Speaker 1: On Sydney.
Speaker 2: Now you've trance handled the True, the straight shint, Straight Shooters.
Speaker 2: For a Tuesday Afternoon we feature our Holly's Liberal senator
Speaker 2: in New South Wales, outgoing Liberal Senator Holly Hughes.
Speaker 3: Hello, Holy, Hey Clinton, how are you going?
Speaker 2: And the Labour MP for McCrory, Susan Temperman. Hello, Susan, Hello,
Speaker 2: good to see with you. Big political issue of the
Speaker 2: last couple of days has been the defection of Dorinda Cox,
Speaker 2: the Greens Senator, to the Labor Party, and just from
Speaker 2: the outset, and I've said this when Lydia Thorpe, for instance,
Speaker 2: became an independent, when Corey Bernardi left the Liberals, I
Speaker 2: think it is morally wrong and I actually think we
Speaker 2: should change the laws that if somebody is elected in
Speaker 2: the Senate they stay with that party or they resign
Speaker 2: from parliament, because when politicians are elected on the Senate ticket,
Speaker 2: it's usually above the line. People usually vote for the party,
Speaker 2: not the individual. In the main I think it is
Speaker 2: morally wrong that they stay in parliament.
Speaker 3: What do you think, Holly, Oh, I think there's a
Speaker 3: real problem with people getting elected under a particular banner
Speaker 3: and then defecting and I think the hypocrisy has graded
Speaker 3: large from the Labor Party after the behavior that we
Speaker 3: saw from them in the Senate, the treatment of Fadam
Speaker 3: of Payman when she left the party to go sit
Speaker 3: on the cross bench, the moral outrage demonstrated by the
Speaker 3: Labor Party.
Speaker 1: And now you.
Speaker 3: Know, within weeks of an election, within weeks of being
Speaker 3: unsuccessful at attempting to be the deputy leader of the
Speaker 3: Greens during the Cox is welcomed by the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: with open arms. I mean, this is someone who clearly
Speaker 3: doesn't have any true convictions or beliefs. Because it was
Speaker 3: in the lead up to the election that Senator Cox
Speaker 3: was very vocal about the Northwest Shelf and opposing that.
Speaker 3: And you know, at least if you're a backbencher in
Speaker 3: the coalition you actually have the freedom to speak out
Speaker 3: on issues if you disagree. That doesn't exist in later
Speaker 3: Senator Cox is now very supportive of the extension to
Speaker 3: the Northwest Shelf, which personally she's had some great sensible
Speaker 3: conversion to actually ensuring we have energy security in this
Speaker 3: country rather than chasing unicorn farming dreams. Its fantastic, But
Speaker 3: somehow I don't think that's the.
Speaker 2: Case, and I should point out she wasn't up for
Speaker 2: election in the election we've just gone through in May.
Speaker 2: She is serving, she's midway through a six year term.
Speaker 2: Senators have six years term, but she was elected as
Speaker 2: a Green. She's previously been a Labor member. I should
Speaker 2: point out it's very different when we elect a politician
Speaker 2: like yourself, Susan in the lower House, because technically, I
Speaker 2: know a lot of people do vote on party lines,
Speaker 2: but we do vote for the individual. So if you,
Speaker 2: for instance, Susan, were to abandon the Labor Party and
Speaker 2: become an independent, I think ethically that will be okay.
Speaker 2: But the reality is most of us when we vote
Speaker 2: in the Senate vote above the line, so we're voting
Speaker 2: for a party ticket. So from the labor side, how
Speaker 2: can it be justified that Derinda does this?
Speaker 1: Oh look, I think we're splitting hairs. But just the record,
Speaker 1: I would never move from being a labor person to
Speaker 1: being anything else. Just want to close that one off.
Speaker 1: We welcome people who having worked with Labor senators in
Speaker 1: the Senate. Obviously, Derinda has seen from experience how you
Speaker 1: make a difference.
Speaker 2: Has an that she was voted as a Green, what
Speaker 2: the Green's voters now aren't represented by her.
Speaker 1: Well, she has another three years, and she was voted
Speaker 1: in to represent a state more than anything. She's there
Speaker 1: to represent a state, and she's made a decision about
Speaker 1: how she can make the biggest contribution, and she's determined
Speaker 1: that she can do that within government more effectively than
Speaker 1: a member of a protest party.
Speaker 2: Well, Holly, you're an outgoing senator. Hoy, you're an outgoing senator.
Speaker 2: Do you think people were voting for you personally or
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party or the coalition ticket as it would
Speaker 2: have been in.
Speaker 3: Your case, Well, they were voting to the coalition ticket.
Speaker 3: And I was always where that I was a Liberal
Speaker 3: Senator by the grace of the Liberal Party. I was
Speaker 3: one of, in fact, the very few people we had
Speaker 3: a number of cross benches as we came into the
Speaker 3: last election where people had been unsuccessful in pre selection
Speaker 3: or for whatever reason, had taken them outside of the
Speaker 3: party they were elected to serve. I did not do that.
Speaker 3: I didn't make that decision. And I'm not saying there
Speaker 3: weren't opportunities for me to do things. But I've always
Speaker 3: believed you've got to dance with the one that brung
Speaker 3: you and I was a Liberal senator because of the
Speaker 3: Liberal Party. I mean, I am please please have me
Speaker 3: on when Susan is now lauding the defection of Senator
Speaker 3: Cox after we know there were significant claims of bleeding
Speaker 3: from her staff. There was investigations and inquiries. I'm going
Speaker 3: around those bullying allegations, the staff turnover. There was much
Speaker 3: being made about the way Senator Howks ran her office
Speaker 3: and now the Prime Minister in the Labor Party is
Speaker 3: working in her with open arms. Well, I don't think
Speaker 3: that sends a very positive message to those staffers that
Speaker 3: had made those allegations.
Speaker 2: Well, Susan, how did your colleagues feel? We know what
Speaker 2: we've heard on the grapevine, but how did they and
Speaker 2: some public comments, but how did they feel in the
Speaker 2: party room when Center the Payment left the Labor Party.
Speaker 1: Oh, we were really disappointed to lose someone like some
Speaker 1: of the payman who bought a really diverse perspective to
Speaker 1: the parliament. So you know we are we're a party
Speaker 1: that welcomes people from all walks of life and a
Speaker 1: whole lot of women do choose our party, you know.
Speaker 1: Right now with Derinda's joining the party, we must be
Speaker 1: getting closer to sixty percent of female representation in our
Speaker 1: party room than the sort of fifty six percent fifty
Speaker 1: seven percent that we were so look, we have all
Speaker 1: welcomed Dorenda's decision. We're really please when someone sees the
Speaker 1: life and can see that Labor has not only been
Speaker 1: a good government for its first term, but has really
Speaker 1: ambitious plans which include protecting the environment but making sure
Speaker 1: that the rules that we have give business a clear
Speaker 1: message on how they can do the essential developments that
Speaker 1: we need, but also provide better protections for the environment
Speaker 1: for future generations.
Speaker 2: I actually think we need to change the rules. I
Speaker 2: think it is really wrong. And look, the saying goes
Speaker 2: for conservatives. Corey Bernardi did it as well to the
Speaker 2: Liberal Party. I think it's really wrong when someone's elected,
Speaker 2: particularly in the Senate, to then jump sides on to
Speaker 2: the next issue. Andrew Bragg, one of your colleagues, Holly,
Speaker 2: has done a bit of a backflip on the work
Speaker 2: from home issue. He's become a champion of work from home.
Speaker 2: Disagrees it would seem that would change him. What's your view?
Speaker 2: Do you think work from home is the future and
Speaker 2: do you think the Liberal party should never be fully supportive.
Speaker 3: Look, I think what Senator Brad was talking about was
Speaker 3: looking at way that we can boost productivity, and everything
Speaker 3: needs to be on the table. And the reality is
Speaker 3: we've seen a increase in pay rates today above inflation
Speaker 3: for low income earners. But it is also a pay
Speaker 3: rate that has increased higher than productivity, which we are
Speaker 3: seeing in decline. And so particularly for small businesses that
Speaker 3: are now going to have larger wage impacts, they're going
Speaker 3: to need to see greater productivity. So whatever is able
Speaker 3: to produce that will help our economy grow. And I
Speaker 3: know that labour are going to say, isn't this great?
Speaker 3: These work low income earners are getting a pay rise. Well,
Speaker 3: if you're working at McDonald's and someone that's going to
Speaker 3: get this pay rise, working from home isn't an option
Speaker 3: for you. So a lot of these low income earners
Speaker 3: are actually not the people that benefit from working from
Speaker 3: home policies. We need to make sure they're not being
Speaker 3: controled slated. The people that benefits from work from home
Speaker 3: are quite often in corporate, white collar jobs. It's not
Speaker 3: the doctors, it's not the nurses, it's not the teachers.
Speaker 3: It's not the police and fire brigades that are able
Speaker 3: to do that, and it's not low income iners in
Speaker 3: the hospitality sector.
Speaker 2: I suspect after the election that work from home in
Speaker 2: the future actually won't be a political issue.
Speaker 1: What do you think, Susan, It shouldn't be a political issue.
Speaker 1: I mean people should work in a way that they
Speaker 1: are most productive. And when you've got people like the
Speaker 1: ones I represent in the Blue Mountains for Hooksbury, who
Speaker 1: getting to an office can mean traveling for one and
Speaker 1: a half to two hours each way, then clearly you
Speaker 1: get massive benefits in productivity. You get people are feeling
Speaker 1: less tired when they're at work. You get people who
Speaker 1: are relishing the idea that they can might be able
Speaker 1: to get out, pick up a kid from school, drop
Speaker 1: them to something, and still through the workhouse that are involved. So,
Speaker 1: you know the so the Liberals are all over the
Speaker 1: shop on these issues. I think what's interesting is there
Speaker 1: was this commitment by the leader that they're going to
Speaker 1: review all the policies, they're not going to take positions
Speaker 1: on anything, and here we are a week or so later,
Speaker 1: people and shadow ministers starting to pick policies that they're
Speaker 1: backing in. So look, it's obviously it's a shamble.
Speaker 2: Now a sad day for you, Holly. You've been cleaning
Speaker 2: out your desk the next election. You've been cleaning out
Speaker 2: your desk in canbra I.
Speaker 3: Have my office in Canberra has now been cleaned.
Speaker 1: It's the everything's in boxes.
Speaker 2: Were you're a politician, when you're an MP, are you
Speaker 2: allowed to have an untidy disc Oh?
Speaker 3: I think I mean for me personally, it would start
Speaker 3: with excellent intents at bang or tidy and organized, and
Speaker 3: give it about four hours into a sitting week and
Speaker 3: I there would be different inquiries or committee reports or
Speaker 3: folders with meeting briefing notes or whatever it might be
Speaker 3: started to pile up. So I think you start the
Speaker 3: week looking pretty good. You try and finish the week
Speaker 3: with it tied it up, but the in between it's
Speaker 3: so good.
Speaker 2: Sometimes, if you've ever had to clean out of death suason,
Speaker 2: what's the strangest thing you've ever found?
Speaker 1: Not strange so much, but other thinking about Holly, I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about the things that would matter to me. I
Speaker 1: have I drank my tea out of mugs that my
Speaker 1: local schools have given me, so this morning I had
Speaker 1: courage on public school. I've got Panola Catholic College right now,
Speaker 1: and it's that sort of stuff. I think if you
Speaker 1: were packing up a desk that had really, you know,
Speaker 1: tugged the heartstrings because we love going to our schools
Speaker 1: and Hollywood be the same.
Speaker 3: Look. Can I tell you there's a present going to
Speaker 3: a colleague of mine who's unaware. He will get it
Speaker 3: in the internal mail. But I was gifted some whips
Speaker 3: for whip cracking whips, yeah to you know, which I
Speaker 3: cannot do. Years ago I tried, and I ended up
Speaker 3: with some nice welts on my crow.
Speaker 2: You're telling me there's politicians that are walking around Putman
Speaker 2: House cracking the whip.
Speaker 3: I had two whips in my office. They're very high
Speaker 3: quality whips. And a friend of mine, one of my
Speaker 3: colleagues in the Senate, has one of the more interesting
Speaker 3: offices of little knick knacks and a coach remonts.
Speaker 1: That he's acquired over the years.
Speaker 3: So I've written him a little note and.
Speaker 1: They'll be waiting for him in his inbox.
Speaker 3: He doesn't know they're coming.
Speaker 2: Well. Of course, each party does have formerly a position
Speaker 2: of the whip. The person who held zeb Brown keeps
Speaker 2: them in line and gets them into the chamber on time.
Speaker 2: You'll have to give them the whip. Thank you, Holly,
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Susan now whip on Thursday.
Speaker 1: I did think of cheaping.
Speaker 3: One for her.
Speaker 2: Susan Tenenmann and Holly Hughes our straight shooters for a
Speaker 2: Tuesday afternoon