Is another Coalition spill brewing?

It started with a series of posts on social media nostalgic images of Australia from decades ago, accompanied by statements like we're starting to feel like strangers in our own home. WA Liberal MP Andrew Hasty's public posts about what he's calling out of control immigration, as well as housing and energy costs have now led to his resignation. And while that means he's on the backbench right now, the Conservative MP has made no secret about his ambition to lead.

So we know he has concerns about the levels of immigration and Susan Leader, opposition leader, sent out what she's calling charter letters to all the members of her front bench, laying out her expectations and their responsibilities. And Andrew Hasty says that the charter letter he received indicated that he would have no role as Shadow Home Affairs Minister in setting the party's immigration policy.

When it was made clear that I wouldn't have any leadership in that role, I thought it was time for me to depart because essentially I want to be able to speak about immigration, which I think is a critical issue for a lot of Australians at the moment.

The immigration part of the portfolio is more specifically held by Paul Scarr, but normally ahead of the portfolio, the more senior minister would also obviously have a role in drafting policy. Said if he had no role in policy, he was effectively being noveled. He couldn't serve. He spoke to Susan Lee and he gave her his resignation.

And so talk to me, Karen about what has led to this moment and some of the things that Andrew Hasty has been saying publicly in the last month or so about the direction that he thinks coalition policy should have.

He has obviously been unhappy with the direction of policy in the Coalition since the election. It was interesting he was quite personally affected by the assassination of Charlie Kirk in the United States, and since then He's been speaking out a lot more directly about his views on a range of issues, particularly on energy policy and the ambition to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by twenty fifty.

I think we're going to destroy our country on that current trajectory, and that's why I'm so opposed to sticking with net zero and Labour's climate targets along the way. Now your position.

He doesn't like that policy and he doesn't want the coalition and to retain that policy. And we know there's a core constituency within the right of the Liberal Party and certainly within the Nationals that are.

Opposed to that.

So that was the issue he's been talking about most forcefully recently, and suggesting that if the party, when it finishes its review of that policy, persists with it, that he couldn't serve.

Okay, and Andrew Hasty is known for being very ambitious. He has said that he wants to be the leader one day. So just tell me a bit more about him and how he's risen through the ranks.

Well, he was a Special Forces soldier.

He joined the Liberal Party and then entered the Parliament more than ten years ago now. He entered on a by election after the death of Don Randall, who was a member for Canning in Western Australia, and Don Randall died suddenly. Now it was interesting because he was recruited under the leadership of Tony Abbot, and you'd have to say he is an Abbot style politician.

The primary acts of sacrifice at the human level in the common on Christian tradition are those of confession and forgiveness. These acts go to the heart of individual and collective accountability.

And he's got similar ideas on policy and ideology to Tony Abbot. But by the time he actually won that by election, Tony Abbott had been replaced by Malcolm Turnbull, so there was already a bit of a negative frisson between Andrew Hasey and the party leadership because Malcolm Turnbull was much more moderate than Tony Abbott.

We are told that there is no such thing as truth, that all opinions are equal, and that our heritage is no more unique than any other cultural achievement. I reject this culture of relativism, both on moral and intellectual grounds, for the threat opposers to our civic culture, and because it is rationally, morally and practically unsustainable.

Now Andrew Hasty is held and won that seat repeatedly and increased his margin. He certainly increased his margin at the last election, which was going against the trend of the rest of the Liberal Party effectively. And he sees

Yeah, And speaking of that review, it's being reported that Peter Dutton has been laying a lot of the blame for that election loss at Andrew Hasty's feet.

So tell me about what's being said. Yes, it's interesting.

There's a report in the nine newspapers this week suggesting that Peter Dutton has really slammed Andrew Hasty and his contribution. The newspapers are quoting an anonymous source who's saying that someone who should have been a powerful voice in the media, tearing strips off labor was absent, skin to do media all lazy. Now, that is an anonymous source reporting the view of Peter Dutton. But it seems that Peter Dutton has made some quite strong criticisms of Andrew Hasty.

There was a review.

This report says that he was supposed to conduct into defense policy, and the allegation is that it wasn't completed, that it wasn't done in time, and there wasn't enough work for the party to bring the policy forward.

Now we know that towards.

The end of the election campaign, certainly there was tension between Andrew Hasty and Peter Dutton. Peter Dutton eventually went to Perth and there was a testy press conference where it was quite clear that there'd been a disagreement over defense policy. And Andrew Hasty had been sort of silent and not been doing much. And Andrew Hasty has told those newspapers that he rejects all of that, that's a false narrative.

Hasty also swears that Susan Lee has his support.

So should we believe that.

Well, they always do have their support until they don't.

Rube.

That's the way it generally goes.

So, I mean, I think he made a decision after the election, when the contest was opened for the leadership that he wouldn't run, and he made the point that he has a young family, but equally ambitious politicians who are looking to feature leadership want to choose their time carefully, and after an election, when your party's been absolutely wiped out, there's not a lot of takers generally for that responsibility because it's a terrible job trying to pull a party

But Andrew Hasty clearly.

Wants to have a go, and he is positioning himself as the conservative alternative ahead of Angus Taylor.

That's the objective, and we'll see how long he waits.

Coming up the growing chorus of dissent coming from the backbench, Karen, How did Susan Lee respond to Hasey's decision to resign.

Well, she said she was disappointed as she would have preferred that they were able to reach a compromise and he could stay.

I mean, it coincided.

We see revelation that some of the women who had married or been partners with ISIS fighters and had gone off to the Middle East, had come back to Australia, planned its finally recently with their children.

Now that's controversial.

There's been long disagreements within the political parties of what should happen with those That issue emerged as Andrew Hasty was resigning from the Home Affairs portfolio, which of course is the portfolio with this is relevant. So you know they didn't have a spokesperson, so I guess you can read her comments about disappointing in that context as well.

And as you mentioned, Hassey now joins another fairly right wing Liberal figure on the backbench just sent a Nabajimba. Price was fired from cabinet just a few weeks ago. You have been covering federal politics for a very long time, so tell me, I mean, what can happen to a party when you've got high profile diskgrunt toward politicians on the back bench with time on the hands.

Well, Ruby, it's never good.

The Western Australian mpay the latest in a growing group of former front benches doing their bidding from the back, including Liberal senators Jane Hume, Sarah Henderson just sent a NAMP and jimper Price and MP Tony passon alongside Nationals colleagues Matt Canavan and former Deputy Prime ministers Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack.

The thing is, you know, they all talk a lot on all sides of politics about importance of debate.

On the labor side, they are are very disciplined.

They don't countenance to sit and if there are front benches who descend from cabinet positions or speak out against them, their mira out of the cabinet and they would be out of the party if they can't support those positions. And the Liberal Party is always pointing to that and saying you don't tolerate a range of views. At least

And susonly, I mean she won the leadership on a very narrow margin. It was twenty nine to twenty five. She's only been there for five months, and it doesn't really seem like her party has given her much runway to be able to steer the coalition in the direction that she wants. So how in your view is she handling that challenge well.

And remember that three of those votes, at least three of those votes are no longer there. Giselle Ktirian, who was the Liberal candidate in one of those till seats in.

Sydney who didn't ultimately win it. She's not there.

Senator Holly Hughes and Senator Linda Reynolds both left the Senate in July, so that vote on paper at.

Least is now shrunk to one.

There's a suggestion that she's won a little more support by the way she's handled herself, and certainly early on asserting herself dealing with the Nationals insurrection. She has one, respect and support from colleagues. But if you look at opinion polls, and we had another news poll out this week, it's not showing there in terms of the party's vote. This is always the period, as I say, where nobody

Yeah, she's clearly in a pretty precarious position. Is they're talking camera of a leadership spill anytime soon?

I don't think so, not imminently.

It's funny because when a resignation like Andrew Hasti's comes along, often that does precipitate a leadership challenge. In this case, I think the resignation won't immediately precipitate a leadership challenge. But having Andrew Hasty, someone that prominent on the back bench and clearly able to speak his mind even more and clearly not inclined to support moderate positions on energy policy or immigration policy, is going to make that job even harder for Susan Lee.

Well, Karen, thank you so much for your tame.

Thanks Ruby.

Also in the news today, a sixty year old man has been arrested after fifty to one hundred gunshots for fire indiscriminately. It passes by over a two hour period in Sydney's Inner West on Sunday night, one man aged in his fifties was shot in the neck and chest. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition and underwent emergency surgery. More than a dozen others were hospitalized.

I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am.

Thanks for listening.