Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2: I'd be Anthony Albanesi's Labor government has had a well
Speaker 2: a landslide victory of a night making, marking the first
Speaker 2: re election in Australia since two thousand and four. They
Speaker 2: like to change the governments over in IZI don't they anyway?
Speaker 2: I sent a mixt of reactions, with some analysts even
Speaker 2: saying Albanesi has Donald Trump to think for as one
Speaker 2: and the ABC reporter Sam Emory is with us now,
Speaker 2: Sam Good afternoon.
Speaker 3: Tim goodat how are you going?
Speaker 1: Good?
Speaker 2: Good? No surprise really was it?
Speaker 3: Oh, probably a little bit of a surprise in terms
Speaker 3: of the size of the landslide. Not necessarily a surprise that,
Speaker 3: you know, Anthony Alberanzi and the Labor Party were able
Speaker 3: to hold on. But there's always that sort of threat,
Speaker 3: isn't it. I mean, there was certainly a sort of
Speaker 3: calm around Australia, in particular Sydney where I'm based at
Speaker 3: the moment, and there's almost sort of this sense of
Speaker 3: I told you so from the voters, meaning that swinging
Speaker 3: voters and you know, the rusted on Liberal and National
Speaker 3: voters who were threatening to walk away if they were ignored,
Speaker 3: and I think that's how they felt this time around.
Speaker 3: I was listening to some talkback callers this morning on
Speaker 3: ABC Radio. There was one who was even I think
Speaker 3: in his eighties. He said he was a former friend
Speaker 3: of the former Prime Minister John Howard, and he voted
Speaker 3: labor for the first time. I think he said his
Speaker 3: whole family, who were generational liberal voters, had jumped over
Speaker 3: to the other side of politics. And it's a fascinating
Speaker 3: time right now. You know, we seem to be I
Speaker 3: think in the last election, we were certainly leaning more
Speaker 3: towards these sort of more extreme policies and even these
Speaker 3: smaller parties, and we saw the rise of the independence
Speaker 3: as well, taking scalps of you know, the likes of
Speaker 3: Tony Abbott, you know, and Freedenberg, you know, in the
Speaker 3: last election. And I think now we've sort of we
Speaker 3: seem to be moving more towards the middle. I think
Speaker 3: we want a bit of calm. I think we want
Speaker 3: a bit of that safety around us. And you know,
Speaker 3: whether that that sort of global political atmosphere has had
Speaker 3: that impact on us here locally, I think we're just
Speaker 3: sort of we just as you said, we certainly don't
Speaker 3: mind changing prime minister, as we had six in three
Speaker 3: elections most recently. And I think we're over that, you know,
Speaker 3: I think we quite like a steady hand. And you know,
Speaker 3: full credit to Anthony Albernezi who was able to sell
Speaker 3: that well.
Speaker 2: As you're saying that, I was thinking, does this mean
Speaker 2: that in a way labor will be thinking already this
Speaker 2: is an opportunity for us to try and bring in
Speaker 2: an error of stability. I mean they're going to be looking.
Speaker 2: I almost wonder if they're already looking and thinking, well,
Speaker 2: this is great, We've got our second term. But this
Speaker 2: is a real opportunity to bring in some stability and
Speaker 2: consistency with the government.
Speaker 3: Most definitely, I think there has been this push, even
Speaker 3: with the Treasurer last night, Jim Chalmers sort of saying,
Speaker 3: you know, we just want to stay calm, We don't
Speaker 3: want to get over excited here. I mean, they must
Speaker 3: have been sort of really dealing with butterflies in their
Speaker 3: stomach as they saw that majority getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker 3: And you know, albou came out last night to a
Speaker 3: full RSL, you know, cheering his name, and said the
Speaker 3: Ale people will take up the task with new hope,
Speaker 3: new confidence, and new determination. So I think, I mean,
Speaker 3: it's got to be hard. When you've got that majority.
Speaker 3: You sort of want to try and bring in some
Speaker 3: real change too, don't you. At that time where you
Speaker 3: know that they've got a chance to actually maybe make
Speaker 3: some impacts on tax I think is one area people
Speaker 3: would really love to see and just make that commitment
Speaker 3: to this renewable resources. You know. I think the liberals
Speaker 3: thought that the nuclear opposition, you know, that policy was
Speaker 3: going to win them some votes, but they just hadn't
Speaker 3: done the research. They didn't have the numbers, they didn't
Speaker 3: have the figures to sell to the voters here that
Speaker 3: it was a better option. I think we're too far
Speaker 3: down the renewable path to suddenly just say, well, let's
Speaker 3: change to a completely different way of doing it. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I think steady is definitely what the voters want, but
Speaker 3: I think, you know, some proper change, and I don't
Speaker 3: think we would stay, you walk away from them. If
Speaker 3: they were sticking to the core values. I think we
Speaker 3: would probably respect that.
Speaker 2: I noticed in Alberaneze's spectory speech at the start, he
Speaker 2: acknowledged the traditional owners of the land to great applause.
Speaker 2: But does he sticking the knife into Dutton on that one?
Speaker 3: I think it was probably a little bit of a jab,
Speaker 3: most definitely. I mean, probably a little bit of saving
Speaker 3: phase too, you know he I think they thought the
Speaker 3: yes vote was a shoe in and perhaps that was
Speaker 3: also a big wake up call for the Labor Party.
Speaker 3: You know, they really ran an on the ground campaign
Speaker 3: this time around. They were you know, knocking on doors,
Speaker 3: You saw them around the place, you know, much more
Speaker 3: than any other election that I can remember, having covered
Speaker 3: the level six. So I think it was definitely a
Speaker 3: little bit of a jab to the coalition. And you
Speaker 3: know that I know that the welcome to countries and
Speaker 3: those sorts of things have been a point of discussion
Speaker 3: and sort of you know, the Conservative seem to have
Speaker 3: it a real issue for them. But you know, it
Speaker 3: doesn't like a little jab in political.
Speaker 2: Rather, is it a case of Alban easy connecting or
Speaker 2: Dunton disconnecting failing to connectold, I say, And let's tie
Speaker 2: in that the whole Trump factor, because it was a
Speaker 2: certainly a factor in Canada, was it in Australia.
Speaker 3: Well it was discussed last night, that's for sure, across
Speaker 3: multiple panels, and you know, I think I think the
Speaker 3: Liberals have certainly disconnected and in a way that not
Speaker 3: only have they disconnected, but it's they've sort of lost
Speaker 3: any hope of reconnecting to these people, you know, to
Speaker 3: these hardcore Liberals and to the swinging voters, because as
Speaker 3: I mentioned just before, we want steadiness. We don't want
Speaker 3: this hardcore sort of trump Ism if we if that's
Speaker 3: going to be a term that we use from now on.
Speaker 3: You know, the Liberal Senator James McGrath, who was on
Speaker 3: the ABC panel last night, he said their party must
Speaker 3: resist that path and focus on the middle Australia. You
Speaker 3: know that the coalition. He said that they're a free
Speaker 3: trade party. You know, they're pro Ukraine, you know, and
Speaker 3: they should continue to be center right, and it was
Speaker 3: clear in the campaign that they had not figured that out.
Speaker 3: Dutton was backflipping, you know, he said they're going to
Speaker 3: sack forty thousand people in Canberra and then all of
Speaker 3: a sudden he said, oh, I didn't mean quite that many,
Speaker 3: and it was phenomenal. I've never seen a leader like that.
Speaker 3: Seems so lost in a campaign.
Speaker 2: What do you think the key issues from labor. Were
Speaker 2: that really resonated with voters or is it just the
Speaker 2: case of Dutton, you know, missing his opportunity.
Speaker 3: Dutton missing his opportunity was the key factor. And this
Speaker 3: rise of the independence, this rise of the so called teals,
Speaker 3: who I think we're just able to really campaign on
Speaker 3: that local level, and that meant that obviously the Independents
Speaker 3: were then, you know, favoring labor with their choices as well,
Speaker 3: but there's no way that the Liberals were ever going
Speaker 3: to have a chance. Some people are blaming the Nationals
Speaker 3: because they they're the sort of more conservative side in
Speaker 3: the regional and rural areas, and we've certainly seen a
Speaker 3: lot of those people lose their seats, but it's certainly
Speaker 3: the Liberals who have lost more seats than anyone else.
Speaker 2: Well, dun has seat. That's massive. I mean, that's a
Speaker 2: real kick in the pants, isn't it. How is there
Speaker 2: any other interpretation on that result and what does it
Speaker 2: say about where the electorates at.
Speaker 3: It's always been a tight race for Dun't I think
Speaker 3: there's always only a few hundred seats in it, but
Speaker 3: he had always managed to hold on to it in
Speaker 3: a state that is typically more conservative. The fact that
Speaker 3: the Liberals have lost now two or three seats I
Speaker 3: think that were safe seats, is indicative of the fact
Speaker 3: that I think, as you mentioned, it's the steady hand
Speaker 3: that people are looking for, and they just didn't see
Speaker 3: it in the coalition.
Speaker 2: I don't think it doesn't really mean too much for
Speaker 2: New Zealand, does it, because we already have a relationship
Speaker 2: with the Albanesi government. So it's sort of as you wear,
Speaker 2: isn't it.
Speaker 3: I think so. I mean, it always seems to be
Speaker 3: that way. It's one thing that has always managed to
Speaker 3: stay in a respectful manner and in a cooperative manner.
Speaker 3: You know. It would be interesting to see if we
Speaker 3: can get some more things happening. I know there was
Speaker 3: a bit of jousting happening going on with the immigration
Speaker 3: plan when Labor first got in twenty twenty two, with
Speaker 3: Australia sort of sending a few criminals and all that
Speaker 3: sort of thing back. But that all seems to sort
Speaker 3: of leveled out and I think New Zealand and Australia
Speaker 3: can continue to have a great relationship.
Speaker 2: Just one last question the Liberals now, I mean, every
Speaker 2: government needs a decent opposition is this government of Albanese
Speaker 2: is going to have an effective opposition which will hold
Speaker 2: them to account or is it sort of are their
Speaker 2: concerns around that the Liberals being you know, a bit
Speaker 2: of a thrashing.
Speaker 3: Yes, thirty one seats, I think they're saying at the
Speaker 3: moment they're wor showing. Ever again, I think Australians seem
Speaker 3: to have been leaning into this independence and the Independence
Speaker 3: are being seen as the ones who are able to
Speaker 3: hold both parties to account. And the fact that now
Speaker 3: that we're looking at I think it's ten or fifteen seats,
Speaker 3: so I don't have it exactly in front of me,
Speaker 3: but that seems to be the way that Australia has
Speaker 3: been voting, you know, by getting these smaller parties in
Speaker 3: or getting the independence in and then, as I said,
Speaker 3: because they're able to really represent the electorate from a
Speaker 3: local point of view rather than having to sort of
Speaker 3: change their views on whatever way the party wants them
Speaker 3: to vote. And that has been the change in Australian
Speaker 3: politics now for the last three elections. And I think
Speaker 3: that's the way the Australians seems to like being able
Speaker 3: to keep these major parties. But it's going to be
Speaker 3: an interesting discussion, is it. When you've got one major
Speaker 3: party that's becoming more and more of a minor party,
Speaker 3: you know what's going to feel that void.
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