Latest / The Front / Luke Skywalker vs Barnaby Joyce: the Nats’ new hope

Transcript

Luke Skywalker vs Barnaby Joyce: the Nats’ new hope · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Thursday March twelve, twenty twenty six. A huge blow
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to the Royal Commission into Anti Semitism and Social Cohesion.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Respected former Spyboss Dennis Richardson has quit the Commission, where
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: he was supposed to be investigating the role of security
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and police agencies. He's the forty five year old Luke
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Skywalker to Barnaby Joyce's Anakin. Matt Canavan is the National
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Party's new federal leader. At his first job is to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: try and destroy his old boss and his new party.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: One Nation Today National editor Dennis Shanahan on the immense
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: task facing Matt Canavan. Dennis Shanahan is The Australian's National editor. Now, Dennis,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I've got to admit I'm kind of disappointed that the
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: National Party has dumped David Little Proud as their leader
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: because I was living for your regular savagings of David
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Little Proud. You called him stupid back in January. What's
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: David Little Proud ever done to you?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Well, nothing really, and I've got nothing against him personally,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: but I think as a National Party leader, David Little
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Proud left a lot to be desired, and after his
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: resignation and his declaration that he was the greatest National
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Party leader since the famous John black Jack McEwan, I
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: don't think there's.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Been a leader since Blackjack that's achieved what I've done.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: But it takes its toll, and you just youve got
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: to say when it's time. So I've got a record
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: that I've put next to any leader.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: It sort of settled in my mind that I think
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: he had very high opinion of himself and one which
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: was probably undeserved. I mean, suggesting that his career had
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: been better and more influential than people like Doug Anthony,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: John Anderson, Tim Fisher who introduced the gun laws. It
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: just seemed to me that David Little Proud was talking
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: up his book as he was departing as National Party leader.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: But I'm buggaed, I'm buggreed.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I'll have enough. Well, good luck to him, but I
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: think that it was better if he had just set
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: back and allowed people to make judgments on his leadership
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: rather than making declarations which really didn't stand up.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I just want to read you something you wrote about
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: him back in January. This is after he said that
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: he couldn't work with the then Liberal leader Susan Lee.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: In the face of an onslaught, Little Prowd put a
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: gun to his political head and declared one more step
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and stupid gets it well. Stupid got it.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Well. Indeed, look it was part of David Little Proud's problem.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: He's renowned for having a bad temper. He was also
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: saying that he couldn't work with Susan Lee, and he
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: was trying to throw his weight around, but he didn't
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: have the weight to throw around. He was doing things
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: and the Prime Minister on Wednesday said in Parliament that
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the Coalition had picked particular days, the day of National
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Mourning for the Bondai victims, to announce various internal changes,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: leadership challenges and coalition splits, so that just as the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister was under pressure, particularly on the Bondai massacre
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Royal Commission, the Coalition delivered, and more often than not
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: it was David Little Proud who delivered the distraction, the deflection,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and as a result, while the Coalition should have been
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: hammering the Prime Minister, it all became about them. Now.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: One point here is that from October through to the
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: latest newspol survey, Anthony Albanese's personal satisfaction level as Prime
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Minister hasped seven percentage points from forty seven to forty
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: That is a very big drop. And yet during that
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: period the coalition was imploding. We had two divorces, we
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: had a leadership change and now another leadership change. And
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: so could you imagine what the Labor Party's standing would
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: have been had the Liberals and the Nationals been able
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: to get their act together and put pressure on the
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Prime minister at a time of great economic challenge. So
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: my complaint and why I was saying that the arguments
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: and the threats David Little Proud were putting up were
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: self destructive, was because they were actually helping Anthony Alberanesi
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: get out of jail.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: The new leader who the Nationals have elected is Matt Cadava,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and he's forty five years old, an economist. He previously
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: worked for KPMG, and then he really became a political
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: protege of Barnaby Joyce, who of course has now left
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: the Nationals to go to one nation. Does that mean
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: now on the right we have the master and the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: apprentice kind of battling it out for regional Australia.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a certain sort of loop skywalker element involved,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: but look, I think that Barnaby Joyce has moved on
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: to One Nation. Matt Canavan previously said that essentially that
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: was the end of their relationship, and Matt Canavan has
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: built a political career well beyond his time with Barnaby Joyce.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: They were friends, they worked together, they even were bunk
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: buddies at one stage. So what's actually happening now is
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: that we are seeing Matt Canavan facing the real threat
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: to the National Party, the immediate threat to the National Party,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: and that is the growth of One Nation. Matt Canavan's
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: job as the new leader of the National Party is
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: to immediately take on One Nation, to draw back all
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: of those Coalition supporters, largely Nationals, who have gone to
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: One Nation. In the polling, One Nation's outpolling the Coalition
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: on primary vote and not far short of Labor. So
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: one Nation and the people who are saying they're going
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: to support One Nation need to be drawn back to
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: the Nationals. That is Matt Canavan's first and prime objective.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: So I think that for the moment what we'll see
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: is more Canavan versus Barnaby Joyce than Canavan versus Anthony Alberaneesi.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: We need to have more Australian farming, more Australian manufacturing,
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: more Australian jobs. We need to have more Australian everything.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: We need to manifest a hyper of Australia here. We
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: need to go hyper Australia for our country. We need
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: more Astralian babies, we need we need more Australian humor,
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: more Australian jokes. We need more Austraian barbecues, sometimes often
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: fueled by fossil fuels. We need more Australian everything.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: We're seeing country people go through a difficult time. The
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Iran War means that there are massive diesel shortages, the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: price of fuel is going up. There's a huge amount
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: of uncertainty. Of course, they're also dealing with the cost
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: of living pressures that everyone else is dealing with. Another
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: of the issues though, that's driving them to one nation
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: is immigration, Dennis. Right now, in Australia, we're all feeling
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: pretty good about ourselves because we've got six new Uranian refugees.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: How does Matt Canavan turn the Nationals to be the
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: kind of party that country people can believe in on
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: an issue like immigration, which is really delicate and difficult
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: for the Coalition as a whole to step their way through.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Well, I think Matt Canavan's first press conference was very
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: indicative of where he intends to go. What he has
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: to do is appeal to one nation supporters or people
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: who say they are one nation supporters, not attack them,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: as Angus Taylor has said. He doesn't intend to treat
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: these people with disrespect, and I think Matt Canavan's correct
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: in that the other thing he has to do is
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: not adopt one nation policies. And in his first press conference,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Matt Canavan made the point about high immigration, saying it's
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: too high, and that of course has been the clarion
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: call from One Nation. But in that Matt Canavan made
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: a point, and a very valid point. Given your point
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: about the lionesses from Iran who have been granted asylum
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: in Australia, Matt Canavan said, look, I don't agree with
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: what Pauline Hansen has said about peace, people who shouldn't
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: be allowed into the country, or people who aren't good Australians.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: This was Matt Canavan saying, yes, immigration is too high,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: which Angus Taylor was to and we will do something
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: about it because it's affecting housing and other things. But
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: we will not adopt the rhetoric of Pauline Hanson. And
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: given that those Lionesses are Muslims, it's quite an interesting
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: point for Matt Canavan to make on this day of asylum.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Given to those soccer players.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Coming up the poison chalice, Matt Canavan now has to
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: drink while I've got to you. This weekend, the Australians
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: throwing open the website and app for new readers. Everything
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: including our archive of groundbreaking journalism, features and podcasts, is
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: free for new visitors. A look at the Australian dot
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: com dot au March fourteen and fifteen. We'll be back
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: after the break. He's got a real test coming up
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: pretty shortly. On the ninth of May. There'll be a
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: by election in the seat of Parah, which is vacated
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: by Susan Lee leaving politics after she lost the Liberal leadership.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: The Nationals are running in that seat, Dennis, even though
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: over the years traditionally there have been lots of occasions
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: when the Liberals and Nationals don't run against each other
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: for fear of splitting the vote. One Nation, of course
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: is also running and so are the Teals. Is the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: risk here that the right wing vote essentially is completely
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: split and this seat goes to the Teals.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: The polling has been appalling for the Nationals. They are
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: facing at this moment the humiliation of finishing not only
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: behind the Teals, One Nation and the Liberals and only
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: just above the Greens at the very bottom of the
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Pharaoh pole. Now, I think what we have seen with
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Matt Canavan's ascension to the leader of the Nationals is
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: a big chance for the Nationals to demonstrate that they
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: are back in the field. They'll have to compete and
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: compete seriously, but hope that the exchange of preferences between
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: the Liberals and the Nationals will actually help both of
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: them finish ahead of One Nation. If Matt Canavan can
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: take over the campaign in Pharah, and he's demonstrated already
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: he has an ability to cut through concisely with common
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: sense and saying the sort of things that appeal to
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: people who support the One Nation, then he will lift,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: certainly lift the level of National support from what it
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: is at the moment. It may still be a big
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: challenge for him, but it was clear though, of finishing
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: on a hiding to nothing. So anything at all that
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Matt Canavan can do will be seen as a bonus
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: for the Nationals and a first step back in this
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: fight against One Nation, because it's also a test for
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: one Nation. They are talking up their book big time
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: in Pharah. This is where they hope to get more
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: than one MP in the lower House, Barnaby Joyce, who
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: was elected as a National So this is a big
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: test for one Nation and if Matt Canavan can just
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: clip their wings a little, even if the Teals win
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: and the Liberals lose what is a Liberal seat, then
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: he will have achieved a bit of a breakthrough from
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: his early days as leader of the Nationals. It's a
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: poison chalice that Susan Lee left Angus Taylor, It's a
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: poison chalice that David Little Proud has left Matt Canavan.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: But they have no choice but to put it to
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: the lips and hope for the best.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: You're a famously hard marker of all sides, Dennis. Do
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: you feel something more optimistic about politics with someone like
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Matt Canavan in charge of the Nationals regardless of who
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: people support. That we might have an opposition who can
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: actually bring it to labor and be a proper opposition.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Now, well, this has been my hope all along, and
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: that I was critical of Susan Lee. I've been critical
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: of Antony Albanesi, but I was critical of Susan Lee
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: because I felt she was in a parliamentary fashion letting
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: down democracy and the supporters of the coalition. She was
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: not doing her best to call Anthony Alberanesi and Jim Chalmers,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: who really should be, you know, have their feet put
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: to the fire. There is one problem for Matt can
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: He's in the Senate, so that Matt Canavan, unlike Angus Taylor,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: can't come face to face with Antony Albernasi, with Jim
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Chalmers and Chris Bowen his great antithesis. So this is
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: a structural problem for the National Party for Matt Canavan,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: and one which if they start to decide that they
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: might have a chance of winning the next election, will
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: have to be solved by him coming to the lower House.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: It's unconventional but acceptable to have a leader in the Senate.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: It's not workable to have a deputy Prime Minister, which
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: is what the National Party leader is in coalition in government.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: This is a structural problem Matt Canavan will have to address,
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: but it's one that's well down the track and he's
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: got a few more hurdles before he gets to that point.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: I'll say, Dennis, thank you very much, Thank you, Claire.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Dennis Shanahan is The Australian's National editor and his work
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: is always unmissable. Check it out at the Australian dot
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: com dot au.