Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Zali Steggall: Independent member for Warringah ahead of the Australian Election

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Zali Steggall: Independent member for Warringah ahead of the Australian Election · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So he's going to the polls tomorrow. It was close,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: was close, elbows now pulled ahead. Will he lose his
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: majority though? Will he need the Greens? Does he need
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to do some kind of deal the Tials? Who know
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: about the Tills a very big movement over there. The
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: founding member Zalie Stiegel, she took the seat from Tony Abatt,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: remember that who had it for twenty five years. Azari's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: with me this morning, Good morning.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Good morning, line.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: So how do you think this is going to play out?
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: What chance do the Tills have? Do you think of
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: holding the balance of power after this?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Ah, that's a million dollar question many journalists are asking. Look,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: I think what we can see is in austrange politics,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: the confidence in the major parties keeps decreasing. People are
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: frustrated and over the old you know, politics for power.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: They want to see a focus on policy on people
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and communities, and so that primary vote keeps dropping for
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: the major parties, and we're seeing the rise of community independence,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: you know, sometimes labeled tials that are all around the country,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: in many, many communities. And I think it's about thirty
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: five candidates around the country now that have really decent
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: shots at changing the narratives in those people.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Who would you be most comfortable dealing with.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Look, I'm not particularly open to a deal per se.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I think I will look obviously the will of the
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Astrand people. I will look at. An essential element for
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: me is stability, making sure we have good function in government.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: The australiand people have very real issues they need dealing
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: cost of living, climate risk, insurance, you know, our national security.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: All these issues need a stable hand. So I think
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: transition is really important to look for stability, but ultimately
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I will tackle the issues as they come and on
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: their merits. So I have a very clear pitch to
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: my community around the issues that I will champion, right
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: from fiscal discipline and integrity, climate risk and these are
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: things that I will continue to look to legislation from
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: either major party to how we can best progress that. Now.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Obviously convention in Parliament has evolved towards this by polarized
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: system of the two party politics. But our convention doesn't
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: talk about political parties. It actually talks with a House
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: of Representatives. So the constitution actually allows for a very
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: different model of politics to evolve. And I think that's
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: what a mature Australian Parliament can look like is actually
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: having more genuine debate and genuinely looking at the the
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: issues we need to do for the best interest of
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: austrange people.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: So you don't actually want to do a deal with anyone,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: You don't want to be in a coalition, You don't
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: want to do confidence and supplier. You basically want to
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: sit on the cross benches and vote by vote.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: I will tackle legislation on its merits looking at those issues. Obviously,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: the question of supply and confidence will come down to
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: numbers as a result of the election, capacity to pass
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: legislation from one side or the other. When it comes
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: to money bills, there's a lot of I guess convention
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: that is not actually required Constitutionally. A party can go
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: to the Government General to form government without having a
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: signed deal per se. It is just a question of
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: whether they would be able to survive a no confidence motion.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Now again I would not for me. You know, it's
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: very important to have stable operating government and I think
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: that again will be part of the consideration post the election.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Just give us a sense of who the Teals are.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: You're physically conservative that you've obviously got a climate leans
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: on you.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: What does your voter base want from you?
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Look, I guess we're very representative of our communities. But
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: what it is is actually communities frustrated with old style politics,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: you know, the old school of the major parties slinging
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: it out against each other. A lot of negatives are advertising,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: always really spreading smear and fear, but very little vision
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: or positive proposals for our community. So we are not
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: a party, so we vote very independently of one another,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: but we're very aligned on values around merit based policy,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: around fact base, around sound and good law, around integrity, equality,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: addressing the big issues, having political courage to talk about
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: the things that are hard to do but that currently
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: our political system are just kicking the can down the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: road and not addressing.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Can you just make this really clear for Kiwi's listening
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: to this this morning. If it's really tight and you've
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: got Labor and the Greens on one side, and you've
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: got the Coalition on the other and neither of them
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: can actually govern them without support from some tilsome independence.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: Who do you go with?
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Well, again, I don't think that will be the question,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Keeping in mind coalition is already an agreement between the
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Liberal Party and the National Time so that is already
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: a coalition in itself. I want to understand the terms
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: of that agreement. I think there will be a question
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: of is there a mandate for change of government or not,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: depending on the will of the Australian people. And I
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: will be guided by the numbers and there are so
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: many variations what could be possible.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: But however Australians support more, you would lean towards I.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Would because again that shows a capacity for stability, which
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: I think is an essense, That is an essential aspect.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: All right, Zali, appreciate you coming on the program. That
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Zalie Stiegel. She's the MP for Wringer. She replaced Tony
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Abbott who had the seat for twenty five years. She's
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: a teel and independent. And since that interview, there's a
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: U Gava Bulb poll and if you believe the polls,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and certainly that wasn't the case when Scomo surprised Surprise
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: one in twenty nineteen, but it has the coalition on
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: track for their worst result in eighty years. Elbow actually
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: expanding his majority eighty four seats in the Parliament, well above,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: of course, the seventy six that you need. The Coalition
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: drops forty seven seats, a net loss of eleven.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live
• 5:53
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• 5:53
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• 5:57
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