September 21, 2025 • 17 mins
The Coalition is again in crisis.
The latest Newspoll puts its primary vote at 27 per cent – its worst on record.
And with one frontbencher sacked over immigration comments and others threatening to quit over climate policy, the party seems more divided than ever.
Today, press gallery journalist Karen Middleton on the ideological battle lines tearing the party apart.
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: Press gallery journalist, Karen Middleton
Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to seven Am. The
Coalition is again in crisis. The latest News poll puts
their primary vote at twenty seven percent. It's worst on record,
and with one front bencher sacked over immigration comments and
others threatening to quit of a climate policy, the party
(00:23):
seems more divided than ever. Today Press Gallery journalist Karen
Middleton on the ideological battle lines tearing the party apart.
It's Monday, September twenty two.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So Karen, let's go back to the first trouble in
this latest saga for the coalition. I think a good
starting point is the sacking of Tenter Nabujeba Price. So
tell me what happened there.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well, we remember there were protests in capital cities about
the levels of immigration, and the flyers that were put
out ahead of those protests at which some neo Nazis
spoke were complaining in particular about the levels of Indian immigration.
Senator Senter Nampajimpur Price did an interview on ABC Afternoon
(01:17):
briefing the ABC twenty four program.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Senator, welcome to the program, Thanks for having me. It's
National Flag Day and you've written a piece.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
You say Australia should criminalize the destruction of the desecration
of the national flag.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Why do you think she was on the program?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Ostensibly because in Parliament that day to mark National Flag Day,
she had got up wrapped herself in the Australian Flag chambers.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
For the benefit of all Australians in this country. Yes,
snark all you like, it's revolting. You don't love this
country the way I do, certainly not like most Australians do.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So, and she got some questions about the immigration protests
and her views, and she appeared to endorse the sentiment
that there were too many Indian migrants and all said
she believed the Labor government was bringing Indian migrants into
Australia to boost their vote as we've seen you know,
mean you yourself mentioned that there is a concern with
the Indian community, and only because there's been large numbers
(02:12):
and we can see that reflected in the way that
the community votes for Labor at the same time, so
if they're going to see a reflection, and it sort
of exploded in a political sense for the coalition. The
leader Susan Lee immediately went out to try and repair
relations with the Indian Australian community.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
May I take this opportunity as leader of the Liberal
Party to apologize to all Indian Australians and indeed others
who were hurt and distressed by the comments that were made,
Comments that I said at the time should not have
been made.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So she was trying to fix that up, and the
suggestion was made that Jacinto Nampajepreprice should apologize, and in
the end a few days later, when she was asked
about it, she still didn't apologize, and in fact she
double down.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
Unfortunately, the issue that's of great concern, which you know
I won't be silenced on, is the issue of mass
migration in our country.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
And when asked if Susan Lee as leader had her support,
she declined to give it. Repeatedly, do you have confidence
in her leadership?
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Look again, those matters are for our party room. Those
matters are for our party room. My focus is to
go forward and to ensure that.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
We're Susan Lee had to do something about it in
terms of her position, and she was removed from the front.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Bench and all of this led straight into the boiling
over of another struggle inside the coalition Net zero. So
tell me about that and why the Coalition at this
moment in time is still seeming unable to settle on
a climate policy.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, because there's still a constituency in the Coalition on
the right, in the Liberal Party and within the Nationals
that doesn't believe in strong action against climate change. I
think some of them still don't believe in climate change
at all, although some of them who have expressed denial
type views about climate change in the past are now
saying they do accept human induced climate change, and I
(04:19):
think have dated Little Proud, the Nationals leader, as well,
but he still is opposed to the policy to reach
net zero emissions by twenty fifty.
Speaker 7 (04:28):
The Coalition voted against legislating net zero target by twenty
fifty and we voted against the twenty thirty target, and
now obviously we're going through a process of review of
the net zero position both parties.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
So this decade's long conflict inside the coalition about whether
to take action on climate change about energy transition continues,
and in some ways it's also a bit of a
proxy war for the factional infighting, particularly in the New
South Wales Liberals. Alex Hawk is from New South Wales.
He's a prominent figure, as I said, in that center faction.
(05:03):
He was Scott Morrison's sort of key lieutenant when Morrison
was Prime Minister. And the Right is backed and led
effectively in the background by figures like Tony Abbott and
to a degree Peter Kredlin who's now a Sky News
commentator and Tony Abbot's former chief of staff. But they
still wield influence and they are seeking to drive the
(05:23):
coalition's policy in a more conservative direction, particularly on this issue.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
So they don't seem to accept.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
That it was one of the key reasons the Coalition
lost the election, and they are continuing to prosecute the case,
and that means it also becomes a vehicle to destabilize
Susan Lee's leadership with those factional tensions underneath.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Leta, as you touched on, you don't agree with the
twenty thirty five targets were set via the government, but
what do you think that target should be?
Speaker 6 (05:53):
We don't believe in setting targets at all from opposition
or from government, thanks ever.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
But stumbling over her words on climate change and emissions reduction,
as Susan Lee did on Friday when she suggested the
Coalition didn't support setting targets even in government is not
going to help her. Sorry, guys just want to say
she's got to add to.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
She had to come back out and clean that up immediately.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Now that's just a gift to her political opponents, whether
it's Anthony Albanezi or the people inside her own party.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
What I meant to.
Speaker 6 (06:29):
Say was that I don't support the targets that the
government sets while we're in opposition.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
So I misspoke.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And when you say they continue to prosecute the case,
tell me more about what this group on the right
of the Liberal Party and the Nationals.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
So people like Barnaby Joyce Andrew Hasty.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Tell me what we're hearing from them about net zero
right now?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Well, and Juicy inter NAMPAJMP Prices is in that group
as well. She holds the same view that they shouldn't
be pursuing a net zero emissions by twenty fifty policy.
Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, both former Deputy Prime Minister.
There's former leaders of the Nationals, have come out very
strongly saying they believe the coalition should oppose that policy firmly.
They are arguing that their rural constituents are distressed and
(07:11):
alarmed at the way the energy transition is playing out
in regional areas. Andrew Hasty is from Western Australia. He's
also a Conservative now to Shadow Home Affairs Minister formally
Shadow of Defense and with a background and the Special Forces.
He says his constituents are opposed to the levels of
climate action that are being played out under federal government policy,
(07:33):
and he's against the net zero policy too. And he
gave a provocative radio interview a week or so ago,
he said, and it was a little mercurial his answer, where.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Would he be if they did that? He'd be out
of a job.
Speaker 8 (07:46):
If Susan Lee, though, supports net zero by twenty fifty,
where does that leave you? That leaves me without a job?
Go on, elaborate on that. That would be it for you.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
I've mailed, I've nailed my colors to the mask. Gary like,
if I go out with a tide in two and
a half years, that's great, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
So he seemed to actually be saying in the moment,
if voters vote me out because I'm opposing net zero
and this level of climate action and the renewables transition,
so be it, but it was interpreted as him saying
I'll quit the front bench, and he hasn't corrected that.
He's almost sort of surfed that wave since, and so
that is now seen as a sort of a different
(08:28):
kind of direct challenge to Susan Lee and to the
suggestion that they may continue to adopt a net zero policy.
So you've got Susan Lee trying to hold the show
together and commissioning this review being undertaken by her front
bench of Dante and it's not a happy ship at
the moment.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And that review, as you say, is underweight still. But
are there any signs as a result of all of
this that nuclear power could be back on the table
as coalition policy?
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Well, this is the pointy end of this whole debay,
isn't it. Really.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
We've heard David Little from the Nationals in the last
few days re endorsing nuclear power, I.
Speaker 7 (09:05):
Believe passionately in it region. Australia is more than just
a place littered with transmission lines, solar panels and wind turbines.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Pointing to the argument that the more we use artificial intelligence,
the more data centers we're going to need to manage
that the greater the power need and the only way
to supply that power is with nuclear power. I think
the problem with that argument is the data centers are
going to be needed a lot earlier, and the extra
power is going to need a lot earlier, and then
(09:34):
nuclear power stations could be built. So there's a timeline
flaw in the argument. But he is indeed pressing that point.
So that tells you there are still some key figures
in the Coalition that are willing to reignite that nuclear debate,
so that's not a dead issue by any stretch.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Coming up, how the global far right is influencing Australian politics, Karen.
When Susan Lee took over as leader after that catastrophic
election for the Coalition, her task was to bring the
party back to the center, to recapture the mainstream that
(10:15):
the party seem to have lost. But as we're seeing
these tussles play out over immigration over climate, does this
show that she is failing at that task?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Well, I think to be fair Susan Lee, she's only
been in the job for four months. We don't have
another election for almost three years, so she's got a
way to go yet. But it's certainly difficult and It
tells you that these issues, these old slawny issues, these
ideologically divisive issues like climate change, like immigration, continue to
(10:46):
play out in our politics now. They come to the
fore particularly strongly when people are under economic stress, and
Australians still are. The cost of living problems still exist,
and in some corners of Australia people want to blame
levels of migration because they say that's what's putting pressure
on infrastructure and services and pushing prices up. And so
(11:09):
that issue is problematic for the coalition and for Susan Lee,
and so is this climate issue. She sat just into
nampajmper price. She immediately reshuffled her front bench. She elevated
Claire Chandel from Tasmania and our Claire Chandler is.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Also a Conservative.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
She's replaced a conservative with a Conservative and a woman
with a woman. But she's made some enemies in her
whole front bench, shaping the likes of Jane Hume, who
was a prominent front bencher and shadow Finance Minister who's
much more moderate in the previous coalition shadow ministry under
Peter Dutton. She lost her front bench position and there
(11:45):
are others in the party unhappy. So she's got a
task to pull them together and to manage that. But
if these things continue to play out, it will be difficult,
and with the polls as low as they are, you know,
something will have to give and improve. The fact that
she has Alex Hawk sort of at her elbow is
also angering a number of people, particularly in the New
(12:06):
South Wales liberal conservative wing, and so there's this sort
of proxy.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
War going on underneath.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
She needs him for her factional protection, but he's also
potentially a liability in that factional sense.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And karent to what extent do you think that this
ideological struggle within the coalition is being influenced by what's
happening to the right wing of politics overseas, Because obviously
you've got this populist authoritarian ESQ government in Trump and
the MAGA movement in the US, but also in other
places in the UK, the far right Reform Party has
(12:41):
been gaining popularity. So how much notice do you think
that certain people within the coalition are taking of these
global trends.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
A lot of notice, and this is a very interesting influence.
We are seeing the rise of leaders on the what
you might call the far right. I mean, as you
mentioned in the United Kingdom, Nigel Farage, his party seems
to be on the ascendant, But the incumbents in a
couple of other countries are from the center left or
(13:08):
the left, you know, Keir Starmer in the United Kingdom,
Mark Carney in Canada, like minded or ideological allies of
Anthony Albanesi, the Prime minister here.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
So there's this ascendancy of the right.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
But if you look back to our election campaign, Donald
Trump was elected in November. He was inaugurated in January,
our election campaign began soon after, and our election was
in May. And the way the Trump arrival played out
during that campaign was that it seemed to advantage Anthony Albanesi,
who was critical of Trump's policies, all the kinds of
(13:44):
policies that Donald Trump was espousing. So being sort of
against Donald Trump is seen to have had a political
positive domestically for Anthony Alberanisi and his government. So the
coalitions looking abroad seeing these parties and these leaders powerful
and on the ascendante, but domestically endorsement of those ideas
did not play well.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So it's a hard it's a hard thing for them.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
To wrestle with how best to present themselves to voters
at the next election in a way that they might
actually defeat the current government now in its second term.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
So a big task I had then for Susan Lee.
How do you think she's going to approach it?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Haha?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Well, I mean to pull the party together. The first
thing you really got to do is you've got to
get that poll rating up. I mean it was in
the last News poll it was down to twenty seven percent.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
That's diabolically low.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
In order to do that, she needs to find issues
on which she can differentiate from the government and prosecute
a strong case. Now, the government's emissions reduction targets for
twenty thirty five are a good example. She's choosing to
prosecute a case on those. At the same time, she's
got people in her party who are pulling her in
opposite directions on that very issue. So it's a huge
(14:59):
challenge for her to unify her party. And the whole
way that Peter Dutton managed to unify his party was
to not allow any dissent to say this is my way.
I'm a strong leader. So Susan Lee can't really replicate that.
It didn't work. But in order to try and resolve
these things. You know she's going to face a struggle
to hold the party together and be a genuine alternative
(15:22):
in the lead up to.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
The next election.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Karen, thank you so much, Viatain, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Ruby.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Also in the news today, twenty five Republican lawmakers in
the United States have warned world leaders they'll face punitive
actions if they recognize Palestinian statehood. Prime Minister Anthony Alberinezi
arrived in New York on Sunday morning along with other
world leaders for the UN General Assembly, where multiple countries
tend to formally recognize a Palestinian state. In a letter
(16:03):
addressed to Anthony Alberaneesi as well as the leaders of Canada,
at France, and the UK, the Republicans write, this is
a reckless policy that undermines prospects for peace and the
families of hostages held in Gaza have staged another protest,
accusing Prime Minister Benjamin net Nyaho of endangering their loved
ones with Israel's attacks on Gaza City. It comes as
(16:24):
Hermas released images of the hostages, also warning that Israel
is putting their lives at risk and accusing Prime Minister
net Nyaho of refusing to negotiate a cease fire. Of
the forty seven hostages remaining in Gaza, about twenty are
thought to still be alive.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I'm Ruby Jones.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
This is seven am. See you tomorrow,
I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to seven Am. The
Coalition is again in crisis. The latest News poll puts
their primary vote at twenty seven percent. It's worst on record,
and with one front bencher sacked over immigration comments and
others threatening to quit of a climate policy, the party
(00:23):
seems more divided than ever. Today Press Gallery journalist Karen
Middleton on the ideological battle lines tearing the party apart.
It's Monday, September twenty two.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So Karen, let's go back to the first trouble in
this latest saga for the coalition. I think a good
starting point is the sacking of Tenter Nabujeba Price. So
tell me what happened there.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well, we remember there were protests in capital cities about
the levels of immigration, and the flyers that were put
out ahead of those protests at which some neo Nazis
spoke were complaining in particular about the levels of Indian immigration.
Senator Senter Nampajimpur Price did an interview on ABC Afternoon
(01:17):
briefing the ABC twenty four program.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Senator, welcome to the program, Thanks for having me. It's
National Flag Day and you've written a piece.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
You say Australia should criminalize the destruction of the desecration
of the national flag.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Why do you think she was on the program?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Ostensibly because in Parliament that day to mark National Flag Day,
she had got up wrapped herself in the Australian Flag chambers.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
For the benefit of all Australians in this country. Yes,
snark all you like, it's revolting. You don't love this
country the way I do, certainly not like most Australians do.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So, and she got some questions about the immigration protests
and her views, and she appeared to endorse the sentiment
that there were too many Indian migrants and all said
she believed the Labor government was bringing Indian migrants into
Australia to boost their vote as we've seen you know,
mean you yourself mentioned that there is a concern with
the Indian community, and only because there's been large numbers
(02:12):
and we can see that reflected in the way that
the community votes for Labor at the same time, so
if they're going to see a reflection, and it sort
of exploded in a political sense for the coalition. The
leader Susan Lee immediately went out to try and repair
relations with the Indian Australian community.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
May I take this opportunity as leader of the Liberal
Party to apologize to all Indian Australians and indeed others
who were hurt and distressed by the comments that were made,
Comments that I said at the time should not have
been made.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So she was trying to fix that up, and the
suggestion was made that Jacinto Nampajepreprice should apologize, and in
the end a few days later, when she was asked
about it, she still didn't apologize, and in fact she
double down.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
Unfortunately, the issue that's of great concern, which you know
I won't be silenced on, is the issue of mass
migration in our country.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
And when asked if Susan Lee as leader had her support,
she declined to give it. Repeatedly, do you have confidence
in her leadership?
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Look again, those matters are for our party room. Those
matters are for our party room. My focus is to
go forward and to ensure that.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
We're Susan Lee had to do something about it in
terms of her position, and she was removed from the front.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Bench and all of this led straight into the boiling
over of another struggle inside the coalition Net zero. So
tell me about that and why the Coalition at this
moment in time is still seeming unable to settle on
a climate policy.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, because there's still a constituency in the Coalition on
the right, in the Liberal Party and within the Nationals
that doesn't believe in strong action against climate change. I
think some of them still don't believe in climate change
at all, although some of them who have expressed denial
type views about climate change in the past are now
saying they do accept human induced climate change, and I
(04:19):
think have dated Little Proud, the Nationals leader, as well,
but he still is opposed to the policy to reach
net zero emissions by twenty fifty.
Speaker 7 (04:28):
The Coalition voted against legislating net zero target by twenty
fifty and we voted against the twenty thirty target, and
now obviously we're going through a process of review of
the net zero position both parties.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
So this decade's long conflict inside the coalition about whether
to take action on climate change about energy transition continues,
and in some ways it's also a bit of a
proxy war for the factional infighting, particularly in the New
South Wales Liberals. Alex Hawk is from New South Wales.
He's a prominent figure, as I said, in that center faction.
(05:03):
He was Scott Morrison's sort of key lieutenant when Morrison
was Prime Minister. And the Right is backed and led
effectively in the background by figures like Tony Abbott and
to a degree Peter Kredlin who's now a Sky News
commentator and Tony Abbot's former chief of staff. But they
still wield influence and they are seeking to drive the
(05:23):
coalition's policy in a more conservative direction, particularly on this issue.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
So they don't seem to accept.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
That it was one of the key reasons the Coalition
lost the election, and they are continuing to prosecute the case,
and that means it also becomes a vehicle to destabilize
Susan Lee's leadership with those factional tensions underneath.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Leta, as you touched on, you don't agree with the
twenty thirty five targets were set via the government, but
what do you think that target should be?
Speaker 6 (05:53):
We don't believe in setting targets at all from opposition
or from government, thanks ever.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
But stumbling over her words on climate change and emissions reduction,
as Susan Lee did on Friday when she suggested the
Coalition didn't support setting targets even in government is not
going to help her. Sorry, guys just want to say
she's got to add to.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
She had to come back out and clean that up immediately.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Now that's just a gift to her political opponents, whether
it's Anthony Albanezi or the people inside her own party.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
What I meant to.
Speaker 6 (06:29):
Say was that I don't support the targets that the
government sets while we're in opposition.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
So I misspoke.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And when you say they continue to prosecute the case,
tell me more about what this group on the right
of the Liberal Party and the Nationals.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
So people like Barnaby Joyce Andrew Hasty.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Tell me what we're hearing from them about net zero
right now?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Well, and Juicy inter NAMPAJMP Prices is in that group
as well. She holds the same view that they shouldn't
be pursuing a net zero emissions by twenty fifty policy.
Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, both former Deputy Prime Minister.
There's former leaders of the Nationals, have come out very
strongly saying they believe the coalition should oppose that policy firmly.
They are arguing that their rural constituents are distressed and
(07:11):
alarmed at the way the energy transition is playing out
in regional areas. Andrew Hasty is from Western Australia. He's
also a Conservative now to Shadow Home Affairs Minister formally
Shadow of Defense and with a background and the Special Forces.
He says his constituents are opposed to the levels of
climate action that are being played out under federal government policy,
(07:33):
and he's against the net zero policy too. And he
gave a provocative radio interview a week or so ago,
he said, and it was a little mercurial his answer, where.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Would he be if they did that? He'd be out
of a job.
Speaker 8 (07:46):
If Susan Lee, though, supports net zero by twenty fifty,
where does that leave you? That leaves me without a job?
Go on, elaborate on that. That would be it for you.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
I've mailed, I've nailed my colors to the mask. Gary like,
if I go out with a tide in two and
a half years, that's great, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
So he seemed to actually be saying in the moment,
if voters vote me out because I'm opposing net zero
and this level of climate action and the renewables transition,
so be it, but it was interpreted as him saying
I'll quit the front bench, and he hasn't corrected that.
He's almost sort of surfed that wave since, and so
that is now seen as a sort of a different
(08:28):
kind of direct challenge to Susan Lee and to the
suggestion that they may continue to adopt a net zero policy.
So you've got Susan Lee trying to hold the show
together and commissioning this review being undertaken by her front
bench of Dante and it's not a happy ship at
the moment.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And that review, as you say, is underweight still. But
are there any signs as a result of all of
this that nuclear power could be back on the table
as coalition policy?
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Well, this is the pointy end of this whole debay,
isn't it. Really.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
We've heard David Little from the Nationals in the last
few days re endorsing nuclear power, I.
Speaker 7 (09:05):
Believe passionately in it region. Australia is more than just
a place littered with transmission lines, solar panels and wind turbines.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Pointing to the argument that the more we use artificial intelligence,
the more data centers we're going to need to manage
that the greater the power need and the only way
to supply that power is with nuclear power. I think
the problem with that argument is the data centers are
going to be needed a lot earlier, and the extra
power is going to need a lot earlier, and then
(09:34):
nuclear power stations could be built. So there's a timeline
flaw in the argument. But he is indeed pressing that point.
So that tells you there are still some key figures
in the Coalition that are willing to reignite that nuclear debate,
so that's not a dead issue by any stretch.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Coming up, how the global far right is influencing Australian politics, Karen.
When Susan Lee took over as leader after that catastrophic
election for the Coalition, her task was to bring the
party back to the center, to recapture the mainstream that
(10:15):
the party seem to have lost. But as we're seeing
these tussles play out over immigration over climate, does this
show that she is failing at that task?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Well, I think to be fair Susan Lee, she's only
been in the job for four months. We don't have
another election for almost three years, so she's got a
way to go yet. But it's certainly difficult and It
tells you that these issues, these old slawny issues, these
ideologically divisive issues like climate change, like immigration, continue to
(10:46):
play out in our politics now. They come to the
fore particularly strongly when people are under economic stress, and
Australians still are. The cost of living problems still exist,
and in some corners of Australia people want to blame
levels of migration because they say that's what's putting pressure
on infrastructure and services and pushing prices up. And so
(11:09):
that issue is problematic for the coalition and for Susan Lee,
and so is this climate issue. She sat just into
nampajmper price. She immediately reshuffled her front bench. She elevated
Claire Chandel from Tasmania and our Claire Chandler is.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Also a Conservative.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
She's replaced a conservative with a Conservative and a woman
with a woman. But she's made some enemies in her
whole front bench, shaping the likes of Jane Hume, who
was a prominent front bencher and shadow Finance Minister who's
much more moderate in the previous coalition shadow ministry under
Peter Dutton. She lost her front bench position and there
(11:45):
are others in the party unhappy. So she's got a
task to pull them together and to manage that. But
if these things continue to play out, it will be difficult,
and with the polls as low as they are, you know,
something will have to give and improve. The fact that
she has Alex Hawk sort of at her elbow is
also angering a number of people, particularly in the New
(12:06):
South Wales liberal conservative wing, and so there's this sort
of proxy.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
War going on underneath.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
She needs him for her factional protection, but he's also
potentially a liability in that factional sense.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And karent to what extent do you think that this
ideological struggle within the coalition is being influenced by what's
happening to the right wing of politics overseas, Because obviously
you've got this populist authoritarian ESQ government in Trump and
the MAGA movement in the US, but also in other
places in the UK, the far right Reform Party has
(12:41):
been gaining popularity. So how much notice do you think
that certain people within the coalition are taking of these
global trends.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
A lot of notice, and this is a very interesting influence.
We are seeing the rise of leaders on the what
you might call the far right. I mean, as you
mentioned in the United Kingdom, Nigel Farage, his party seems
to be on the ascendant, But the incumbents in a
couple of other countries are from the center left or
(13:08):
the left, you know, Keir Starmer in the United Kingdom,
Mark Carney in Canada, like minded or ideological allies of
Anthony Albanesi, the Prime minister here.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
So there's this ascendancy of the right.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
But if you look back to our election campaign, Donald
Trump was elected in November. He was inaugurated in January,
our election campaign began soon after, and our election was
in May. And the way the Trump arrival played out
during that campaign was that it seemed to advantage Anthony Albanesi,
who was critical of Trump's policies, all the kinds of
(13:44):
policies that Donald Trump was espousing. So being sort of
against Donald Trump is seen to have had a political
positive domestically for Anthony Alberanisi and his government. So the
coalitions looking abroad seeing these parties and these leaders powerful
and on the ascendante, but domestically endorsement of those ideas
did not play well.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So it's a hard it's a hard thing for them.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
To wrestle with how best to present themselves to voters
at the next election in a way that they might
actually defeat the current government now in its second term.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
So a big task I had then for Susan Lee.
How do you think she's going to approach it?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Haha?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Well, I mean to pull the party together. The first
thing you really got to do is you've got to
get that poll rating up. I mean it was in
the last News poll it was down to twenty seven percent.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
That's diabolically low.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
In order to do that, she needs to find issues
on which she can differentiate from the government and prosecute
a strong case. Now, the government's emissions reduction targets for
twenty thirty five are a good example. She's choosing to
prosecute a case on those. At the same time, she's
got people in her party who are pulling her in
opposite directions on that very issue. So it's a huge
(14:59):
challenge for her to unify her party. And the whole
way that Peter Dutton managed to unify his party was
to not allow any dissent to say this is my way.
I'm a strong leader. So Susan Lee can't really replicate that.
It didn't work. But in order to try and resolve
these things. You know she's going to face a struggle
to hold the party together and be a genuine alternative
(15:22):
in the lead up to.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
The next election.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Karen, thank you so much, Viatain, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Ruby.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Also in the news today, twenty five Republican lawmakers in
the United States have warned world leaders they'll face punitive
actions if they recognize Palestinian statehood. Prime Minister Anthony Alberinezi
arrived in New York on Sunday morning along with other
world leaders for the UN General Assembly, where multiple countries
tend to formally recognize a Palestinian state. In a letter
(16:03):
addressed to Anthony Alberaneesi as well as the leaders of Canada,
at France, and the UK, the Republicans write, this is
a reckless policy that undermines prospects for peace and the
families of hostages held in Gaza have staged another protest,
accusing Prime Minister Benjamin net Nyaho of endangering their loved
ones with Israel's attacks on Gaza City. It comes as
(16:24):
Hermas released images of the hostages, also warning that Israel
is putting their lives at risk and accusing Prime Minister
net Nyaho of refusing to negotiate a cease fire. Of
the forty seven hostages remaining in Gaza, about twenty are
thought to still be alive.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I'm Ruby Jones.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
This is seven am. See you tomorrow,
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