1 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: It's Monday, May five, twenty twenty five. A newly empowered 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: Anthony Albanesi has brought Labor to a whopping ninety seats 4 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,759 Speaker 1: in the House of Representatives. Labour's picked up seats in 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: the Senate to meaning it will no longer need to 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: negotiate with crossbenches and can get legislation through with the 7 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: support of the Greens. Only now there will be a 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: cabinet reshuffle and a new agenda. Business is worried there'll 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: be more industrial relations changes, the energy sector wants the 10 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: government to recommit to gas, and it seems working from 11 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: Home is here to stay. Peter Dutton is out of 12 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: Parliament and a devastated Liberal Party is searching for a 13 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: new leader and a new identity. Front Runners for the 14 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: leadership include Dude Angus Taylor, Susan Lee and Dantean. But 15 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: there'll be a reckoning on how the party wins back 16 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: voters who've gone to the teals today and every day. 17 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,119 Speaker 1: The Australian has all the best coverage of federal, state 18 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: and local politics, and you can be the first to 19 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: know on all the big stories by joining ours subscribers 20 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: at the Australian dot com dot a U. Today The 21 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: Australian's Editor at Large, Paul Kelly on what Albow two 22 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: point zero means for all of us This morning, Anthony 23 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: Albanezi wakes up as the most powerful prime minister in generations. 24 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: My fellow Australians, he's broken all the so called rules 25 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: like first term prime ministers never increase their majority. 26 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 2: Serving as your prime minister is the greatest honor of 27 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 2: my life. 28 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: Like Australians would never forgive him for the disaster of the. 29 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 2: Voice, and I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land 30 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 2: on which we made and I pay my respects to 31 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:27,359 Speaker 2: elders past, present and emerging today and every day. 32 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 1: Like Labor would be brutally punished for presiding over huge 33 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:36,239 Speaker 1: cost of living increases. 34 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 3: Now, we didn't do well enough during this campaign. That 35 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 3: much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility for that. 36 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: None of those predictions came true. Peter Dunton is out 37 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: of Parliament. The Coalition has been reduced to half as 38 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: many seats as Labor in Queensland alone, a state where 39 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: Labor has previously been written off, Labor won at least 40 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: six seats. The Greens have grown their primary vote but 41 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: lost seats, and the Teals have held and gained some ground. 42 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: Paul Kelly is The Australian's Editor at Large and Australia's 43 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: most revered political journalist. Paul, You've covered politics for more 44 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: than five decades. Where does this election sit. 45 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 4: This is the most extraordinary election I've seen in my 46 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:30,079 Speaker 4: five decades. This is a turning point election for the country. 47 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 4: Nobody predicted the scale of this result. It's transformed Anthony 48 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 4: Albanezi into a prime Minister of immense authority and of 49 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 4: long standing significance. This Labor government will govern for a 50 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 4: long period of time and it's left the Liberal Party 51 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 4: in ruins. One of the questions, of course, is whether 52 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 4: the Liberal Party is actually capable of recovery. If it is, 53 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 4: that recovery will take many years. 54 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: At his victory speech in twenty twenty two, Albanezy introduced 55 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: the idea of a voice to Parliament, a policy that 56 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: ended in defeat and confusion. In twenty twenty five, he 57 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: didn't articulate any new policy ideas, but he did celebrate Medicare. 58 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 2: His kart's not Labor red or Liberal blue. It is 59 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 2: green and gold. It is a declaration of our national 60 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 2: values in our national colors. 61 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 1: And the trade union movement to. 62 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 2: The Labor Party's heart and soul, our rank and file 63 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:44,359 Speaker 2: members and the mighty trade union movement of Australia. The 64 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 2: Labor Party will always stand up for jobs and people's 65 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 2: wages and conditions. 66 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: After the twenty twenty two election, Paul Labor enacted a 67 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,359 Speaker 1: wave of IR reforms that it hadn't taken to the campaign, 68 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: things like the right to disconnect, which was a Greens idea. 69 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: Should we now expect another wave of IR reform. 70 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 4: I think the government of the Labor Party will come 71 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 4: under immense pressure from every progressive group in the country, 72 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:22,720 Speaker 4: demanding money, policies and concessions, and my suspicion is that 73 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:27,479 Speaker 4: Anthony Alberzi will respond to that with a lot of discretion, 74 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 4: caution and authority. What's happened in this campaign is the 75 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 4: country's moved to the left in economic, social and cultural terms. 76 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 4: But I think Albanzi will still want to govern from 77 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 4: what he sees as being the Labor center. 78 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: There was a lot of talk during the campaign that 79 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: this election would be about one issue cost of living? 80 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,040 Speaker 1: Was that true in the end, Well, it was true. 81 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,039 Speaker 4: The election was about cost of living, but this was 82 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 4: really to say, this was a really deceptive issue because 83 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 4: the Peter Dutton campaign was far too narrow. I mean 84 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 4: it almost got to the stage where the Liberal Party 85 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 4: stood for cheaper petrol. That's not good enough, that's not 86 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 4: good enough. The Liberal brand was lost. The sense of 87 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 4: what the Liberal Party represents, what the Liberal Party stands for, 88 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 4: was lost. It's one thing to say the issue is 89 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 4: cost of living. We've got to introduce concessions, cheaper petrol 90 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 4: and other changes in order to convince people we want 91 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 4: to look after them. But that only works if you've 92 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 4: got a strong political brand behind it. I think what 93 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 4: happened in this campaign is people didn't really know what 94 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:50,720 Speaker 4: the Liberal Party stood for. The Liberal Party forgot totally 95 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 4: the advice from John Howard that it needs to be 96 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 4: a broad church. It wasn't. It ran on thin policies, 97 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 4: it contracted the entire debate. So I think strategically and 98 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 4: tactically the Liberal Party misjudged, and in particular Peter Dutton misjudged. 99 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: In the Senate. Labour's position has improved and it no 100 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,120 Speaker 1: longer needs crossbench support. It can get legislation through with 101 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: the support of the Greens only. The Greens have lost 102 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: two seats in Queensland and leader Adam Bant had a 103 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: very tough fight in his seat of Melbourne, but their 104 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: primary vote increased and Band says they kicked out Peter Dutton. 105 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,559 Speaker 1: Anthony Albanezi is now very dominant and his left faction 106 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: is dominant too. He gets to reshuffle the cabinet, of course, 107 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: and you'd think that people who were once leadership contenders 108 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: like Tanya Plibasik Jason Clair are going to have to 109 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: get used to a very new reality. Do you think 110 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: he's going to be brutal in reshaping that cabinet? 111 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 4: No, I don't. He will make some changes and the 112 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 4: order to make some change after this result, but I 113 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 4: think there will be a lot of stability. There will 114 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 4: be quite a commitment to the status quo in the 115 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 4: senior positions. After that, of course, there should be some change, 116 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 4: and I'm certain there will be some change. 117 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:35,959 Speaker 1: Coming up. Where did the Liberals go from here? Up close, 118 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:40,479 Speaker 1: Peter Dutton is smart and witty, a likable, family oriented 119 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: former cop and. 120 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,280 Speaker 3: Dad and I said to the Prime minister that his 121 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 3: mum would be incredibly proud of his achievement tonight, and 122 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,080 Speaker 3: he should be very proud of what he's achieved, thank you. 123 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: But in caricature, like in the work of The Australian's 124 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: own cartoonist Johannes Leek, he's Lurch Voldemort, a zombie, a 125 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: gray faced, hulking undertaker. 126 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 3: We've been defined by our opponent in this election, which 127 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 3: is not the true story of who we are. But 128 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 3: we'll rebuild from here. We'll do that because we know 129 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 3: our values, we know our beliefs and will always stick 130 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 3: to them. 131 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: Was it a mistake to choose Peter Dutton. 132 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 4: No, I don't think it was, because after the previous 133 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 4: election in twenty twenty two, when Josh Friedenberg lost his seat, 134 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 4: it became obvious that Peter Dutton was a senior Liberal 135 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 4: and I think the party did the right thing putting 136 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 4: him in. I think we've got to be very careful 137 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 4: about judgments in retrospect. I mean it looked for quite 138 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 4: a lot of the past term as though Peter Dutton 139 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:54,959 Speaker 4: was doing pretty well. Peter Dutton made some really significant mistakes. Firstly, 140 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:01,080 Speaker 4: I think he was trying to win on grievance. There 141 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 4: were seven quarters of negative GDP per capita. This was 142 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 4: the greatest fall in Australian living standards in half a century. 143 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 4: He thought the electorate was coming against Albanisi with baseball bats. 144 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,079 Speaker 4: He misread that that was wrong. It wasn't that bad. 145 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 4: The second mistake he made was not to knuckle down 146 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:30,599 Speaker 4: and produce substantial opposition policies at a much earlier stage. 147 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 4: He deferred the hard policy work and what that meant 148 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 4: was that when the campaign came they were underprepared, they 149 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 4: hadn't done the hard work, and they were brutally exposed 150 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:43,960 Speaker 4: on that front during the course of the campaign. 151 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:48,679 Speaker 1: The moderate wing of the Liberal Party has been outsourced 152 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: to the Teals. They now win seats that the Liberals 153 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,079 Speaker 1: could once rely on. Does the party need to change 154 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: to try to win those people back, or do you 155 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: think there's a different way forward for the Liberal Party. 156 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 4: Now there's only one way forward for the Liberal Party, 157 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 4: and it's got to avoid any suggestion that there's a 158 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 4: silver bullet on either the right or the left. So 159 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 4: if they're a party conservatives saying the answer is to 160 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 4: put a lot of political water between the Liberals and 161 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:24,840 Speaker 4: the Labor Party by moving further to the right and 162 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 4: becoming more conservative. That is a lecture of doom. On 163 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 4: the other hand, if there are progressive liberals saying what 164 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,319 Speaker 4: we've got to do is we've got to move further 165 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:40,839 Speaker 4: to the left and understand what's going on in terms 166 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 4: of cultural change, that is also the path of doom. 167 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 4: The only way forward is to run a broad church. 168 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 4: That is the John Howard philosophy. You've got to understand 169 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 4: how the country's changing, and that means the Liberal Party's 170 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 4: got to change. But it's got to change in terms 171 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 4: of a broad church being a party of both liberal 172 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 4: and conservative traditions, and it's got to reinterpret what the 173 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 4: broad Church means for the decade of the twenty twenties. 174 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 4: And in particular, that means it's got to address its 175 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:17,200 Speaker 4: fundamental identity problems with this country. First of all, it's 176 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 4: a lack of support among the professional, corporate and managerial classes. Secondly, 177 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 4: it's problem with women. Thirdly, its problem with the under 178 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:33,719 Speaker 4: forty vote. Fourthly, it's problem with multicultural Australia. Fifthly, its 179 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 4: problem with public servants. In other words, it's got to 180 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 4: rethink its identity from top to bottom. 181 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,080 Speaker 1: The front runners are Angus Taylor, Dan Tien and Susan Lee. 182 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: Right now, for the Liberal leadership, that's a huge task 183 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 1: that you've just outlined. Do you think any of them 184 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: have what it takes to turn this party around. 185 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 4: We'll have to see. They've lost so many people for 186 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 4: one reason or another out of the parliament Josh Friedenberg 187 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 4: or Christian Porter, or Mantius Corman or Christopher Pine or 188 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 4: Greg Hunt or Scott Morrison or Malcolm Turnbull or Tony 189 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 4: Abbott and now Peter Dutton. I mean, you could just 190 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 4: think of what sort of front bench you could put 191 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,839 Speaker 4: together with all the people that they've lost, and that 192 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,840 Speaker 4: talent train is a real problem. So I think it's 193 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 4: going to be a very difficult, a very challenging and 194 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 4: a hard road back for the Liberal Party. Now Albanzey 195 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:45,559 Speaker 4: knows that. I think the really interesting thing is whether 196 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 4: Albanese succumbs to Hubris. I don't think he will. I 197 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 4: think he's more in touch with the community than people think. 198 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 4: I think he's realistic, he doesn't have a huge ego 199 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 4: about himself, and I think he judgment is judgment about 200 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 4: government and stability and his capacity to read the Australian 201 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 4: Electric is pretty impressive. 202 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: Paul Kelly is The Australian's Editor at Large. You can 203 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 1: read his outstanding analysis and all the rest of the 204 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:27,880 Speaker 1: news you need right now at the Australian dot com 205 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: dot au