WEBVTT - RIP the Coalition

0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:04.720
<v Speaker 1>From Schwartz Media. I'm Michael Williams filling in for Daniel

0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:11.480
<v Speaker 1>and Ruby. This is seven AM. Just a week after

0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:14.840
<v Speaker 1>taking charge in the wake of the liberals disastrous election result,

0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:20.119
<v Speaker 1>Opposition leader Susan Lee now finds herself without a coalition partner.

0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:23.319
<v Speaker 1>National's leader David Little Proud says he walked from the

0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.000
<v Speaker 1>agreement after the Liberals refuse to lock in a list

0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.600
<v Speaker 1>of requests, while Lee insists she won't let her party

0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:34.199
<v Speaker 1>be held hostage to unreasonable demands. The split is a

0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:36.559
<v Speaker 1>setback for the Liberals, but it may be worse for

0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.519
<v Speaker 1>the National Party, who won less than four percent of

0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:44.080
<v Speaker 1>the primary vote at the last election. Today's special correspondent

0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.559
<v Speaker 1>for the Saturday Paper, Jason Cootsukus, on why the coalition

0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.120
<v Speaker 1>broke up and what it'll take to bring them back together.

0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:58.400
<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, May twenty two.

0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.920
<v Speaker 2>And thank you for coming here today. Since the devastating

0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.319
<v Speaker 2>defeat and my reelection as leader of the National Party

0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:12.760
<v Speaker 2>and Susan Lee, the leader of the Liberal Party, we

0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:16.120
<v Speaker 2>have set out on a journey of trying to reshape

0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:17.120
<v Speaker 2>a carlistion agreement.

0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.880
<v Speaker 1>Now, Jason, one of the things you learn as you've

0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:21.880
<v Speaker 1>become an adult. Is how hard it is to see

0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.679
<v Speaker 1>a relationship that you thought was forever suddenly in ashes,

0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.920
<v Speaker 1>breaking up unexpectedly, and you have to talk through that

0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:30.920
<v Speaker 1>with your friends and counsel them in all kinds of

0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.280
<v Speaker 1>different ways. Jason, you were in Parliament House when David

0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.680
<v Speaker 1>little Proud fronted the cameras and said the Nationals would

0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:42.160
<v Speaker 1>and I quote sit alone on a principal basis, that's

0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.600
<v Speaker 1>a pretty cold breakup. Take us into that moment. Did

0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:45.600
<v Speaker 1>anyone see it coming?

0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:51.160
<v Speaker 3>Well, it certainly was a cult breakup, and they certainly

0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.520
<v Speaker 3>gave us the impression that, you know, mummy and Daddy

0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.560
<v Speaker 3>needed to spend some time apart and do some soul searching.

0:01:58.120 --> 0:01:59.720
<v Speaker 2>I got to say, when I had a meeting with

0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.440
<v Speaker 2>Susan and Lessen half an hour ago, the dignity that

0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.120
<v Speaker 2>she showed in how she took this and how she

0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.679
<v Speaker 2>sees a way forward was a reaffirment that this is

0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:13.720
<v Speaker 2>an opportunity to reset ourselves and to do that in

0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.360
<v Speaker 2>an environment where we can. I think that's important. There's

0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.399
<v Speaker 2>no animosity, there's no angst, there's no hate. It's one

0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:25.280
<v Speaker 2>predicator on respect and understanding, and I think that is

0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:26.480
<v Speaker 2>the position that we'll go forward to.

0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:32.480
<v Speaker 3>The day before. Though on Monday afternoon there were signs

0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.480
<v Speaker 3>that the negotiations weren't going well and we were hearing

0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.760
<v Speaker 3>that it was a very real possibility that a coalition

0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:45.880
<v Speaker 3>agreement would not be signed, and those rumors gathered a

0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.560
<v Speaker 3>momentum on Tuesday morning when there was a story in

0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.959
<v Speaker 3>the Australian Financial Review. Actually the story led the paper

0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.600
<v Speaker 3>on Tuesday morning saying that a split was on the cards,

0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.280
<v Speaker 3>but we didn't really know for sure until that confirmation

0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:05.520
<v Speaker 3>finally came through. And despite the rumors that we'd been hearing,

0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.440
<v Speaker 3>it still was a big surprise to us that they

0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.600
<v Speaker 3>had actually decided to go their own separate ways.

0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.480
<v Speaker 1>What did David Littlebrowd say with the sticking points the

0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.960
<v Speaker 1>maid negotiations with Susan Lee and the Liberal Party collapse

0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:20.560
<v Speaker 1>entirely well.

0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:24.959
<v Speaker 3>David Little Proud said negotiations had collapsed because the Nationals

0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:29.440
<v Speaker 3>had insisted that the new coalition agreement lock in our

0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:35.120
<v Speaker 3>five specific guarantees, and the Nationals non negotiables were ongoing

0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.800
<v Speaker 3>support for that nuclear power policy that the coalition had

0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.520
<v Speaker 3>taken to the May three election. They wanted the Liberal

0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:47.400
<v Speaker 3>Party to continue to support a policy to grant the

0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.000
<v Speaker 3>government divestiture powers to break up major supermarkets if they

0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:55.360
<v Speaker 3>abused their market dominance. The Nationals also insisted on a

0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.960
<v Speaker 3>twenty billion dollar Regional Australia Future Fund to bankroll low

0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:05.080
<v Speaker 3>long term regional infrastructure and jobs in regional Australia. They

0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:12.280
<v Speaker 3>also wanted to guarantee baseline telecommunications services in the Bush.

0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:16.440
<v Speaker 2>Those thought include in a universal service obligation. These were

0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.360
<v Speaker 2>positions that we made very clear to Susan and I think.

0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.440
<v Speaker 3>There was also a fifth demand, although this was one

0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:24.680
<v Speaker 3>that was sought by the Liberals, and that was a

0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:30.400
<v Speaker 3>guarantee of shadow cabinet solidarity. So essentially, if the Shadow

0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.479
<v Speaker 3>Cabinet comes to a decision on a policy or other

0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:37.280
<v Speaker 3>kind of political issue, then the Liberals are saying that

0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.680
<v Speaker 3>all Shadow Cabinet members have got to be prepared to

0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.080
<v Speaker 3>go out and support that decision, regardless of whether or

0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.000
<v Speaker 3>not they supported it in the Shadow Cabinet meeting. The

0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.479
<v Speaker 3>Nationals apparently didn't agree to that. They wanted the freedom

0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:53.720
<v Speaker 3>for National members of the Shadow Cabinet to cast conscience

0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.600
<v Speaker 3>votes on contentious coalition policies, and I think the most

0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.839
<v Speaker 3>obvious one is this policy or the commit the coalition

0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:05.080
<v Speaker 3>has made to have net zero emissions by twenty fifty.

0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.000
<v Speaker 3>A lot of Nationals don't support that policy. They'll want

0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.799
<v Speaker 3>to dump it, and I guess that's why they insisted

0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:16.279
<v Speaker 3>on having this kind of provision to have a conscious

0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.600
<v Speaker 3>vote in shadow cabinet, which is really unprecedented and unreasonable

0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.719
<v Speaker 3>in my view, and I think Susan Lee did absolutely

0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:27.360
<v Speaker 3>the right thing in not caving into that demand and

0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.360
<v Speaker 3>the other demands that the Nationals made.

0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:34.359
<v Speaker 1>So we know how the negotiations are ended, but what

0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.920
<v Speaker 1>are you hearing about how they played out behind closed doors?

0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.000
<v Speaker 1>Did they begin cordially enough?

0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:44.080
<v Speaker 3>Well, I think the negotiations were cordial, but what really

0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:47.120
<v Speaker 3>stands out to me is the rush that the Nationals

0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.120
<v Speaker 3>seemed to be in to want to lock the Liberal

0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:53.040
<v Speaker 3>Party into these policy commitments. Last week, of course, we

0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:56.599
<v Speaker 3>saw Susan Lee elected as the first female leader of

0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:01.440
<v Speaker 3>the Liberal Party and straight away Susan started to sit

0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.720
<v Speaker 3>down and talk with David Little Proud about the new

0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.680
<v Speaker 3>coalition agreement. There was, of course, a big complication, which

0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:13.000
<v Speaker 3>was that Susan Lee's mother was in palliative care. She

0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.800
<v Speaker 3>passed away over the weekend. So that was a very

0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:21.039
<v Speaker 3>difficult thing for Susan obviously to navigate. And on Monday morning,

0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:24.000
<v Speaker 3>Susan Lee was ready to start negotiating with David Little

0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.080
<v Speaker 3>Proud again and he drove down to her electric from

0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.000
<v Speaker 3>Canberra and they had a face to face discussion in Aubrey.

0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.560
<v Speaker 3>That was when I think Susan realized that there were

0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.760
<v Speaker 3>some pretty big obstacles to making a new coalition agreement,

0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.920
<v Speaker 3>and that's how that news filtered back to Canberra that

0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.880
<v Speaker 3>the negotiations had pretty much stalled. One thing that really

0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.560
<v Speaker 3>surprised me was that David Little Proud gave Susan Lee

0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.000
<v Speaker 3>about thirty minutes notice before he walked out and told

0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.520
<v Speaker 3>the press gallery that he would be declaring the coalition

0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:57.880
<v Speaker 3>agreement to be dead.

0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.719
<v Speaker 1>How much is this a product different interpretations of the

0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:07.520
<v Speaker 1>election result. The perception amongst the National Party room is

0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.960
<v Speaker 1>that they had quite a good election. The Liberals went backwards.

0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.760
<v Speaker 1>Little Proud and his team clearly felt like they were

0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.080
<v Speaker 1>going into the negotiations with a position of power. Do

0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.800
<v Speaker 1>you think that Liberals thought they were bluffing, were trying

0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:20.720
<v Speaker 1>to call a bluff.

0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.040
<v Speaker 3>I don't think they thought they were bluffing. But I

0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:28.520
<v Speaker 3>do think the Liberals are very annoyed by the Nationals

0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.000
<v Speaker 3>thinking that they're in a position to make these kinds

0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:35.520
<v Speaker 3>of demands. Yes, the Nationals held their own fifteen seats

0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.520
<v Speaker 3>in the lower House, but they only get about I

0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:42.000
<v Speaker 3>think it's less than four percent of the National primary vote.

0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.800
<v Speaker 3>The Nationals have absolutely no hope of governing in their

0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.520
<v Speaker 3>own right. They can't be in government without an agreement

0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.560
<v Speaker 3>with the Liberal Party to share power. So I think

0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:54.880
<v Speaker 3>it really has annoyed a lot of Liberals who feel

0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.600
<v Speaker 3>that not only have the Nationals been a drag on

0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:02.120
<v Speaker 3>their vote in Australia's big cities, they've just been asking

0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.200
<v Speaker 3>for too much and they are a small part of

0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.040
<v Speaker 3>the coalition. And as one Liberal has said to me

0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.480
<v Speaker 3>this morning, the tail has been wagging the dog for

0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:12.120
<v Speaker 3>too long.

0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:14.560
<v Speaker 1>David Little Proud, welcome to seven thirty.

0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:16.360
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, thanks for having me.

0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.480
<v Speaker 1>The two party leaders, Susan Lee and David Little Proud

0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.440
<v Speaker 1>both went on seven point thirty after the announcement, and

0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.720
<v Speaker 1>both of them are asked who blew up the coalition?

0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.560
<v Speaker 1>Who blew up the coalition? The National Party or the

0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:29.240
<v Speaker 1>Liberal Party.

0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.640
<v Speaker 2>Well, we got to a position in the National Party

0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:33.679
<v Speaker 2>party roarin this morning.

0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.280
<v Speaker 1>How did they each frame what had happened.

0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.840
<v Speaker 3>Susan Lee is very much pinning the blame on David

0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.760
<v Speaker 3>Little Proud. She has said that it was his decision

0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:45.960
<v Speaker 3>to walk away from the coalition.

0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.760
<v Speaker 2>I'm very disappointed that the Nationals have chosen to walk

0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.079
<v Speaker 2>away from the coalition, but I remain very respectful of

0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:54.800
<v Speaker 2>David Little Proud and his team.

0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:59.520
<v Speaker 3>David Little Proud has confirmed that he's not blaming himself.

0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.160
<v Speaker 3>He's saying that it was the Liberals who weren't able

0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.280
<v Speaker 3>to come to an agreement.

0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:08.880
<v Speaker 2>Susan wanted to go through an elongated process of policy

0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:13.760
<v Speaker 2>formation that would have to restart effectively what we did

0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.839
<v Speaker 2>over the last three years. Let's just go over let's

0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.120
<v Speaker 2>just go through them, just to be clear for the viewers.

0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.000
<v Speaker 3>But I think most people would be thinking this morning

0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.680
<v Speaker 3>that David Little Proud has treated Susan Lee pretty shabbily

0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:31.000
<v Speaker 3>and has acted rashly. I think even some Nationals are

0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.600
<v Speaker 3>concerned that this is the beginning of a slow moving

0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:36.880
<v Speaker 3>train wreck for the Nationals.

0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.040
<v Speaker 1>Not that slow moving, but definitely a wreck.

0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.040
<v Speaker 3>Definitely a wreck, and I think it's going to take

0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.280
<v Speaker 3>a bit of time for this to sink in, but

0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:48.640
<v Speaker 3>I wouldn't be surprised if in a year's time the

0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:52.079
<v Speaker 3>Nationals come back with their tails between their legs begging

0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.120
<v Speaker 3>for a coalition agreement.

0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.000
<v Speaker 1>After the break, What will it take for the Nationals

0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:05.559
<v Speaker 1>to come crawling back, Jason, I want to ask what

0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:10.320
<v Speaker 1>the split means now in practical terms for this next

0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.600
<v Speaker 1>parliament and what's coming up. What does it mean for

0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:15.880
<v Speaker 1>how things are going to function in the months ahead.

0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:21.319
<v Speaker 3>Well, the official opposition, which is recognized by the Parliament

0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.120
<v Speaker 3>will be the Liberal Party because they have the largest

0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.000
<v Speaker 3>grouping on the opposition benches, so they will be the

0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.319
<v Speaker 3>official opposition. That means Susan Lee gets to hand out

0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.400
<v Speaker 3>all of the shadow Cabinet and the shadow ministry positions.

0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.720
<v Speaker 3>Those positions come with extra salary and staff and other resources,

0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:44.760
<v Speaker 3>so it's a big bonus for the fifty three members

0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.520
<v Speaker 3>of Parliament who are in the Liberal Party. The Nationals

0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.280
<v Speaker 3>miss out on all of those things. It also means

0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.560
<v Speaker 3>that the opposition will get more of the questions that

0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.120
<v Speaker 3>are asked in question time. So I think in question

0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:00.520
<v Speaker 3>time there's about twenty questions are asked of the executive

0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:02.719
<v Speaker 3>and ten of those go to the government. The other

0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:06.080
<v Speaker 3>ten will be divided between the Liberals, the Nationals and

0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.720
<v Speaker 3>the cross Bench, and I think it's clear that the

0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.360
<v Speaker 3>Liberals will get the majority of those questions.

0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.920
<v Speaker 1>You made it pretty clear, Jason that the coalition can't

0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.560
<v Speaker 1>really win an election without each other. What's the logic

0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.160
<v Speaker 1>from David Littlebrowd here? What's the end game of a

0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:24.520
<v Speaker 1>move like this?

0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:29.160
<v Speaker 3>Well, I can certainly see the advantages for the Liberal

0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.960
<v Speaker 3>Party because the Liberals can really rebrand themselves and make

0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.440
<v Speaker 3>a pitch to the big cities that they can be

0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.840
<v Speaker 3>a party of the future. Susan Lee has been talking

0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.120
<v Speaker 3>about meeting voters where they are, and I think the

0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.400
<v Speaker 3>Liberals can do that a lot more easily without the

0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:50.720
<v Speaker 3>Nationals holding them back on key issues like climate change,

0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:54.160
<v Speaker 3>which the Nationals are so reluctant to sign up to

0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:59.160
<v Speaker 3>any policies which would look to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas

0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.360
<v Speaker 3>emissions a nuclear power. So I can understand I can

0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.960
<v Speaker 3>see advantages in this for the Liberals, but I can't

0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:10.560
<v Speaker 3>see any advantages for the Nationals. They're already a rump party.

0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.680
<v Speaker 3>Not only do they miss out on being part of

0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.120
<v Speaker 3>the shadow cabinet and the extra resources that come with that.

0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:21.560
<v Speaker 3>They also face the possibility, the strong possibility that the

0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:26.439
<v Speaker 3>Liberals will run candidates against sitting Nationals MPs at the

0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:30.480
<v Speaker 3>next election. So instead of going forwards at the next election,

0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:34.200
<v Speaker 3>the Nationals face the very real prospect of going backwards.

0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.560
<v Speaker 3>Susan Lee, we should remember, is a member of Parliament

0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:43.280
<v Speaker 3>who represents the electorate of Parah. This covers a huge

0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:47.079
<v Speaker 3>swathe of rural and regional New South Wales, southern New

0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.360
<v Speaker 3>South Wales. When she came into parliament in two thousand

0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.400
<v Speaker 3>and one, it was after Tim Fisher, the National's leader,

0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:58.000
<v Speaker 3>had retired from politics. She won that seat against a

0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:02.960
<v Speaker 3>National's candidate. I know how satisfied Susan Lee was with

0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:05.640
<v Speaker 3>that result, and I think one thing that Susan Lee

0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.360
<v Speaker 3>has always wanted to do is take more seats off

0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.320
<v Speaker 3>the Nationals, and now she's got a huge chance to

0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.920
<v Speaker 3>do that. So I think this is a disaster for

0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.880
<v Speaker 3>the Nationals. I cannot understand why David Little Proud has

0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.160
<v Speaker 3>chosen this path. I think he's been talked into it

0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:26.840
<v Speaker 3>by people like the Victorian National Senator Bridget Mackenzie, who's

0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:31.360
<v Speaker 3>always been very suspicious of the Liberals. But I think

0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:35.760
<v Speaker 3>this is going to bite them on the bum pretty

0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:39.240
<v Speaker 3>hard in the months and possibly years ahead.

0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.880
<v Speaker 1>Jason, if you could put on your jaunty couple's counselor

0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.240
<v Speaker 1>hat for a moment and offer a little bit of

0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.319
<v Speaker 1>sage council here, what do you think the pathway back

0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.600
<v Speaker 1>would look like one needs to change for a conscious

0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.200
<v Speaker 1>recoupling between the Liberals and the Nationals.

0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:59.120
<v Speaker 3>Well, I think the biggest issue is net zero, and

0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.839
<v Speaker 3>I think the Nationals really have to have a long

0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:07.720
<v Speaker 3>think about how they will try to lower greenhouse gas

0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:12.640
<v Speaker 3>emissions as we approach twenty fifty. I think the Liberals

0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.200
<v Speaker 3>very much want to stick with net zero and show

0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:21.280
<v Speaker 3>voters in electorates like Wentworth, Couyong and Bradfield that they

0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.560
<v Speaker 3>are serious about climate change. These are seats that no

0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.840
<v Speaker 3>longer belong to the Liberal Party. They're narrow all held

0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.040
<v Speaker 3>by Teals and a key issue for voters in those

0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:33.640
<v Speaker 3>seats has been climate change. So I think the Liberals

0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.760
<v Speaker 3>really have to show voters they're serious about it and

0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.520
<v Speaker 3>they just cannot have the Nationals holding them back any longer.

0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.480
<v Speaker 3>And I think the other thing that the Nationals should

0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.960
<v Speaker 3>consider is the advice that the former Prime Minister John

0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:52.640
<v Speaker 3>Howard has been handing out, which is to start talking

0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:56.640
<v Speaker 3>as soon as possible about getting this coalition agreement back together,

0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.680
<v Speaker 3>because the sooner they get talking and get this coalition

0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.320
<v Speaker 3>agree but back on track now, the sooner they can

0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.720
<v Speaker 3>realistically start planning to form government again.

0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:09.160
<v Speaker 1>Jason, thanks for joining.

0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.040
<v Speaker 3>Me, Michael, absolute pleasure, great to chat with you.

0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:28.440
<v Speaker 1>Also in the news today, the British government has suspended

0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.000
<v Speaker 1>free trade talks with Israel and impose new sanctions on

0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.200
<v Speaker 1>West Bank settlers in response to Israel's latest military offensive

0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:40.280
<v Speaker 1>in Gaza. The move follows mounting international pressure over a

0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.360
<v Speaker 1>blockade that has pushed Gaza to the brink of famine,

0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:47.040
<v Speaker 1>with Australia joining twenty two other nations in condemning Israel

0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.400
<v Speaker 1>over the decision to allow limited aid into the Strip,

0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.720
<v Speaker 1>and the Reserve Bank has modeled the impact of a

0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.320
<v Speaker 1>trade war on Australia, saying unemployment could reach six percent

0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.160
<v Speaker 1>should the Union United States is so called Liberation Day

0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:07.560
<v Speaker 1>tariffs be reintroduced and countries retaliate. In a statement following

0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.120
<v Speaker 1>Tuesday's decision to cut the official cash rate by a

0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.480
<v Speaker 1>quarter of a percent, the RBA said there is still

0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:17.920
<v Speaker 1>considerable uncertainty about the final scope of the tariffs. A

0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.480
<v Speaker 1>Michael Williams seven AM will be back tomorrow