Already, and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense.
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Monday, the twenty ninth of September. I'm Billy fitz Simons.
I'm Emma Gillespie.
You may have seen headlines recently that there could be a possible challenger to the leadership of the Liberal Party. It's only been a few months since Susan Lee took over from Peter Dutton, becoming the first ever woman to lead the party. But Andrew Hasty, who is the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, has started expressing some frustration with the party's position on different issues like climate change and immigration. So why exactly is this happening and could there actually
be a new leadership challenge already. We're going to explain all of that today, but first here is a quick message from our sponsor.
See, it's been a bit of a roller coaster period for the Liberal Party for the coalition off the back of an election in May. Before we get into this kind of new leadership battle, there's some really important context to understand about those last few months. Can you give us a bit of a sense.
It feels like the election was so long ago, it kind of does, but it was only in May. So the Liberal Party is right now in opposition after that election in May, and it was at that election that they suffered quite a catastrophic loss. It was one of their worst ever losses. Labor finished with more than double the number of seats of the Liberal and National parties who make up the coalition, so again, very bad result.
Cannot emphasize how bad that result was for them. And since then the Liberal Party has really done a lot of soul searching and they still are in their soul searching era trying to exactly understand what went so wrong for them and why Australia rejected them to the extent that they did exactly.
And the fallout of that rejection was this very brief breakup, yes, between the Liberal National coalition.
Yeah, it's been a real tumultuous period for the coalition
and yeah, there was that brief breakup. Another thing that happened is that the Liberal Party needed to quite quickly after the election find a new leader because Peter Dutton, who was the leader of the Liberal Party, he didn't just lead their party to one of their worst losses in history, as I've mentioned, but he also actually lost his own seat, which is extremely rare, and that meant that he was booted from politics, and so hence the leadership was vacant and they needed to find a new leader.
And that leadership, that new leader is what we are talking about today. So Susan Lee was chosen to become the Liberal Party leader. She is the opposition leader, yes, but maybe not for long.
Maybe not for long. So, like I said in the intro, her leadership was historic. She is the first woman to be the leader of the Liberal Party in its eighty year history. And I think one thing to understand here is that the appointment of Lee was not unanimous. It was between her and her colleague Angus Taylor. And what was interesting is that the party really needed to decide after this election what direction they were going to go
in ideologically. So Susan Lee represented a more moderate side of the party, which was closer to the center of politics, and then Angus Taylor was more conservative and that was more aligned with Peter Duddon as well. The party chose Susan Lee, and I think that was broadly seen by the media and by the public as the Liberal Party deciding to move closer to the center after they had campaigned on policies under Peter Dudden that were further to the right.
Yeah, we saw historic losses, you know, not just across the board but in the major cities with women voters. So the appointment of Susan Lee was kind of this reaction to, Okay, well, whatever we said and did in the lead up to ballot day wasn't enough to convince voters across the board. So you know, how can we become a more appealing party and more appealing option to more Australians. And I think you know that's the thinking
behind that more moderate leader. Yes, and so Billy, how do we go from that thinking, that soul searching to talking about the possibility of a new leader of the party.
Yeah. I think one thing I should also mention is that after every election, the party that loses usually will do a post election review to find out exactly what went wrong. And we still don't have the final on that, so they are kind of still in their soul searching era. And I think all of this speculation about whether or not there could be a new leader now is kind of part of that. And so the reason we're talking about it today is because, like we've alluded to, it
looks like her leadership could be under threat. Now, to be clear, there hasn't been any explicit announcement or anything like that. I want to say that from the outset this is just speculation, but it's quite a lot of speculation that one of her colleagues, a man named Andrew Hasty, is basically preparing for a leadership challenge of some sort.
I think it's interesting to kind of think about the fact that it's not necessarily a brand new idea in terms of the last couple of weeks that Susan Lee's leadership may be vulnerable. But what is new is that we have a name to put to the speculation. There has been weeks of instability, there have been weeks of questions about her tenure, But where has the speculation come from about Hasty specifically?
So, Andrew Hasty is from the conservative wing of the party, just like Angus Taylor, who was the main contender after the election for the leadership, and also just like Peter Dutton was.
Yeah, and a quick note there that within our major political parties the system works this way that you know, even in labor and as well. In the coalition there are factions. There's a complex kind of method and madness to the party caucus, and we see people further to the left and further to the right in each major party.
Yes, and Andrew Hasty is in a different faction to Susan Lee. Now, quick context on Andrew Hasty, a very quick bio. He is a former soldier and he's currently the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, which is all about domestic policy. It's quite widely reported in the media that he wasn't stoked with that appointment. It was said that he kind of wanted to expand outside of security and defense, possibly wanted something like economics or education or health. But he
didn't get that. And I think that's important context just to kind of set the scene that his relationship with Susan Lee is perhaps already on rocky grounds.
But Billy, am I right in thinking him being appointed to the shadow cabinet is of significance and of itself. Not all ministers are appointed to the shadow cabinet that is perceived to be you know Susan Lee's top list of her most relied upon senior ministers.
Yes, definitely, But I would also say that there could be other factors that play there, like the factions, politics within the politics. It's all gets very confusing, but definitely
he was still given a role. Then in the past month or so, or even just in the past couple of weeks, he has started posting things to his social media accounts and he's also started giving radio interviews where he's kind of talking out of line with the official party positions and saying things that don't completely align with what his colleagues are saying. So, for example, he has started saying that the Coalition should abandon net zero if they are elected at the next election.
I'll tell you what the key risks to our way of life is. The real risk is from these alarma, scientists, lobbyists, grifters and foreign businesses who benefit from the net zero transition. Since we've signed up to net zero, gas prices have gone up forty percent for Australian families, Electricity prices have gone up thirty percent for Australian families, and all the while we keep exporting coal, gas and other minerals. I mean, it's the hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Now, this is a retric that has been pushed by a fair few Nationals politicians in recent weeks, but it's rarer for a Liberal politician to kind of step outside away from the party line.
Exactly.
Can you remind us quickly really what net zero actually means? Yeah?
So net zero is the goal to reach a balance where the amount of green house gases that are being emitted into the atmosphere is the same as the amount being removed. And in Australia we have a goal to achieve net zero by twenty fifty and the Coalition went
to the last election saying that they would maintain that goal. Okay, However, it has now emerged as a key part of contention within the Liberal Party and the National Party, So I guess within the Coalition as a whole about whether or not they will keep it under this new era under Susan Lee and Andrew Hasty is at the forefront of
saying the party should abandon it. And not only is he saying that they should abandon it, he's basically alluded to saying that he would actually quit the front bench, so he would quit his position as the Shadow Home Affairs Minister if the party decides to stick with net zero.
On Sky News earlier this month, when he was asked if he would quit, he said, it's a hypothetical question, but fundamentally, I wouldn't be much used to the coalition if I'm out the front trying to sell a policy I don't believe in Billy.
It's pretty unusual, isn't it to see a politician go against their leader in such an explicit way, right.
Yeah, I think that is what is important to remember here that in politics, or at least within parties, usually it is this rule that you have to stick to the party line position, which usually is set by your leader. And so what's unusual about this is that he's having these discussions with his leader kind of publicly instead of internally or privately, or perhaps he's having them internally, but it's rare that he's also having them so publicly and that they are disagreeing so publicly.
And as a seasoned senior minister and politician, he would know the impact of those kind of public comments definitely destabilizing the perception of stability in the party.
Yeah. And I also think what's interesting is that in Australia, I mean not in recent years, but if you look at kind of from the Gillard Rudd years, we went through such a period of politics within parties and.
This perception of backstabbing.
Yes, yeah, that none of the politicians within their own party could agree with each other, and it was really criticized by the public, you know, the public saying, you guys kind of need to get your stuff together because it's quite confusing that none of you are united.
And then in the years sort of post that era, there has been a concerted effort from the major parties not to be seen to have that disharmony within their ranks.
Yes, it's definitely seen as you know, disagree privately but put on a united front, and that is not what is happening right now with the coalition.
So that's net zero. We know how Andrew Hasty feels about that policy agenda specifically, but has he spoken out on any other areas contradicting Susan Lee elsewhere.
Yeah, I'll go through some of the other ones quickly. So he's also been very outspoken on immigration and saying that we need a slash net overseas migration. He's also spoken a lot about a desire to manufacture things in Australia and the way that he has spoken about those two issues have been along the more conservative lines than what the rest of his party has been saying.
Okay, got it. And so then back to this kind of speculated leadership spill, his alleged ambition to become leader. What do we know most recently about that?
So, at the time of recording, the most recent time that he was asked about it was on Thursday morning on TWOGB.
A Sydney radio station.
Yes, and when asked if he was happy under the leadership of Susan Lee, he said, look, I support Susan. Anyone who's speculating otherwise is being mischievous. My main concern is that the center right is fragmenting, So kind of shutting down the speculation, but still kind of hinting that he's not sure that the right side of politics is working at the moment.
Yeah, and it's still a kind of provocative or inflammatory suggestion.
Yes, And then when the host pushed him on this and asked if he has fear for the future of the Liberal Party specifically, he said yes. He said, I think unless we get our act together, we're going to be potentially in further decline and perhaps one day extinct. That's a pretty strong statement saying that at the way we're going, we actually could be extinct as a political movement in this country.
When we are a country with a two party system.
Yes, he also said that's why what we do over the next two years is so important. And there he's referring to the timeline of when the next election will be because in Australia we have three year cycles.
You can really understand, Billy, I think where this speculation has come from when you look at that suggestion. He's not saying that he is happy with how things are going. He's not suggesting that it's all sunshine and rainbows in the Liberal Party. And you know whether or not he has ambitions. Clearly there is still a lot of instability. So where does all of this leave us.
Billy, Essentially, it's a watch and wait. I think the main thing to keep an eye on is when the Liberal Party announces their energy policy, because that is clearly the one causing the most division amongst the party and amongst the coalition, and clearly, either way they go, it appears they will be upset within the party and that could potentially result in a leadership spill.
Do we know when to expect that energy policy.
They have not given us an any timelines. I think I presume that we will get that policy after we get the final report that I mentioned earlier that will explain what exactly went so wrong for the coalition at that election. So I think it's after they do that post mortem that they'll then look at what the future looks like.
Interesting. Well, we will keep our eyes closely on the future, and it seems like it could be a throwback to the twenty ten. When you say the words leadership's phil I think that gets everyone's attention. Philly. Thank you so so much for breaking that one down for us. Thank you and thank you for listening to today's episode. We'll be back a little later on with your afternoon news headlines, but until then, have a great day.
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Adunda Bungelung Kalkotin woman from Gadigl Country.
The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and toy Straight island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present,