Subjects: Election, Coalition Split, Drought, Energy
E&OE
STARTS: 8.09AM
ENDS: 8:26AM
RICH SPENCE
Good morning. Yes, Rich Spence with you for the breakfast crunch. It’s 10 minutes past 8. Take care of yourself if you’re out about on the road, school zones have kicked in as of 8am. Well, let’s get to it. So May 3rd Federal Election saw Labor Albanese Government re-elected, with some key candidates from other parties losing their seats, including former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and former Greens’ Leader Adam Bandt, and just days after Sussan Ley was appointed Leader of the Liberal Party, Nationals’ Leader David Littleproud yesterday announced that the party will not re-enter a Coalition agreement with the Liberals. To talk more on these extraordinary events during and after the election, re-elected Member for Riverina at The Nationals, Michael McCormack joins me on the phone. Good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Good morning, Rich.
RICH SPENCE
Firstly, congratulations on retaining the seat of Riverina with a dominant win. Now let’s start with the news from yesterday. What circumstances have brought about The Nationals’ split from the Coalition and what does this mean for the Riverina and regional Australia moving forward? You have issued a media statement regarding this.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
The Nationals took forward to the Liberal Party, as part of what normally happens brokering a Coalition agreement, four key points to divestiture of the supermarkets, should it need to happen, so that would mean cheaper groceries and better prices for farmers at the farm gate, ensuring that there’d be a Commissioner put in place to ensure that, you know, people get looked after and not ripped off. We took to the Liberals continuing of the nuclear policy to ensure that we had reliable, affordable power, guaranteeing that obviously we, you know, if we’re going to get to net zero, we’ve got to have nuclear as part of the energy mix, its emissions free technology, universal service obligations, obviously with mobile telecommunications that …
RICH SPENCE
OK, back on the phone right now. Sorry, Michael, you cut out there.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Yes, dropped out. I had three calls coming in and I hit the wrong button, so it was my fault, certainly not the telecommunications. But while I’m on that, universal service obligations for mobile telecommunications, because they’re so critically in country areas. And the last thing, which was the Regional Future Fund, a $20 billion fund increasing each year by $1 billion dollars to ensure that we get that investment in better and more modernised infrastructure. Now the Liberals didn’t want to agree with those points straight off, and I appreciate they’re working through a rebuild, having a shattering loss at the election, but we felt that they were absolutely necessary to continue the working relationship that we’ve had with the Liberal Party for the best part of the last 80 years. But it wasn’t happening yesterday and wasn’t going to happen this week or in the not-too-distant future. And so, we’ve decided to take a break and whilst I appreciate, I’m very much a Coalitionist, just a staunch Coalitionist, whilst I appreciate that Australia is best governed by a Coalition Government with the Liberals and The Nationals working solidly together, that’s not going to happen in Opposition at this point in time.
RICH SPENCE
It was interesting in the lead-up to the Federal Election, just into Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, she was as a strong asset to the Coalition, as a Nationals’ Senator. Then she since switched to the Liberal Party in the hope of becoming Deputy Leader under Angus Taylor. And with that leadership not eventuating, do you think that defection by Senator Price may have damaged the cohesion of the Coalition?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
It certainly didn’t cause a lot of joy in the National Party room, and the only position that Jacinta Nampijinpa Price can actually achieve by not being in the National Party room and by sitting with the Liberals, is the Prime Minister’s job. And let’s be realistic here, she’s in the Upper House, she’s in Opposition. Now, you know, you have to really be the Prime Minister from the House of Representatives, the Lower House, and you have to do it obviously in Government. Now she’s a long way off from being the Prime Minister. I’ve got every respect for Jacinta, I do, and I wish her every success with the Liberal Party, I absolutely do. But, I don’t think that whole process went down very well. The fact that she was recruited, the fact that she did defect, the fact that she stood for the Country Liberal Party on a ticket and then just days after the election has left the National Party with whom she should … she went to the election on the understanding that she would … sit with the National Party and I don’t believe that anything good ever comes from somebody leaving their political party, but that’s a matter for them. That is entirely a matter for them. And as I say, I get on very well with Jacinta, I wish her every success, but a very disappointing decision by her.
RICH SPENCE
So many will be asking will this divorce be permanent or is there a chance of reconciliation, possibly to form a stronger Coalition bond and presenting a real challenge leading into the 2028 Federal Election? Is that likely? Former Prime Minister John Howard has come out, you know, critical of the decision for the Coalition to split.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
As has his Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, and I appreciate where they’re coming from, I do, but at this stage we’ve decided to take this decision. I abide by the party room’s decision, and we’ll work through it, we’ll work with the Liberals to endeavour to get back together. But the Liberals have got some sorting out to do, they’ve got some soul searching. They lost a lot of seats at the election and we’re now facing a very bleak 50-seat void in the Parliament. But interestingly, when you look at these statistics, the Labor Party has been elected with 93 seats on a 34.5 per cent primary vote, as it stands at the moment, I appreciate the declarations haven’t been made, but 34.5 per cent of the vote primary vote. When we lost Government in 2022 and only got 58 seats, we achieved 35.7 per cent as joint parties. Now you know they’ve actually lost, that’s one point something per cent below what we achieved at the last election and yet they’ve ended up with 93 seats and we ended up with 58 at the time. And I know there’s been major redistributions in WA, NSW and Victoria by the Australian Electoral Commission. But those figures stand in stark contrast with each other from the two elections. So, you know, there’s something to be looked at there, obviously. The seats with major redistributions, boundaries changed, Local Government Areas going into other areas and making some electorates stronger. But anyway, it is what it is, we now have to regroup, we have to do a lot of soul searching. We have to look at our policies. The Liberals certainly have to do that, but we’ll come back I’m sure, stronger than ever. And you asked about what does this mean for the Riverina? I’ll continue to turn up, I’ll continue to advocate for people in the Riverina, I’ll be their strong voice as I always am. I very much am humbled by the vote that the National Party received at the election. We got a, you know, quite a substantial tick towards us as far as the primary and two-party preferred vote given the fact that there were significant changes to the boundaries. And all that new area wrapping around Canberra and taking in a lot of public servants and of course, there was a record field of candidates, 13 in all. So, there were a lot of challenges at the last election, and the National Party has been re-endorsed as the party of choice here, and I’ll do my very best to uphold that faith that the people have shown in me.
RICH SPENCE
And you mentioned the loss of the Liberal seats in the outcome of the May 3rd Federal Election. It was very telling, telling given the extent of the win and the significance of the concerns within the Coalition, particularly with Peter Dutton losing his seat as well. Now for me, Michael, as an outside observer, I see that Labor won the election predominantly in the major metropolitan areas and some of the Northern Territory, much of Tasmania, while the vast expanse of mainland regional Australia, once again, remains dominated by Liberals, Nationals and independents, and that’s got to tell the story in itself, hasn’t it?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, you’re right Rich and the divide between regional and metropolitan is only growing. Metropolitan people need to understand where their resources come from to keep the lights on, they need to understand where their groceries come from to keep food on their table, and the fibre comes from to put clothes on their backs. But I don’t think that they entirely do. And if they did, I think they’d do more of the heavy lift when it came to the renewable energy situation. Now I’m going to a meeting tonight in Bowning where they’re proposing to put 90 additional wind towers between Binalong and Bowning, and these wind towers, the Yass Mayor Jasmin Jones tells me are larger than the Trump Manhattan Tower. And you know this, this is just an abomination for the landscape, for using up arable farmland, in this rush to renewables. And it’s a situation that locals are very upset about. Andrew Henderson from the Progress Association there at Bowning and Binalong has proposed this meeting tonight. I’m sure they’re going to get a lot of people there. It’s a public meeting and the company has to explain exactly what they’re proposing and what they’re doing. And at the end of the day, Chris Bowen might have a mandate as part of the election process, and I respect that, but he doesn’t have a mandate to ruin regional Australia. He doesn’t have a mandate to take up that farmland because I think the greatest moral challenge of our time is to ensure that we grow enough food to feed a hungry world and help that process. But if we keep taking up the best soil and the best agricultural farmland with these sun mirror factories, solar factories, wind towers, and it is a blot on the landscape, it’s a blot on people’s peaceful existence in these little towns and if you don’t think it’s a worry, well, probably it’s going to come to a town near you as well.
RICH SPENCE
You mentioned the divide between country and city. Just finally on the election before we move on, some media reports in the months leading up to the election stating that for the first time, Boomers would be significantly outnumbered by younger Gen Z voters. Do you think that may have boosted Anthony Albanese’s popularity? Do you think that such a large number of young voters coming to the polling booth for the first time in a Federal Election, do you think they have been influenced by some of the extreme ideology and alarmed them, that they may have, allegedly, been exposed to during the recent school year?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Interesting you used the word allegedly, I do agree you could have said that sentence without that word Rich to be perfectly frank because, you know, even with the nuclear policy, now you look at The Simpsons memes and the three-headed fish. I mean, it was all nonsense. I mean, it’s good enough for the rest of the world. Why couldn’t we actually have at least the rational, national discussion about nuclear, as a proposal, going forward as part of our energy mix, as part of making sure that we have reliable, affordable power, as part of the mix to ensure that we do get the emissions down if we have this net zero dream, it’s going to help achieve it. But you know more than that, I mean, we’ve got a group of young people from whom, at school they have been taught that climate change is a religion. We’ve gone away from the traditional religions and yes, I do believe that we need to take action on the climate, no question whatsoever. But this rush to renewables by Labor certainly, you know, putting in 2030 and 2035 targets which many people would argue unreasonable, the rubber starting to hit the road, and people are starting to jack up when they see what’s happening in their own backyards. They were proposing a solar factory near Yass the other day, which was actually bigger. than the town itself. The footprint was bigger than the town itself, and of course it was owned by an international company, as many of these are, and the profits are all going overseas. But the pain is all staying here.
RICH SPENCE
… and the wind turbines in reginal Australia, Michael McCormack, indeed! Now, Michael, now moving away from the election. Now The Hunter and Mid North Coast has been saturated with massive amounts of rain this week and it continues while the rest, west of the Divide here in the Riverina, we continue to experience drought conditions. That’s significant enough for the New South Wales government to offer drought assistance support. Has the severity of the dry conditions being recognised Federally.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Not as yet. And again, this goes that goes to show the lack of respect and care and interest by Canberra in our regional people. I’ve called on Julie Collins to come and visit the Riverina. I’ve called on the Agriculture Minister, indeed, look at the prospect immediately of providing some sort of travel subsidies, transport subsidies for stock and fodder assistance. You know, we’ve got the Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub set up in Wagga Wagga. It’s doing some great research into preparing farmers, but they need help right now, they need help immediately and it’s not forthcoming. NSW has finally been dragged kicking and screaming to the table to follow on from the work that Victoria and South Australian Labor Governments have provided but it really is up to the Federal Government to also play its part. I was at Tony Clough’s farm at Wantabadgery yesterday and they were also talking about the sheep situation. Well, now that Labor in for another three years, those live exports will be banned from WA, that valuable and viable industry will shut down. And you know, what are the farmers going to do with the eight million excess sheep? As one stock station agent said to me yesterday, what are they going to do with those sheep? They can’t process all the sheep trade in the in the West. They had animal welfare standards front and centre of everything they did and that void will now be filled by a country which does not have the sheep’s best interests of animal welfare foremost in in their minds and it’s a terrible situation when you consider that, not this the last Budget, but the one before, $124 million, the largest investment in farming, in agriculture, in Australia by this Federal Government was to stop farmers from farming, to stop that live sheep trade. So, it’s a great shame. It’s going to be phased out by 2028. And unfortunately, there’s nothing probably anybody can really do about it.
RICH SPENCE
It’s concerning as that is especially over the next three years, it’s going to be in effect before the next Federal Election is actually scheduled as well in 2028. It is National Volunteers’ Week this week and Wear Orange Wednesday today, showing support for SES workers that we’re working really hard on the Mid North Coast at the moment.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Seventy years strong. The State Emergency and Service, and what a wonderful job they do. Volunteers, young, very gender diverse. I caught up with them in the Victory Memorial gardens in Wagga Wagga just the other day and what a fantastic group of people, volunteers who give of their time selflessly to help others when they’re most in need and you have to take your hat off to them. I mean, whether it’s unfortunately a road crash, road trauma, whether it’s a flood, fire, whatever the case might be, you have your SES people out there, proudly in their in their brightly coloured uniforms helping other Australians and we see the best of Australians in the worst of times, Rich, we do, and the SES are the best of the best.
RICH SPENCE
Certainly, are and you can show your support today, Wear Orange Wednesday is today. Michael, thank you very much for your time this morning, really appreciate it.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Anytime at all, Rich. Thank you very much.
RICH SPENCE
Alright, have yourself a wonderful day. 26 minutes past 8, Member for Riverina, Michael McCormack.