WEBVTT - The man behind the Nationals’ leadership spill

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<v Speaker 1>Now, I'm sure you can understand Colin that from the

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<v Speaker 1>outside this looks all very messy. First the split, now

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<v Speaker 1>the spill. Is you calling this spill helpful? Just adding

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<v Speaker 1>to the drama?

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<v Speaker 2>Oh? Look, I understand this. And for the people watching

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<v Speaker 2>the listeners, politics is a brutal game.

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<v Speaker 1>The voice you're hearing is that of Colin Boyce, a

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<v Speaker 1>Nationals MP from central Queensland. He represents a huge swathe

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<v Speaker 1>of land, stretching from Bunderberg to Rockhampton, and as he's

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<v Speaker 1>traveled around his electorate he's been confronted by the looming

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<v Speaker 1>threat of one nation.

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<v Speaker 2>There are many people who are absolutely fed up with politics,

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<v Speaker 2>all flavors of it. They all want their Australia back.

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<v Speaker 1>Colin is so dismayed about the split of the Coalition

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<v Speaker 1>he's challenging David Little Proud for the leadership of the

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<v Speaker 1>Nationals on Monday.

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<v Speaker 2>All I can say to you is that this is

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<v Speaker 2>the last disch effort for me to save the National

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<v Speaker 2>Party from its own self destruct.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Daniel James and you're listening to seven AM today.

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<v Speaker 1>Colin Boyce. Why he's challenging his own leader. The inside

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<v Speaker 1>story of the National split from the coalition and how

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<v Speaker 1>one nation is reshaping the party's future. It's Friday, January thirty, Colin,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks for joining us. Why have you decided to challenge

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<v Speaker 1>Dave a little proud for the leadership.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, it's long and complicated, but the direction that the

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<v Speaker 2>National Party is headed in now, in my humble opinion,

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<v Speaker 2>is political oblivion. If the National Party continues down the

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<v Speaker 2>course of its standalone entity and under the next federal election,

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<v Speaker 2>we're risk losing our senators in Victoria, New South Wales.

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<v Speaker 2>They simply will not get enough quota to hold their seats.

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<v Speaker 2>That are also opens up the possibility of running three

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<v Speaker 2>cornered elections with one nations the Liberal Party, the National

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<v Speaker 2>Party and so forth. That will split the primary vote

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<v Speaker 2>and arguably some of our members may lose their seats.

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<v Speaker 2>It creates problems around how do you fund a federal

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<v Speaker 2>election cycle as a single entity? Campaign donation fundings and

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<v Speaker 2>all of that changes come in July this year. It's

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<v Speaker 2>highly unlikely that we will attract very much corporate funding

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<v Speaker 2>and as I say, there's a lot of money gets

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<v Speaker 2>spent in election cycles. We will lose our long term

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<v Speaker 2>staff that we've had, particularly those staff attached to shadow

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<v Speaker 2>ministerial portfolios. Those people have been with us for a

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<v Speaker 2>very long time. They have an enormous amount of experience

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<v Speaker 2>in the political arena. We will also lose those travel

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<v Speaker 2>entitlements that are attached to ministerial portfolios and that won't

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<v Speaker 2>allow people to travel to various electorates to campaign during

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<v Speaker 2>the cycle. So it presents a broad range of problems

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<v Speaker 2>for the National Party which will make it very difficult

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<v Speaker 2>to maintain our standing and hold all of our seats.

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<v Speaker 2>So David Little Proud has chosen to take us away

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<v Speaker 2>from the coalition agreement for the second time now. My

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<v Speaker 2>opinion is that needs to be put back together again

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<v Speaker 2>as a matter of haste. David's leadership is now untenable,

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<v Speaker 2>I think in terms of trying to negotiate with the

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<v Speaker 2>Liberal Party, because David, unfortunately has said some things that

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<v Speaker 2>won't be unseid and upset many of them.

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<v Speaker 1>Can we just talk about how we got to this

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<v Speaker 1>place in the first instance, Can you take us back

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<v Speaker 1>to the day which was supposed to be a day

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<v Speaker 1>of mourning for the victims of the Bondai massacre. David

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<v Speaker 1>Little Proud comes out and announces the coalition split.

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<v Speaker 3>Thank you for all coming this morning.

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<v Speaker 1>It's important what was happening behind the scenes. When did

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<v Speaker 1>you first get wind of this?

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<v Speaker 2>I had no idea he was going to do that.

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<v Speaker 2>I think that was a mistake on David's part to

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<v Speaker 2>use that day of national mourning to go into the

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<v Speaker 2>political arena through the media. I remember myself. I had

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<v Speaker 2>an interview from Radio National and I basically told them

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<v Speaker 2>that I didn't want to make any comment in respect

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<v Speaker 2>of politics. It was a day to recognize the tragedy

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<v Speaker 2>of Bondou and it was a time that we all

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<v Speaker 2>needed to reflect as Australians, and that's what should have happened.

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<v Speaker 3>This is not what the National Party want, but I

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<v Speaker 3>cannot stand by and have three courageous senators who put

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<v Speaker 3>their jobs on the line for no reason that has

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<v Speaker 3>any veracity whatsoever, to be disrespected and our party.

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<v Speaker 2>I would have said, look, David, do not go down

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<v Speaker 2>politics today. By all means, get on the national media

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<v Speaker 2>and television and so forth and extend our condolences and

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<v Speaker 2>sympathies and all of that sort of thing, which we

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<v Speaker 2>should have done, which I did. Having said that, David

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<v Speaker 2>chose otherwise.

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<v Speaker 1>You've clearly been unhappy with the way David Little Proud

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<v Speaker 1>has handled the last couple of weeks in particular, But

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<v Speaker 1>how would you rate his leadership since he took over,

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<v Speaker 1>particularly in relation to some of the issues you just raised.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh looked. I think David's done his very best to

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<v Speaker 2>prosecute the arguments when and however he can, and you

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<v Speaker 2>know that's the job of a leader. Having said that,

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<v Speaker 2>he's made some mistakes along the way, and that's understandable.

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<v Speaker 2>Everybody makes mistakes. I think this last few weeks in

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<v Speaker 2>respect to the bill that went to Parliament in the

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<v Speaker 2>emergency session there the handling of that was difficult. I

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<v Speaker 2>understand that, but that's what leaders are for both the

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<v Speaker 2>Liberal leader and the National leader. They were run over

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<v Speaker 2>to come to a compromise. And for me, it's got

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<v Speaker 2>now of a situation where we've walked away from the

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<v Speaker 2>coalition agreement twice. Now, how can you possibly expect the

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<v Speaker 2>Liberal Party to entertain another term of David Little Proud

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<v Speaker 2>leadership if it might happen again.

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<v Speaker 1>You say you won't be ringing around to gain support

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<v Speaker 1>for your challenge. So is this a legitimate challenge because

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<v Speaker 1>your colleagues have reportedly said it's doomed to fail. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>what do you say to that?

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<v Speaker 2>That may be? So, the point of the exercise here

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<v Speaker 2>is to make it loud and clear to my colleagues

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<v Speaker 2>that if they're going to go down the road of

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<v Speaker 2>standing as a separate entity as a National Party, many

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<v Speaker 2>of them will not hold their seats. It's that simple. Now.

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<v Speaker 2>The National Party has been around for one hundred odd years.

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<v Speaker 2>It has served rural and regional Australia very well, and

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<v Speaker 2>I'm just doing everything I can to make them reassess

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<v Speaker 2>this commitment to run alone. I don't want to say

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<v Speaker 2>and pulled down the blinds in the National Party party room.

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<v Speaker 2>That would be an absolute tragedy.

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<v Speaker 1>David llde Pratt has reportedly rejected peace talks with Susan

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<v Speaker 1>Lee until the leadership spill is dowt with Could your

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<v Speaker 1>decision actually have to lay the reunion that you're pushing

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<v Speaker 1>for between the Nationals and the Liberals?

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<v Speaker 2>Ah? Well, my counter to that, why wasn't that done

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<v Speaker 2>way back then? Why wait till now? I mean, that's nonsense.

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<v Speaker 2>You know that they both made it quite clear and

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<v Speaker 2>some of the statements they'd made that it's not happening,

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<v Speaker 2>and so forth. So again, I think everybody is starting

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<v Speaker 2>to come to their senses and understand the ramifications of

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<v Speaker 2>splitting the coalition agreement. This does not work well for

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<v Speaker 2>the Liberal Party either, So we have a symbolotic relationship.

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<v Speaker 2>We need one another. All of these egos and personalities,

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<v Speaker 2>they need to be dealt with and we need to

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<v Speaker 2>re establish this coalition agreement and move on.

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<v Speaker 1>Coming up, as the coalition reached the point of no return, Colin,

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<v Speaker 1>you want the coalition back together, but is there really

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<v Speaker 1>a future for the coalition given how opposite your interests

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<v Speaker 1>are and how divided the two parties seem to be.

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<v Speaker 2>Again, I think this is one of the issues that

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<v Speaker 2>needs to get dealt with, particularly in the Liberal Party,

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<v Speaker 2>and this is why we've seen the rise of the

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<v Speaker 2>One Nation group of people. People are sick to death

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<v Speaker 2>of this work canceled culture that's invaded everything, and every

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<v Speaker 2>decision that gets made it has to be politically correct

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<v Speaker 2>and acceptable to those who continually get offended.

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<v Speaker 1>How much of the chaos that's going on right now,

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<v Speaker 1>how much of that is playing into the hands of

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<v Speaker 1>One Nation and their rise in the polls.

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<v Speaker 2>One nation is rising in the po We've all seen

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<v Speaker 2>the polls. We're well aware of that. The right twink

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<v Speaker 2>is now I e supposed I warned everybody of this

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<v Speaker 2>repeatedly when they refuse to accommodate Barnaby Choyce and he

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<v Speaker 2>eventually resigned. Do you think there are some other Nationals

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<v Speaker 2>close to It's their choice.

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<v Speaker 4>It's a very personal decision and I'm certainly not going

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<v Speaker 4>to start you litigating it in public on their behalf. No,

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<v Speaker 4>it's their choice, and then if they make it, they

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<v Speaker 4>make it. If they don't understand both ways.

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<v Speaker 2>And now we have the rise of one Nation as

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<v Speaker 2>a result.

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<v Speaker 4>Look, it's happening across the world. In fact, Australia's last.

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<v Speaker 4>You've got Farage, You've got La penn in France, You've

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<v Speaker 4>got Milano in Italy. You've got the AfD in Germany,

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<v Speaker 4>which is which are crazy, crazy, dangerous? The Mega movement

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<v Speaker 4>in the United States. We're actually last to this last

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<v Speaker 4>of this form of new global politics.

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<v Speaker 1>There rumors that some of your colleagues might actually defect

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<v Speaker 1>the one nation. Are you among them? No questions and plans.

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<v Speaker 2>I like it.

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<v Speaker 1>One person who's reportedly delighted by the split is former

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<v Speaker 1>Nationals leader Barnaby Droyces. Of course now, as you know

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<v Speaker 1>and everyone else knows, part of one nation. Have you

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<v Speaker 1>been chatting with him Batelely at all?

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<v Speaker 2>I speak to Barnaby on a semi regular basis where

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<v Speaker 2>good friends. You know. It's not a daily basis, but

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<v Speaker 2>we probably speak once a week or something like that.

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<v Speaker 2>I have not discussed any of these issues with Barnaby,

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<v Speaker 2>nor he is with me.

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<v Speaker 1>And finally, Colin, is your side of politics just making

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<v Speaker 1>it too easy for the government right now?

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<v Speaker 2>Most definitely, and you know this has to stop. We

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<v Speaker 2>have to bury the hatchet, so to speak, shell all

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<v Speaker 2>the egos and personalities former coalition, put our best team

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<v Speaker 2>forward and move on. And that's on both sides of

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<v Speaker 2>this argument, both the liberal side and the national side.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, Colin Boyce, good luck on Monday, and thank you

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<v Speaker 1>so much for your time.

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<v Speaker 2>You're welcome.

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<v Speaker 1>Also in the news, WA police has announce still been

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<v Speaker 1>investigating an alleged attack on Monday's Invasion Day rallyan Perth

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<v Speaker 1>as a potential terrorist attack. First Nations leaders have welcomed

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<v Speaker 1>the news. Forensic teams that confirm the device was a

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<v Speaker 1>fragment bomb packed with volatile chemicals designed to explode on impact.

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<v Speaker 1>A thirty one year old man whose identity has been

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<v Speaker 1>suppressed has been charged, and a Chinese investigative team is

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<v Speaker 1>set to visit Australia to help in the search of

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<v Speaker 1>a man accused of randomly attacking a baby with hot

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<v Speaker 1>coffee in twenty twenty four. The man fled to his

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<v Speaker 1>home country after the attack. China's ambassador to Australia says

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<v Speaker 1>they will work with Queensland Police to help track down

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<v Speaker 1>the thirty three year old. I'm Daniel James. You've been

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<v Speaker 1>listening to seven AM. We'll be back tomorrow.