Speaker 1: Lads, Johnny, thank you very much, thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Well tonight it's not the night that we wanted for
Speaker 1: the Liberal Party, or for our coalition, or indeed for
Speaker 1: our country.
Speaker 2: As I saw Dutton on Saturday night giving his concession speech,
Speaker 2: I saw a gentleman.
Speaker 3: I saw grace.
Speaker 1: Earlier on I called the Prime Minister to congratulate him
Speaker 1: on his success tonight. It's an historic occasion for the
Speaker 1: Labor Party and we recognize that.
Speaker 2: And he took complete responsibility for the loss.
Speaker 1: Now, we didn't do well enough during this campaign. That
Speaker 1: much is obvious tonight, and I accept for responsibility for.
Speaker 2: That which someone in the Liberal Party described to me
Speaker 2: as a demolition to the party. I mean, what humiliation
Speaker 2: for Dutton twenty four years in Parliament and there he
Speaker 2: is the first opposition leader to lose his seat.
Speaker 4: From Schwartz Media, I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am.
Speaker 4: The Liberal Party's sole searching has begun as it looks
Speaker 4: to select a new leader and consider its future direction.
Speaker 4: But as some in the Liberal Party call for a
Speaker 4: return to its traditional values, the question of where to
Speaker 4: now is complicated firstly by Peter Dutton having led the
Speaker 4: party further to the right and then the election itself
Speaker 4: having wiped out so much of the party's moderate wing. Today,
Speaker 4: chief political correspondent for the Saturday paper Karen Bullow on
Speaker 4: what's next for the Liberal Party. It's Tuesday, May six,
Speaker 4: So Karen, I thought we could begin by talking about
Speaker 4: Peter Dutton's speech on election night. He took to the
Speaker 4: stage after it was clear that the Liberal Party had
Speaker 4: been decimated and he had lost his own seat. One
Speaker 4: of the other things that Dutton said was that the
Speaker 4: Liberal Party will rebuild. Obviously, that is a very big
Speaker 4: task after a political wipeout like this. So tell me
Speaker 4: a bit about the questions that the party is going
Speaker 4: to be asking itself as they try and work out
Speaker 4: the way forward.
Speaker 2: You're right, it's going to be a big job, and
Speaker 2: it was a big job after the twenty two loss.
Speaker 2: You know, we saw an election review then by Jane
Speaker 2: Hume and Brian Locknane, major recommendations at that time which
Speaker 2: have largely been ignored, especially to do with women. Labor
Speaker 2: does have a super majority now of eighty seven, but
Speaker 2: the coalition have to build on what we see at
Speaker 2: the moment of like thirty eight thirty nine. But they
Speaker 2: have to sort out the leadership first, that's a big question,
Speaker 2: how are they going to go forward? And then they'll
Speaker 2: do another review about what went wrong. Hopefully they'll listen
Speaker 2: this time. In the meantime, what we're left with is
Speaker 2: anger and frustration. So many different arguments about what went wrong.
Speaker 2: But one Liberal MP told me on background that it
Speaker 2: was choosing to run without proper policy development and that
Speaker 2: was reflecting arrogance, shows that they weren't really listening to
Speaker 2: backbenches and highlights that you shouldn't let Peter Kredlin, the
Speaker 2: former chief of staff to Tony Abbott run your campaign.
Speaker 2: So that was this criticism about Coalition members pretty much
Speaker 2: only talking to the sky after dark crowd, which is
Speaker 2: pretty much an echo chamber.
Speaker 3: And I argue that we need a national Register of
Speaker 3: child sex offenders.
Speaker 5: If you were PM, would you bring that in?
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, very much soon. I think it's important. We
Speaker 1: tried to push it when we're in government. The States
Speaker 1: largely weren't interested.
Speaker 2: And not listening to the wider community and their concerns,
Speaker 2: particularly in a cost of living election, and where were
Speaker 2: these policies?
Speaker 4: Okay, And so obviously there's a lot going on behind
Speaker 4: the scenes, lots of phone calls, people doing the numbers.
Speaker 4: How long could all of this take before we have
Speaker 4: an opposition leader.
Speaker 2: Well, the first thing that the party has to do
Speaker 2: is wait. They have to wait, unfortunately, until all the
Speaker 2: seats counted and all have been declared, and that will
Speaker 2: take some days. And then all these calls are being
Speaker 2: made behind the scenes to get support. The MPs have
Speaker 2: to come together in Cambria as a party room to
Speaker 2: decide who is going to be put forward and who's
Speaker 2: going to be chosen as the next leader and deputy
Speaker 2: leader and also I would say for the position of
Speaker 2: Manager of Opposition Business. So we need a leadership team
Speaker 2: for the Liberal Party. But in the meantime, the deputy
Speaker 2: Opposition leader is the acting leader of the Liberal Party.
Speaker 4: Is there any word yet on who the front runner is?
Speaker 2: I think Angus Taylor has been talked of for a
Speaker 2: long time. He's certainly very ambitious and he is in
Speaker 2: a very prominent portfolio of shadow treasurer. But he has
Speaker 2: a lot of baggage as well.
Speaker 6: Let's start with surprise from the budget, the tax cuts,
Speaker 6: all the coalition suport.
Speaker 7: Well, can I say this is a budget for the
Speaker 7: next five weeks, not for the next five years and beyond.
Speaker 7: And what was offered was a bribe, an election bribe
Speaker 7: of seventy cents a day starting in a year's time.
Speaker 7: And frankly, this is not even going to touch the
Speaker 7: sides of the economic pain that Australian households have felt
Speaker 7: over the last two and a half years since labor's
Speaker 7: been empowered.
Speaker 2: We've also got Dan Tiern, who also did well up
Speaker 2: against Alex Dyson, the Independent candidate in Wannen to retain
Speaker 2: his seat. And we've got Susan Lee who's the deputy
Speaker 2: Opposition leader currently acting Liberal leader. She's holding the ford
Speaker 2: at the moment until they sort it out.
Speaker 5: We need more homes. State governments have failed us. Let's
Speaker 5: be honest. We're stepping right up here and we're saying
Speaker 5: we will provide the impetus to actually build these homes
Speaker 5: at local government level, and local governments around the country
Speaker 5: have got projects waiting to go. They talked to me
Speaker 5: about them all the time.
Speaker 2: They're the three people being spoken of at the moment,
Speaker 2: but no clear number one. There's also a chance for
Speaker 2: the Defense spokesperson, Andrew Hasty. He's widely seen as a
Speaker 2: potential future Liberal leader, but perhaps now is not his time.
Speaker 2: I would have to say though, that being opposition leader
Speaker 2: after such a trouncing is a poison chalice and would
Speaker 2: be very difficult for someone to carry through to the
Speaker 2: next selection. So there is a certain thought that perhaps
Speaker 2: they might give the job to the woman and Susan
Speaker 2: Lee might have to step into that role, which is
Speaker 2: quite difficult to carry through to the next selection. And
Speaker 2: hopefully we'll sort it out pretty soon because Parliament will
Speaker 2: resume as soon as the Prime Minister sorts his site
Speaker 2: out as well.
Speaker 4: And you mentioned that Angus Taylor carries a lot of
Speaker 4: baggage As the Shadow Treasurer, he probably had the highest
Speaker 4: profile during the election campaign other than Peter Dutton. So
Speaker 4: does the fact that the coalition's message on cost of
Speaker 4: living failed to cut through? Does that failure lie with
Speaker 4: Angus Taylor? And will that hinder his chances to become
Speaker 4: the leader?
Speaker 2: That is a live potential. I have to say. Some
Speaker 2: of the Coalition members that are coming out at the moment,
Speaker 2: the likes of Andrew Bragg comes to mind. He's a moderate,
Speaker 2: he has been pointing out the economic message failure during
Speaker 2: the campaign.
Speaker 6: We didn't do enough on the economy, and I don't
Speaker 6: think we did enough to capture the center of the
Speaker 6: Australian public support, and I think ultimately that's where the
Speaker 6: campaign went wrong.
Speaker 2: You would have to then take the next step forward
Speaker 2: in your mind and go, well, who's responsible for that. Well,
Speaker 2: Angus Taylor and Jane Hume came up with a number
Speaker 2: of those policies and they didn't really cut through. So
Speaker 2: now that is being pointed out by people such as
Speaker 2: Andrew Bragg, but also Holly Hughes, no friend of Angus Taylor,
Speaker 2: They've got some history. She's also pointing out the failings
Speaker 2: of Angus Taylor. So that's very much out in the
Speaker 2: media at the moment.
Speaker 8: I'm on the record publicly, so I'm not worried about
Speaker 8: saying this. I've said it before.
Speaker 3: I have.
Speaker 8: Concerns about his capability. I feel that we have zero
Speaker 8: economic policy to sell. I don't know what he's been
Speaker 8: doing for three years.
Speaker 4: And Karen under Peter Dutton, the Liberal Party has been
Speaker 4: more to the right. There's been this focus of immigration.
Speaker 4: There was of course the opposition to the Voice to Parliament,
Speaker 4: and then more recently he waded into the quote unquote
Speaker 4: culture wars, talking about Australian flags on Australia Day and
Speaker 4: welcome to country. So do you think that the Coalition
Speaker 4: is going to start to walk away from those sorts
Speaker 4: of topics, those sorts of talking points now that Dunton
Speaker 4: is out.
Speaker 2: That's very much your wait and see. They're certainly being
Speaker 2: advised to stop doing that and they should focus more
Speaker 2: on the economic message rather than matters of culture.
Speaker 9: We saw you wearing a make Australia Great Again hat
Speaker 9: at a time when Donald Trump poison to the world.
Speaker 2: We are seing the likes of the firebrand senator in
Speaker 2: an aperture Price come out and say in a statement
Speaker 2: that the Coalition should have in fact stood taller on
Speaker 2: some of these issues and shouldn't go backwards and go
Speaker 2: more to the center.
Speaker 9: Will you give a speech in which you used a
Speaker 9: Donald Trump statement to make Australia great again? So can
Speaker 9: I come back to the question are you partly responsible?
Speaker 9: Can I the Liberal Party? Let me come back to
Speaker 9: Peter Dutton's loss of his seat.
Speaker 10: Let me come back to the question. That's a whole
Speaker 10: lot of muddet just slung right there. Can I just say,
Speaker 10: in terms of wanting this country to be great. Donald
Speaker 10: Trump doesn't own those four words, right.
Speaker 2: But on the other side, the numbers of the moderates
Speaker 2: are even smaller now than they were in the last election,
Speaker 2: and they were being gutted then and certainly they're very
Speaker 2: small in number now. And so while the moderates that
Speaker 2: are left are calling for the coalition to go back
Speaker 2: to the center, and that's where the the main votes are,
Speaker 2: the main election fights usually are, they are still being
Speaker 2: dragged further to the right.
Speaker 4: After the break the infighting in Labor over its new
Speaker 4: front manche.
Speaker 3: Hi. I'm Daniel James. Seven am tells stories that need
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Speaker 3: the election, will bring you an extra episode to break
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Speaker 4: Karen Anthony Albanezi is set to renew his ministry as well.
Speaker 4: Before the election, he said that he would keep his
Speaker 4: core leadership team in play, but he wouldn't be drawn
Speaker 4: on what that would mean for other cabinet ministers, so
Speaker 4: people like Catania Plibasac for example. So let's talk a
Speaker 4: bit about their relationship and what is the heart of
Speaker 4: the tension.
Speaker 2: Well, basically, while they were friends back in the early days,
Speaker 2: for them within the Labor Party, it does come down
Speaker 2: to who backed who when Albanzi was running for the
Speaker 2: leadership and who backed Bill Shorten. Tania Plibersek backed Bill Shorten,
Speaker 2: and so therefore there is this view on Albanzi's side
Speaker 2: of the betrayal, and this has played out ever since
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty two election win. When Albanesi was giving
Speaker 2: out the portfolios, despite a great standing within the party,
Speaker 2: she was actually you know, tipped by Julia Gillard as
Speaker 2: a future Labor prime minister. He gave Plebisek the environment portfolio,
Speaker 2: very difficult for a Labor minister to champion because you
Speaker 2: have to do tough things like approve coal mines and
Speaker 2: our mental reform has been a tough gig and for
Speaker 2: whoever does get the environment portfolio going forward, it still
Speaker 2: will be a tough gig. You know, the Prime minister
Speaker 2: has had this huge election win. He has the power
Speaker 2: to do pretty much whatever he wants with whoever gets
Speaker 2: whatever portfolio. But at the same time, you know, he
Speaker 2: says he has to sort of respect the caucus, respect factions.
Speaker 2: He's an institutionalist, he loves the Labor Party and it's
Speaker 2: for him to sort out amongst the factions the left
Speaker 2: and right, and for the.
Speaker 11: States, Richard Males in defense, Penny Wong in foreign affairs,
Speaker 11: Jim Chalmers in Treasury, Don Farrell in Trade, and Katie
Speaker 11: Gallaher in finance bring a stability to the show that
Speaker 11: is really important.
Speaker 2: During the campaign he did say that the main leadership
Speaker 2: group with the likes of Jim Chalmers's treasurer, the Deputy
Speaker 2: Prime Minister's Defense Minister, Katie Gallaher as Finance Minister, those
Speaker 2: sort of leadership group members will stay the same. But
Speaker 2: it did appear that everything else was up for grabs.
Speaker 2: So would you have a wider cabinet reshuffle but leave
Speaker 2: those leaders in place that you named.
Speaker 11: We're not getting ahead of ourselves in terms of the
Speaker 11: broader issues and the caucus makeup. Of course, the caucus
Speaker 11: elect the front bench, but quite clearly the leader's team
Speaker 11: and the economic team are important we will have.
Speaker 2: This is what's being sorted out now. It's going to
Speaker 2: be fascinating to see who gets what. But he did
Speaker 2: say that Plebisik would stay as a cabinet minister.
Speaker 4: And Anthony Albanezi always said that he wanted to be
Speaker 4: a two term prime minister, that he was thinking about
Speaker 4: the next election when he won the first one, and
Speaker 4: I think because of that, his first term was quite measured.
Speaker 4: He didn't want to go beyond his first term mandate.
Speaker 4: But I think the question now that a lot of
Speaker 4: people have is that with this huge victory, is there
Speaker 4: a case for a more bold Alberisi government. Do you
Speaker 4: think we will see that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, ambition was certainly put to the Prime Minister by
Speaker 2: journalists during the camp and it was something that he
Speaker 2: addressed at the first Prime minister or press conference back
Speaker 2: at Parliament House when he got back to work.
Speaker 12: We're not getting carried away. We're in an orderly government.
Speaker 12: We're being a reform government. The thing that I reject
Speaker 12: is the idea that we haven't been ambitious. Look at
Speaker 12: our agenda on the clean energy economy, on childcare, on
Speaker 12: gender equality, on education, where we went beyond where we
Speaker 12: said we would.
Speaker 6: I didn't problem.
Speaker 2: He does have space, though I would say to be
Speaker 2: more ambitious. What he has now is a large mandate
Speaker 2: from the voters, being that he has a seat buffer
Speaker 2: so large, and a lot more possibility of getting items
Speaker 2: through the Senate, even though he has to depend on
Speaker 2: the Greens. But I do know, you know, when you
Speaker 2: talk about the two term strategy, he's a prime minister
Speaker 2: who's now confidently looking at the possibility of a third term.
Speaker 2: He's also I would have to say, he really talked
Speaker 2: about big reforms of past labor governments, and you know
Speaker 2: that we're talking there about medicare and superannuation, and he's
Speaker 2: been talking up himself about the move towards universal Chelsea's
Speaker 2: something he's going to set in and have a legacy item.
Speaker 2: But certainly this is a prime minister who has confidence,
Speaker 2: he has swagger, and he'll probably need to check himself
Speaker 2: throughout his term to not get ahead of himself like
Speaker 2: he promised he wouldn't.
Speaker 4: Well, Karen, thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much.
Speaker 4: Also in the news today, US President Donald Trump has
Speaker 4: praised Anthony Alberzi on his election victory, telling reporters in
Speaker 4: the US the pair are very friendly, while proclaiming to
Speaker 4: have quote no idea who the other person is that
Speaker 4: run against him. The statement comes as Alberanzi confirmed in
Speaker 4: his first Prime ministerial press conference that he had a
Speaker 4: warm conversation with Trump and promise the two leaders would
Speaker 4: meet soon, and in the same Prime ministerial press conference,
Speaker 4: Albanesi confirmed his number one priority for the new government
Speaker 4: is reducing student debt. The government promised to cut student
Speaker 4: debt by twenty percent if re elected, amounting to about
Speaker 4: sixteen billion dollars of debt forgiveness applied to Hex's help debt,
Speaker 4: as well as vocational education and apprenticeship support loans. Albanzi
Speaker 4: said he expects the legislation to pass before the start
Speaker 4: of the next financial year. I'm Ruby Jones. This is
Speaker 4: seven am. See you tomorrow.