberal Party.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, if we talk a little bit about the ups
and downs. In twenty seventeen, she had to resign as
Health Minister after she used a taxpayer funded trip to
buy an apartment on the Gold Coast. You asked her
about the highs and layers of her career. Talk to
me about how she's framing that now.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, I asked her about that in particular because it
came up in the press conference when she was asked
about the demotion of Jane Hume. She was the Finance
spokesperson and she's gone back to the back bench.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
These are tough days, and having been through many days
like this myself in my parliamentary career, I recognize that.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
But what I do want to say, so, yes, I
asked her about that, and she's pointing out that she
is a survivor.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I've become stronger and wiser for the tough times, and
having been sent to the back bench in the past,
I do know what it feels like. And I want
to say that one of the things I believe in
having been in that Parliament for twenty five years, is
it no matter where you sit, whatever seat you sit
in in the House of Representatives or the Senate, my
(06:40):
seat is better or worse than another, and you've got
an opportunity to contribute, to advocate.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
The challenge from Angus Taylor with the leadership ballot was
very very close and may become closer still with the
change over the Senate at the end of June, and
so there's a question of whether she's got reading space.
Most observers would say she has breathing space at the moment,
but that may whittle down. And so you know, this
(07:06):
is the moment where she's been tested as the Liberal leader.
She's just got through this enormous rift with the National
Party and to survive that and stood up for the
Liberal Party. And now she has to face down Parliament
returning at the end of July.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
After the break. The challenge ahead for Susan Lee, Karen.
Susan Lee has a huge task ahead of her to
rebuild the Liberal Party. That starts with facing up to
the wipeout they just suffered. How is she talking about
their loss?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, I did ask her whether she could pinpoint anything
about the loss to explain it, and she said, well,
you know that if I did so, that would get
ahead of the review that is coming. But she did
say absolutely that there was a problem with women.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I always want to see more women join our party.
I always want more women seeing us as the party
that they would naturally choose to support.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
But it's widely seeing that Peter Dutton did have an
issue with women voters. Susan Lee did have the portfolio
of women. It's now been given to Melissa Macintosh, the
Member for lindsay In out of Sydney. She's got that
alongside Communications, so you know, she's really sort of putting
her mark on her front bench, really highlighting this return
(08:32):
to doing something about women.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
At every policy discussion where the big calls are made,
I'll be sitting at that table and I'll be seeing
the decisions that we make through the lens of women.
So many of the women that I met during the campaign,
that I stood on those polling booths and chatted to,
and that I heard what they wanted to see from
their political representatives.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And she is really pointing out that there is a
new portfolio in the field of urban Infrastructure and City
that's been given to James McGrath that's seen as addressing
the problem that the Liberal Party has had in urban areas.
There is a new recasting going on, but we don't
really know about the policies going forward because that's under review.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
So Caro seasonally has well and truly proved her credentials
as an MP for a large rural electorate. One of
the things that the Liberal Party failed to do at
the last election was really retake any of the till
seats into any sort of large way. What are her
challenges in terms of being able to connect with urban electorates. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I asked her about whether it's a stretch for her
to understand voters in urban centers, and she absolutely insisted
that it's not.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Lived in Melbourne and I lived in Camera as a
young person, so I've lived an experienced life in the
cities and sometimes I think the city country divide is overrated.
And you know, we're Australians and we have the connections
between ourselves, between city and country.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Living in Canberra and myself Canberra is not a big city.
But it is an enormous task and it's not just
for her, it's for her entire party room. These members
have to reach out now from there, now outer suburban
seats or even regional seats and understand the cities. She
insists that the party absolutely fought for the Teal seats. Again,
(10:27):
you just have to look at Tim Wilson returned in Goldstein.
Perhaps it's still endowed at this stage, Giselle Capterian in Bradfield.
They did fight for those and they have to work
harder at getting more back if they want any chance
of returning to government.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
What type of coalition leader do you think Susan Lee
is going to be?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Well, she certainly made much about being more consultative. She
has spoken to former Liberal leaders. Do you consult with
former Liberal leaders Howard, Nelson, Abbott, Turnbull Morrison? Would you
nominate any that you might reach out to. I know
you've mentioned John Howard a few times in the space
(11:09):
that you're in when you arrived, I've.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Been in touch with all of them important former leaders
of our party, and always they have wisdom to add,
not just the previous leaders, but the future leaders.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Can I say Karen that I might idea?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
But she also shifted pretty quickly to future leaders. And
she is someone that says that she's always on the
lookout for young women who might have a part to play,
whether it's local politics or federal politics. And she sees
in opposition it's not really a top down exercise. She
(11:44):
sees it as an opportunity to listen from the grass
roots up. And she likes to say that this is
a very flat in terms of structure, So we'll see
how that goes. Certainly, it's early days in her leadership.
She's certainly doing things differently at the start. And Peter
Dutton and.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Why didn't she tell you about her role as opposition
leader in terms of holding the government to account.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
This is an interesting question because you know we're all
looking at Anthony Alberesi and how confident he is with
this supermajority now of ninety four Labor members in the
House of Representatives. Certainly, you know there's an opportunity for
Labor there. But now for the Liberal Party, what is
going to be the approach And certainly you can't discount
(12:31):
the issue of gender here and how is he going
to take on Susan Lee as a female leader of
the Liberal Party. It will be interesting in parliament to
see how that will play out. But I asked about
how she's going to square up with Alberzi, and she
says she's ready.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I'm going to approach the Prime minister respectfully, he's been elected,
he's got a strong majority, and I respect the wishes
of the Australian people that he is the prime minister.
So that's the first thing, and that's what every Australian
would expect of me.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
She highlights the areas of foreign policy and national security
usually areas where the coalition and labor are in lockstep.
But it's going to be then interesting where there'll be
points of disagreement and how Susan Lee and Anthony Albanezi
will actually be able to do deals or not or
(13:21):
change change each others forward thinking. But she says that
she's up for the fight.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And finally, Karen, she's taken over the leadership at the
Liberal Party's darkest dep She's managed to hold the coalition
together during some fractured times in her early weeks in
that leadership. So what are the next big tests for seasonally?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, I would say she's turning attention now to Parliament
returning at the end of July. There'll be the process
for starting the review of policies and she'll be needing
to appoint with other elements of a party who is
going to lead the review of this devastating election loss.
(14:03):
There's question marks over whether the polster for the Liberal
Party that failed them so miserably will continue. Certainly that's
not for Susan Lee to decide, but that's in her space.
And there is the question mark about, you know, the
future of some of the people in the Federal division.
The leaders there, people like Andrew Hurst, whether they're going
(14:24):
to continue in their jobs because honestly, it's been such
a thumping loss for the Liberal Party and something has
to change.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I don't interviewer to ask Karen, thank you so much
for your time, Thank you so much. Also in the
news today, Prime Minister Anthony Alberizi has pushed back against
(14:55):
the US call to drastically boost defense spending, saying Asustralia
will determine our own defense policy and has already committed
an extra ten billion in defense spending over the next
four years. The comments come as Donald Trump announced a
doubling of tariffs and steel and aluminum I move Albanez
he calls an act of economic self harm. And Russia
(15:17):
has launched a new wave of air assaults on Kiev,
with drone and missile attacks killing at least two people,
including a nine year old girl. Evacuations have been ordered
in more than two hundred settlements in Ukraine's Sumi region
as officials warn of potential new Russian offensive. You've been
listening to seven am. We'll be back tomorrow.
Okay, we're recording here, if you're recording there, Susan, how
do you see the task ahead to unify, to rebuild,
reach out. I guess the size and timing of it.
And do you have a message for anyone who might underestimate.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
You, Karen, It's important that when we look ahead, we
respect modern Australia, we reflect modern Australia, and we represent
modern Australia.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Karen Barlow is the Saturday Paper's chief political correspondent. She
sat down with a new opposition leader, Susan Lee, to
talk about how she plans to stitch the coalition back
together after its record May three defeat. A wife from
roused about the pilot the Parliament, she's spent a lifetime
proving doubt is wrong.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I don't mind what people think is me.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
My mum always used to say what people think of
you as none of your business.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Just get on and do your job.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
From Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM today.
Karen Barlow will the story the Liberal Party's first female leader,
who plans in opposition and whether she can turn a
shadded party into a credible alternative. It's Monday, June two.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Appreciating that you're here now, Will you, as leader, unlike
your predecessor, continue to put yourself regularly before the Canberra
Press Gallery and before a broad section.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Karen, when Susan Lee you first became leader a couple
of weeks ago, you asked her if she would commit
to putting herself in front of a broad section of
the media. This is one of the first questions she
actually got as leader. What do you think? That was
an important question to ask her.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It's just important to get that on the record, accountability
and to air ideas. Yes, I will, Sarah, And it
was an important factor, not the entire factor, but an
important factor in what went wrong for Peter Dutton. And
you know he didn't really put himself before the Canberra
Press Gallery and when it finally came to the election campaign,
(02:06):
he was not match fit and alban Easy absolutely was
and it really showed so on this absolutely she said
she is going to put herself before a broad section
of the media. As I asked the question, it was
for transparency, accountability and just airing ideas. You have to
look at the absolute debarcle of the work from Home
(02:30):
idea for Peter Dutton and Jane Hume. It was not
aired and when it finally got sort of it landed
in the middle of the election campaign. It was a stinker,
and they could have known beforehand that it was going
to be a stinker.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
And now you've had a chance to speak one on
one with Susan Lee, and you started by asking her
whether she had a message for anyone who might underestimate her.
Her answer was really interesting, can you tell me about it?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So, I mean, this is Susan Lee still introducing as
it has been an atypical path to politics for Susan Lee.
And in talking about this question of whether she's been underestimated,
she brings up not just a parliamentary career, but the
career before that.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Well, I've been underestimated a lot in my career. As
a rouse about picking up fleeces in sharing shed in
western Queensland, I was told I wouldn't be strong enough
to pick up eight hundred fleeces a day and run
up and down aboard of about eight sharers, and I
did in forty degree heat.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
It was a good lesson in life.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And I was probably underestimated as a female flying aeroplanes.
No one thought i'd be able to get a job
as a pilot, and I ended up mustering, which was
flying very small aeroplanes very close to the ground, and
I think people underestimated me there too, So I don't
mind what people think of me.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
After being the rout about and the pilot helping with mustering.
She's a thirty year old on the farm and she
tells us that she study economics to get extra income.
There's drought periods, there's difficulties on the farm, and this
is something that she had to do for the family. Ultimately,
she did pursue a path to Canberra, but it wasn't planned,
(04:13):
she said.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
When I hooked up the caravan and headed off down
the river, it was a funny experience because I expected
that people would want to acknowledge my economics degree and
I had a master's in tax law and accounting qualifications,
and in fact they didn't want any of that. They
just wanted to know that I was a person who
(04:35):
understood what their lives were like and who was prepared
to listen to them.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
What did she have to say about the state of
politics when she arrived in Canberra in the state of
the Liberal Party.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
When she arrived, she arrived in the John Howard years.
She's two thousand and one, actually the same year that
Peter Dutton came into Parliament. But she's someone who had
a background on the farm with a family, and she
writes and it is loki.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Everyone stood up and they had you know, they had
a lot to say. And I enjoyed the spirited debate
between different ideas and different thoughts within our party room.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
In terms of being a woman in that building.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Look, I had previous life experience as a woman in
careers that were dominated by men, so it wasn't altogether unfamiliar.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
She quickly got an assistant minister's position, She moved through
the rank. She has been the Minister for Health, she
has been the Minister for the Environment. She's had her
ups and downs, and you know this has made her
the tough woman politician that she now is as leader
of the Liberal Party.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, if we talk a little bit about the ups
and downs. In twenty seventeen, she had to resign as
Health Minister after she used a taxpayer funded trip to
buy an apartment on the Gold Coast. You asked her
about the highs and layers of her career. Talk to
me about how she's framing that now.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, I asked her about that in particular because it
came up in the press conference when she was asked
about the demotion of Jane Hume. She was the Finance
spokesperson and she's gone back to the back bench.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
These are tough days, and having been through many days
like this myself in my parliamentary career, I recognize that.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
But what I do want to say, so, yes, I
asked her about that, and she's pointing out that she
is a survivor.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I've become stronger and wiser for the tough times, and
having been sent to the back bench in the past,
I do know what it feels like. And I want
to say that one of the things I believe in
having been in that Parliament for twenty five years, is
it no matter where you sit, whatever seat you sit
in in the House of Representatives or the Senate, my
(06:40):
seat is better or worse than another, and you've got
an opportunity to contribute, to advocate.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
The challenge from Angus Taylor with the leadership ballot was
very very close and may become closer still with the
change over the Senate at the end of June, and
so there's a question of whether she's got reading space.
Most observers would say she has breathing space at the moment,
but that may whittle down. And so you know, this
(07:06):
is the moment where she's been tested as the Liberal leader.
She's just got through this enormous rift with the National
Party and to survive that and stood up for the
Liberal Party. And now she has to face down Parliament
returning at the end of July.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
After the break. The challenge ahead for Susan Lee, Karen.
Susan Lee has a huge task ahead of her to
rebuild the Liberal Party. That starts with facing up to
the wipeout they just suffered. How is she talking about
their loss?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, I did ask her whether she could pinpoint anything
about the loss to explain it, and she said, well,
you know that if I did so, that would get
ahead of the review that is coming. But she did
say absolutely that there was a problem with women.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I always want to see more women join our party.
I always want more women seeing us as the party
that they would naturally choose to support.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
But it's widely seeing that Peter Dutton did have an
issue with women voters. Susan Lee did have the portfolio
of women. It's now been given to Melissa Macintosh, the
Member for lindsay In out of Sydney. She's got that
alongside Communications, so you know, she's really sort of putting
her mark on her front bench, really highlighting this return
(08:32):
to doing something about women.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
At every policy discussion where the big calls are made,
I'll be sitting at that table and I'll be seeing
the decisions that we make through the lens of women.
So many of the women that I met during the campaign,
that I stood on those polling booths and chatted to,
and that I heard what they wanted to see from
their political representatives.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And she is really pointing out that there is a
new portfolio in the field of urban Infrastructure and City
that's been given to James McGrath that's seen as addressing
the problem that the Liberal Party has had in urban areas.
There is a new recasting going on, but we don't
really know about the policies going forward because that's under review.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
So Caro seasonally has well and truly proved her credentials
as an MP for a large rural electorate. One of
the things that the Liberal Party failed to do at
the last election was really retake any of the till
seats into any sort of large way. What are her
challenges in terms of being able to connect with urban electorates. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I asked her about whether it's a stretch for her
to understand voters in urban centers, and she absolutely insisted
that it's not.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Lived in Melbourne and I lived in Camera as a
young person, so I've lived an experienced life in the
cities and sometimes I think the city country divide is overrated.
And you know, we're Australians and we have the connections
between ourselves, between city and country.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Living in Canberra and myself Canberra is not a big city.
But it is an enormous task and it's not just
for her, it's for her entire party room. These members
have to reach out now from there, now outer suburban
seats or even regional seats and understand the cities. She
insists that the party absolutely fought for the Teal seats. Again,
(10:27):
you just have to look at Tim Wilson returned in Goldstein.
Perhaps it's still endowed at this stage, Giselle Capterian in Bradfield.
They did fight for those and they have to work
harder at getting more back if they want any chance
of returning to government.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
What type of coalition leader do you think Susan Lee
is going to be?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Well, she certainly made much about being more consultative. She
has spoken to former Liberal leaders. Do you consult with
former Liberal leaders Howard, Nelson, Abbott, Turnbull Morrison? Would you
nominate any that you might reach out to. I know
you've mentioned John Howard a few times in the space
(11:09):
that you're in when you arrived, I've.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Been in touch with all of them important former leaders
of our party, and always they have wisdom to add,
not just the previous leaders, but the future leaders.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Can I say Karen that I might idea?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
But she also shifted pretty quickly to future leaders. And
she is someone that says that she's always on the
lookout for young women who might have a part to play,
whether it's local politics or federal politics. And she sees
in opposition it's not really a top down exercise. She
(11:44):
sees it as an opportunity to listen from the grass
roots up. And she likes to say that this is
a very flat in terms of structure, So we'll see
how that goes. Certainly, it's early days in her leadership.
She's certainly doing things differently at the start. And Peter
Dutton and.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Why didn't she tell you about her role as opposition
leader in terms of holding the government to account.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
This is an interesting question because you know we're all
looking at Anthony Alberesi and how confident he is with
this supermajority now of ninety four Labor members in the
House of Representatives. Certainly, you know there's an opportunity for
Labor there. But now for the Liberal Party, what is
going to be the approach And certainly you can't discount
(12:31):
the issue of gender here and how is he going
to take on Susan Lee as a female leader of
the Liberal Party. It will be interesting in parliament to
see how that will play out. But I asked about
how she's going to square up with Alberzi, and she
says she's ready.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I'm going to approach the Prime minister respectfully, he's been elected,
he's got a strong majority, and I respect the wishes
of the Australian people that he is the prime minister.
So that's the first thing, and that's what every Australian
would expect of me.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
She highlights the areas of foreign policy and national security
usually areas where the coalition and labor are in lockstep.
But it's going to be then interesting where there'll be
points of disagreement and how Susan Lee and Anthony Albanezi
will actually be able to do deals or not or
(13:21):
change change each others forward thinking. But she says that
she's up for the fight.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And finally, Karen, she's taken over the leadership at the
Liberal Party's darkest dep She's managed to hold the coalition
together during some fractured times in her early weeks in
that leadership. So what are the next big tests for seasonally?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, I would say she's turning attention now to Parliament
returning at the end of July. There'll be the process
for starting the review of policies and she'll be needing
to appoint with other elements of a party who is
going to lead the review of this devastating election loss.
(14:03):
There's question marks over whether the polster for the Liberal
Party that failed them so miserably will continue. Certainly that's
not for Susan Lee to decide, but that's in her space.
And there is the question mark about, you know, the
future of some of the people in the Federal division.
The leaders there, people like Andrew Hurst, whether they're going
(14:24):
to continue in their jobs because honestly, it's been such
a thumping loss for the Liberal Party and something has
to change.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I don't interviewer to ask Karen, thank you so much
for your time, Thank you so much. Also in the
news today, Prime Minister Anthony Alberizi has pushed back against
(14:55):
the US call to drastically boost defense spending, saying Asustralia
will determine our own defense policy and has already committed
an extra ten billion in defense spending over the next
four years. The comments come as Donald Trump announced a
doubling of tariffs and steel and aluminum I move Albanez
he calls an act of economic self harm. And Russia
(15:17):
has launched a new wave of air assaults on Kiev,
with drone and missile attacks killing at least two people,
including a nine year old girl. Evacuations have been ordered
in more than two hundred settlements in Ukraine's Sumi region
as officials warn of potential new Russian offensive. You've been
listening to seven am. We'll be back tomorrow.
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