WEBVTT - The return of the Coalition 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.239 Already and this this is the Daily. 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:04.480 This is the Daly OS. 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:06.840 Oh, now it makes sense. 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.720 Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday, 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.520 the twenty ninth of May. I'm Emma Gillespie. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:21.880 I'm Harry Seculch. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:24.520 This time a week ago on the podcast, we were 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.560 discussing the future of the Liberal Party after the Nationals 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.639 announced that it was splitting from its long term political partner, 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:36.320 effectively ending the coalition. But eight days since news of 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:40.239 that breakup emerged, we got another update yesterday which has 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.840 thrown a curveball into this entire situation. 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.200 Dave and I have reached agreement formally to reform the coalition. 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:50.920 I'm want to thank you, David for the respectful and 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.080 productive way that you and I have engaged throughout this process, 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.080 and I know that we will be a great partnership 0:00:57.160 --> 0:00:57.840 going forward. 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.840 The Liberal and National Party have reached a deal. The 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:03.520 coalition is back together. 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:03.960 Now. 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.319 This comes after the Nats said they wanted to cut 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.520 ties after failing to secure some guarantees from the Liberals 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.720 about the future direction of four key policies, which we'll 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.040 touch on a bit later. But it left us with 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.880 so many questions about what led to the decision, what 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.720 it could mean for the future of each party, how 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:25.360 the new opposition would function, and Australia's overall political landscape. 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.000 But now that this separation has been abandoned and a 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.280 coalition deal is back on, I needed to bring in 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.039 the big guns to break this all down for us 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.560 tda's political expert, our journalist Harry Seculitch, to take us 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:40.640 through all that's been happening in one of the shortest 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:42.600 breakups in history and why it all matters. 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.759 Hurry, welcome back to the podcast. 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:45.920 Great to be here, Emma. 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.920 It has been an ongoing saga, this coalition, will they 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:51.440 won't they? 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.560 But it did make things really interesting after the election. 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.360 Which feels weird because all the dramas usually during the election, 0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.560 during the campaign, which is a bit more of a 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.720 pressure cooker environment because you're trying to get elected. But 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.720 in this context we've had all the drama come after 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.160 the election. It seems I can't even seem to remember 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:10.600 what happened before the third day. 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.560 Yeah, it's been an election after math unlike any other 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:18.840 in my memory, or at least my voting consciousness. With 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.160 all these recounts, these tight races, and of course the 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:27.240 Liberal National Parties drama. Let's just go back to last 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.760 Tuesday when this separation was announced. 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:32.000 What exactly happened. 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.480 Well, I was on leave, Emma, which I just have 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.519 to say, as a political nerd, that absolutely gutted me. Yeah, 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.079 but I was watching closely. It was actually kind of 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.760 nice to be at home and watch it all unfold 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.560 on TV before me, so I can just kind of, 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.640 you know, digest it myself, I guess. 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:49.120 Yeah. 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:52.560 But basically what happened was leading up to last Tuesday, 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.720 there was no hint of a coalition agreement actually coming 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.560 to bear, which is pretty typical after an election. It's 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.760 just kind of like rubbersta that the Liberal and National 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.640 Parties would agree to form an opposition together, they would 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.320 have some leadership roles that would be divided up between 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:12.400 the two parties, and it's just pretty standard fair But 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.800 that hadn't happened. Then we see this press conference be 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:20.200 called by David Little Proud after a bit of speculation. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.239 And he is the leader of the Nationals Party. 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.640 Yes, and he said that there would be no coalition 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.400 agreement based on a number of factors. But it basically 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.040 confirmed what was in everyone's mind, which was what is 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.840 actually going on with the Coalition? Why haven't they struck 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:35.520 a deal yet? 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.720 I think it would be helpful to maybe take it 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:41.559 back a little bit into the history books to understand 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.560 the role of the Coalition in Australian politics. I think 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.840 when I was a high school kid, I thought the 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.760 Coalition was the Liberal Party. Wasn't until I got a 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:52.520 bit older that I worked out, No, we're talking about 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.320 two separate entities. 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:59.280 But how has that worked historically? That partnership, So it's 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.160 an allie. Just think of it as two parties that 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.520 are formally allied with each other. They both have conservative values, 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:10.640 they have a lot of similar policy ambitions, and since 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.920 World War Two they've basically operated as a singular unit 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.320 in opposition to the Labor Party. 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.560 So if you want to think of it as a marriage, 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:22.600 you can, and it would be quite helpful to think 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.240 of this marriage scenario when we're talking about a breakup 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:26.799 as well. 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.120 Lots of marriage metaphors over the last eight days. But 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.080 we heard David little Proud, as you mentioned last week, 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.839 call this press conference announce that for the first time 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.479 in almost forty years, the Liberals and Nationals would not 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:40.960 be agreeing to a formal alliance. 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.160 Did he say why so? 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.360 He pointed to four specific policy areas when it came 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:51.200 to his decision and the National Party's decision to break 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.240 up the coalition agreement or just not enter into one 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.640 after this election. So the first one was this issue 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.960 of divestiture powers, which is ba the power to break 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:05.640 up a big company. They specifically spoke about supermarkets, so Colson, Woolworths, 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.640 and hardware chains so Materi ten and Bunnings. 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:12.479 There are a lot of headlines about these divestiture claims 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:16.280 during the microscope that's been on the supermarket duopoly in 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:17.400 the last couple of years. 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.960 That's right, and the Nationals in particular have really been 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.320 pushing to get these divestite powers up and they want 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.840 it as part of a formal policy platform. The second 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.800 thing that they wanted commitment to was guaranteed mobile phone 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.680 coverage in rural and regional areas, which for the Nationals 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.440 makes sense that they're putting that forward because that is 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.960 their main constituency. They are a party of the regions. 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.920 The third area was a twenty billion dollar regional fund 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.480 that was announced in the lead up to the election 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.479 by then Opposition leader Peter Dutton, this was basically an 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.800 investment fund for regional projects, so think of roads, infrastructure, 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:59.440 and also hiring and retaining healthcare workers out in the regions, 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.080 which we though is a bit more of a challenge. 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:04.360 And then the fourth area, which we're going to put 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.599 a pin in, comes to nuclear power. 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:08.320 Yeah, had a feeling that's what you were going. 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.000 To say exactly, and it's one that a lot of 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.760 people picked up on and spoke about afterwards, and that's 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.200 because it sort of chopped and changed a little bit. 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.400 But basically David little Proud, the Nationals leader, wanted to 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:24.719 keep that nuclear policy that the coalition had taken to 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.520 the election. He wanted that firmed up going forward as well. 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:33.200 So it's also really important to note that coalition agreements 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:37.440 in the past aren't necessarily tied to policy. It's usually 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.680 just what we call like motherhood statements, which are these 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:45.400 kind of loose commitments to work together. In opposition. It 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.560 firms up some leadership roles, so if you have a 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.400 deputy leader of the opposition, it's usually in the Liberal Party, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.640 but once you're in government, the deputy leader becomes the 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.680 leader of the National Party. It's all very technical, but 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.200 it just basically out in writing what has been formally 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.920 agreed to over the last eighty years or so. 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.560 So why in this instance was Little proud on behalf 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:12.640 of the Nationals so determined to get these four policy 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:16.080 areas written into an agreement. Does it have anything to 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:20.080 do with the Liberal Party's outcome at the last election. 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.800 He did argue that the Nationals didn't really go backwards. 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.320 I mean, they did lose one Senate spot, which they 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:30.160 also blame on a sunken coalition vote overall in New 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.960 South Wales, and they also didn't pick up their seat 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.920 of Claire, which was held by a former Nationals who's 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.920 now turned into an independent in the last parliament, and 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.520 he held on to that seat as an independent. So 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:48.080 they did go backwards slightly, but not massively. The Liberal Party, 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.720 on the other hand, lost quite a few seats. They 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.400 didn't gain any ground against Labor. In fact, they went backwards. 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.680 At least thirteen seats have been lost to the Labor Party. 0:07:57.720 --> 0:07:59.960 Now you just have to go back to our election 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.160 night coverage and we had dozens of seats ready to go. 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.440 Whether it was going to be Liberals gaining seats off Labor, 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.080 which we didn't actually end up putting out into our 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:12.160 feed because turns out the Swingers going in the other direction. 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:16.320 The Labor Party gained quite a significant majority at the election, 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:20.320 and so the Nationals saw the results bear out and 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.680 they said, well, the Liberals have really lost quite a 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:26.600 lot of skin. We haven't lost as much. So I 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.800 guess they believed that they had some sort of residence 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.199 in the electorate that the Liberal Party may not have. 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.439 Okay, so we know though that those attempts to get 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:39.520 those four policy areas written into a deal were unsuccessful 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.480 at that point, and that's when we saw David little 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.360 Prowd come out and say the Nationals we're going to 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.920 break things off with the Libs. How did the Liberal 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:49.480 Party react last week? 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.120 Well, Susan Lee, who was by that time the very 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.319 newly elected Liberal Party leader, she'd only been in the 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:59.240 job for about a week, said that they hadn't made 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:03.360 any commitment on any policy whatsoever. So her language was 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:07.640 that no policy adopted, nothing abandoned either, that the party 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:09.800 was going to go through a full scale review of 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.439 all its policies that it took to the election, which 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:16.080 she acknowledged they lost quite convincingly and that they were 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:19.480 then going to look into what could be refined, what 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.760 could be changed, But she didn't specifically isolate any policy 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.200 in particular, she didn't isolate any area that she wanted 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.800 to keep set in stone, but she also didn't indicate 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:32.640 that she was going to get rid of anything either. 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.079 So her position was it's just not time to talk 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.640 about policy just yet, whereas the Nationals wanted that commitment 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:43.080 firmed up straight away. But both leaders did strike this 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.480 tone of saying that their door was going to be opened. 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.720 So they did leave that possibility of a reunion out there, 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.280 and they wanted to ensure that people understood that this 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.840 was not going to be a flat rejection of any 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:59.160 coalition into the future, and as we've seen play out 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.960 over the week, they were right to sort of emphasize 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:02.840 that tone, I think. 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.040 So it was more that they were taking a break 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:07.800 than splitting up for good. 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:11.680 As we now know. Did this come out of nowhere? 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.280 I mean, obviously we knew that there were those priority 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.480 policy areas for the Nationals in the lead up to 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:22.679 the election, but do you think the public had the 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.640 sense of the disharmony that was kind of potentially brewing. 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:28.920 So it's definitely really clear that this was a break 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.200 from convention, and I think the public could bear that 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.440 out because there was no coalition like we understood it 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.520 to be for the last forty years since. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:39.640 In terms of numbers exactly. 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.720 And it's been nearly forty years since the last coalition 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.040 actually broke up. And then the Nationals and the Liberals 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.679 also differed in their language over what they considered reasonable 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.240 as an expectation of each other. So whether you put 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.240 the policy into the coalition agreement, whether that was considered reasonable. 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.520 The Liberals didn't think so, but the Nationals did, whereas 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.920 the Liberals thought, let's agree to work together and then 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.480 we'll work through those policies once we actually agree that 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:10.160 we're going to be in this as a team. Over 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.360 the week, you saw a few different versions of events 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.079 play out as well, which is pretty natural in politics. 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:18.880 It comes back to depends who you ask. And one 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.320 version of event that stood out was really interesting because 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.320 it came back to this idea of cabinet solidarity not 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:29.280 being an agreement that both sides were comfortable with. Now, 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:33.000 cabinet solidarity applies to both the government and the opposition, 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:37.520 and that's basically an agreement not to speak out against 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:42.200 the formal position of your party. It's basically being a 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.520 good team player. So if you have a policy that 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:49.000 you're putting forward as a coalition member, and if you're 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.400 in the shadow cabinet, so one of the shadow senior 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.880 figures in the shadow ministry, then you're not going to 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.720 go out in public and start criticizing that policy and 0:11:58.760 --> 0:11:59.800 cutting it at the knees. 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.600 So it's about putting up a united front, even if 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:05.800 you might be disagreeing behind closed doors effectively. 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:10.360 So so this is a pretty standard convention. And Susan Lee, 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.160 the Liberal Party leader, had said that she wanted that 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:15.800 as part of the coalition agreement, once again a pretty 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.720 stand affair, and that the Nationals weren't prepared to agree 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:24.000 to cabinet solidarity as a condition of their agreement. The 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.920 Nationals came back and said, well, that wasn't exactly the case. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.640 That wasn't taken to our party room. We didn't discuss it. 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.240 So it sort of came back to this back and 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.120 forth of all right, cabinet solidarity became a sticking point, 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:41.199 but we don't know who actually was vying against it. 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.000 We'll be back with today's deep dive right after this. 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.800 Another bone of contention that was out there in the public, 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.200 as you mentioned, Emma, could people see that there was 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.440 something wrong? I think that also stretches back to just 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.360 after the election, just into Namba. Jimper Price, who's a 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:03.040 Northern Territory Coalitions senator, defected from the National Party room 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:07.120 to the Liberal Party Room, which was met with white 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:10.080 hot anger amongst some Nationals. They were coming out and 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:13.160 saying that this is a betrayal, that this is a 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.680 takeover by the Liberal Party. That they started throwing around 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.440 some accusations saying that Just Enterprise was being courted by 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.400 some senior Liberals during the campaign, that she was elected 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.600 effectively as a National senator but now is sitting in 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.720 the Liberal Parties room, which they just didn't consider to 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.840 be very fair. And on a technical point, in the Senate, 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.800 you need at least five members in order to gain 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.000 what's known as party status, and that just gives you 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:43.760 some resourcing and staffing. The Nationals without Just Enterprise have 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:46.880 four members, so they wouldn't be considered a party in 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.319 the upper house in the Senate. So whoever you ask 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:53.320 will give you maybe a varied response in politics, but 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.640 a lot of people saw that as quite unfair. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:01.360 A sign of potential disunity within the Coulish ranks. That's right, okay, 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:06.120 So we understand that there were several aspects contributing potentially 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.439 to this decision to announce a separation. But obviously there 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.640 has been a walking back or a reunion over all 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:18.880 of these issues. So how have the parties come together 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.600 to overcome those points of contention? 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:26.040 So if we work through those three areas, so we've 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:30.720 got just enterprises defection, the four policies, and cabinet solidarity, 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:35.080 I'll go through one by one. So cabinet solidarity straight away, 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.000 the Nationals said we are fine with that. They got 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:41.400 that in writing to the Liberal Party and they firmed 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.760 up that commitment tick on the four policies. The Liberal 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.800 Party convened last week late last week and they had 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:52.520 a meeting of all the elected MPs and senators and 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.400 some provisional MPs because some of the counts are still 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:57.680 going on. That's another podcast for another day. 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.640 I show still going still. 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.680 Can you believe it, It's almost been a month. So 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.000 this is where the Liberal Party got together and said, 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.240 all right, we can agree in principle to some of 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:13.440 these policy areas. So that's the divestige of powers, the 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:18.840 Regional Fund, the telecommunications of all regional and rural areas. 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.400 And then with nuclear power was a bit of a 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.800 step change because the Nationals actually through the week watered 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.720 down their commitment to the election policy, which was seven 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:34.360 reactors being built around Australia. What they want now is 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.120 just for the national band to be lifted and that 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.160 opens up the possibility of putting forward a nuclear plan, 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.720 but it doesn't necessarily commit to public funding or anything 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:48.520 material in the nuclear space. And the Liberal Party have 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.120 said that that's actually a more liberal approach. It means 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.120 that we get rid of some of that red tape 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.680 that's preventing nuclear power from being used in energy production 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:00.000 in Australia. Okay, so they got through those four policies. 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.280 That's another tick just enterprise. On the other hand, look, 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.600 she's still in the Liberal party room, she's still considered 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.360 a Liberal senator. She's going to be staying with the 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.880 party for now. But you know, one Liberal put it 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.360 to me that it's kind of the elephant in the 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:16.400 room now if you like. 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.400 Okay, so it feels like there's been a lot of 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:24.480 self reflection on both sides over recent days, compromise, widespread 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:29.840 discussions about how to resolve this issue. Clearly from both sides, 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.680 we've seen a level of willingness to overcome some sticking points. 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.720 So take me through what actually happened yesterday? What did 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.440 we learn, What have the party said? How did the 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:42.640 coalition get back together? 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.560 So all the swords were dropped yesterday and we got 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:52.200 a new sign sealed and secret coalition agreement. It's okay, 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:56.160 standard convention. We never get to see it. We heard 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.200 from former Prime Minister Malcolm Turbule last week he said 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.120 it's actually a really boring piece of writing. It's just 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.520 a commitment to work together. And as far as I 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.399 understand from some Liberals that I spoke to, there's no 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:14.520 necessary policy actions attached to the agreement itself. But it's 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.760 pretty much a statement of assurances that we were expecting 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:18.840 after the election. 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:24.120 Our team is one of strivers and optimists, of leaders 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:28.000 and listeners. We have voices from the city to the bush. 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.240 Our parties are at their best when they work together 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:35.359 to fight right now as a strong opposition. 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.679 The two leaders also put forward their shadow Ministry, so 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:42.399 their front bench. So that was confirmed yesterday as well, 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.560 no massive surprises. The Deputy leader of the Liberal Party 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.800 Ted O'Brien, he's going to become the Shadow Treasurer. We 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.160 previously interviewed the shadow the former shadow Treasurer, I should 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.240 say now Angus Taylor on this podcast. 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:55.600 Yep. 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.119 And he is now going to be the Shadow Defense Minister. 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.320 And on top of that there are a few reshuffles. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.640 Liberal Senator Jane Hume's been demoted from the shadow cabinet, 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:10.120 as has Sarah Henderson. Another Victorian Liberal Senator. Susan Lee 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.880 also focused on some of the other women that she's 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:16.919 promoted in her cabinet, and this includes Karen Little who 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:21.080 will now take over as Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister, just 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.199 Into Nemorship of Price will become Shadow Defense Industry Minister, 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.880 and Giselle cap Terrian who's one of the MP's who's 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.919 still waiting on that count a month on quite a 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:35.200 grueling count that at last check was about eight votes 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:36.360 separating her and. 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:38.120 The city Bradfields in Sydney. 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.679 In Bradfield, so the candidate trailing her, Nicolette Buller, is 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.880 only behind by eight votes. So that's quite a tight 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:49.240 margin by anyone's stretch of imagination. So she's been appointed 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:51.400 as an assistant minister in the. 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.399 Meantime, pending that confirmation that she has succeeded in Bradfield. 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:59.280 That's right. And also the re elected MP Tim Wilson, 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.600 who is all so subject to a recount in his 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:06.919 seat of Goldstein, has also been promoted into the shadow 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.880 cabinet should he hold onto his seat. But the projections 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.840 in Goldstein look a bit more promising for Tim Wilson 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:13.560 at this stage. 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:14.080 Okay. 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.120 And what about David Little, Proud National's leader. He's had 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.560 quite the post election run himself, surviving a leadership challenge. 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.560 He was the face of this breakup. I suppose he 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.640 did the initial dumping. What has he had to say 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.040 now that the coalition seems to have reached an agreement. 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:35.240 So he has focused on wanting to oppose Labor as 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:36.560 a strong opposition. 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.760 This morning our party room made the decision to rejoin 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.280 the coalition, and I think the Liberal Party and the 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:46.080 leadership of Susan in getting that position to make sure 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.720 there's understanding about the way forward. That's important for Australians 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.399 that they know we've laid the foundation stones of a 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.399 coalition that can move forward but also have an alternative 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:57.680 government in three years. 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:00.119 He has said in the past week as well that 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.600 he wants to see Susan Lee as the next Prime 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.840 Minister too, So he wants to focus on putting forward 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.320 a unified front against an increased Labor majority. And let's 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:12.359 not forget that Labor appears to be in a stronger 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.760 position than it has been in a very long time. 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:18.879 It has an increased majority in the lower House. In 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.520 the Senate, it only needs to negotiate with either the 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.879 Greens or the Coalition to get legislation through. It was 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:27.800 a little bit more complicated in the last term of Parliament, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.439 but their representation has gone up across all boards. So 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.000 having a unified opposition, according to David little Proud, is 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.840 really important. If not to give Labor it's you know, 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:40.720 blank check to do whatever it likes. 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:44.320 I think that might tie into my next question Harry, 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:47.040 before we wrap up. I know we've made a lot 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.800 of jokes about this breakup. You know, it's been the 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:54.680 subject of memes and internet speculation and we've all kind 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.720 of rolled our eyes a little bit at those metaphors, 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:01.320 But can you just remind us, you know, other than 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.479 it being a big political story, and aside from the jokes, 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.280 why should we care about a story like this, What 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:10.639 is really the significance of this moment? 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:14.240 In order to have a healthy democracy thrive, you need 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:18.080 to have checks and balances in the actual parliament itself. 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.920 We have what's known as question time. That's a chance 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:23.560 for the opposition to hold the government to account and 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:28.240 ask them very detailed questions, very specific questions about certain 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:31.800 policy areas, about certain legislation that they might be putting forward. 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:35.080 We also have an opposition with these kind of resources 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:39.800 because they have the experience and the insight to actually 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.600