Transcript: Insiders with David Speers - 18 May 2025

TRANSCRIPT

INSIDERS WITH DAVID SPEERS

18 May 2025

Subjects: Energy policy, direction of the Liberal Party moving forward, federal election result, AUKUS, female voters, election review

EO&E..................................................................

David Speers: Anne Ruston, welcome to the program.

Anne Ruston: Good morning.

David Speers: So the advice and the view from industry is very clear. Stick with net zero. Are you listening to that feedback?

Anne Ruston: Well, look David, we have to listen to feedback from absolutely everybody and there's no question emissions reduction is an important part of policy going forward. Because, I mean, energy is the economy and we need to get energy policy right. But there's no secret there is a divergence of views in our party room about how we achieve that. But right now, I absolutely think the thing we need to concentrate on is making sure that people can afford their power bills, making sure that industry, as Innes points out, that they have the confidence in our energy policy in Australia, so they continue to invest here. We don't want companies going broke like we've seen. We don't want companies offshoring like we've seen. I think one of the most important issues is to get, you know, solid feedback and make sure that our energy policy is fit for purpose for modern Australia.

David Speers: But this was a commitment, an international commitment to the Paris Agreement that the Morrison Government made and that Peter Dutton stuck with. Why is it now being reviewed?

Anne Ruston: Well, David, I think the reality that we have to face as a political party, the Liberal Party, is that the electorate spoke very loudly to us two weekends ago that they didn't like what we were doing and we need to make some changes. And I think Sussan Ley is absolutely right in saying she's not going to prejudge, she's not going make any captain's call, she is going to look at absolutely everything. Because, to be quite frank, we have to build from the bottom up again, because that election result was quite disastrous for the Liberal Party. And we need to be open and honest with ourselves about what we need to take forward so that we are meeting Australia where they are, and not talking about where we are.

David Speers: Your new Liberal Senate colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has told the Australian that the net zero policy has definitely created the cost-of-living crisis. Do you agree with that?

Anne Ruston: Well, look, I think right now the most important thing for us to do as the Liberal Party, and as a coalition for that matter, is to sit down and analyse every single contributing factor to our electoral loss. So it serves no purpose to say we're going to count this in today or that not in today. I think Sussan's quite right in saying nothing's been abandoned, nothing's been adopted, let's actually look at everything. Because it's amazing when you actually get under the bonnet and pull the engine apart piece by piece what you'll find out, and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to do that because we owe it to Australia to actually be a strong opposition, to be a strong alternative government at the next election, and the only way we do that is if we rebuild from the grassroots.

David Speers: You're obviously keeping a very open mind and Senator Price, however, does seem to be making some judgments. She's also said it's impossible to get to net zero without nuclear. Should Senator Price be waiting for the outcome of these reviews?

Anne Ruston: Well, I think everybody in Australia expects us to go through a robust process. I mean, there was no doubt we lost the election in ‘22, we then lost an election in ‘25 with worse results than we saw in ‘22. So, clearly we need to be doing something different. And I think, you know, keeping an open mind, making sure that we're honest and open with that analysis of what went wrong, and actually come out with a policy proposal and a modern Liberal Party, still maintaining all of the values that we hold so dear to the Liberal Party platform.

David Speers: But should your colleagues be waiting for that process?

Anne Ruston: Well, I mean, I think everybody's entitled to their view and, you know, Senator Price, like every other colleague who makes comment either publicly or privately - those comments and those views should be considered. I think we all need to play a constructive role in what it looks like into the future and that's everybody, front bench, back bench, party members and the Australian public.

David Speers: So if the net zero commitment from the Morrison era is now open for review, I'm just wondering what else is. Around the same time, the Morrison Government signed Australia up to AUKUS. Is that under review?

Anne Ruston: Well, Sussan made it very, very clear that we are going back to basics on everything, but I'm sure, David - I'm sure, David, there will be many, many policy positions that we took to the last election that have been adopted unilaterally across our parties that will continue. But I think Sussan's right in saying no captain's calls. And we did have a very bad result, David, and I think we owe it to ourselves, to our party, to members and to Australia to make sure we look at everything. But as I said, there will probably be many, many policies that we took to the last election that will remain exactly as they are.

David Speers: Okay, but right now, is AUKUS under review for the Coalition?

Anne Ruston: Well, look, as I said, I'm not going to rule in, rule out. But quite clearly that is a very, very important policy position that has been adopted by both sides of the Parliament in fact - both the Labor Party and the Coalition. And I think it stands us in very strong stead, in very uncertain times. It's not for me to be ruling in, ruling out. The leaders made it very clear. But, I think you can read from what I've just said that I think that we would consider AUKUS a very strong platform in our policy rebuild.

David Speers: Alright, things are more likely to survive than others by the sounds of it. What about in the health portfolio in which you've you've been the shadow minister? Your support for those bulk billing incentives and other measures that Labour announced during the election campaign. Are they all? Now up in the air as well.

Anne Ruston: Well look, obviously the first thing I want to see in the health policy area is that the Labor Party actually delivers on what it's promised because Australians are doing it really tough when it comes to health. I mean, it's never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor. And so, I really wish the Labor Party well in making sure that their policies are implemented so Australians can afford to go and see a doctor. The fact that 1.5 million Australians last year didn't go to see a doctor because they couldn't afford to do so, which means they're sicker, they're ending up in our emergency departments. I mean, it's a very, very bad story to be telling.

David Speers: So you still support those measures?

Anne Ruston: Well, at this stage, as I said, I'm not ruling anything in, anything out. But I do absolutely want to see Australians getting affordable access to health care - something they haven't got at the moment and something I think is fundamental to a healthy Australia going forward.

David Speers: Some of your Liberal colleagues and National colleagues want to change abortion laws in Australia. Your South Australian Senate colleague Alex Antic and the Nationals Matt Canavan co-sponsored a bill in the last Parliament. Is that now under review as well, your position on abortion?

Anne Ruston: As far as I'm concerned, the issue of abortion is something that's well and truly in the domain of the states and territories and it should stay there. But my understanding is that there is no proposal before to make any changes in relation to the small amount of responsibility that the Federal Parliament has for this issue.

David Speers: Can you explain to viewers why Alex Antic was ahead of you on the Senate ticket in South Australia?

Anne Ruston: Well, obviously, that's a decision for the party members here in South Australia. What I'm really excited about is now having been hopefully re-elected to the Parliament for another six years to play my role as part of the team, part of the leadership team. Because I'm really excited about the opportunity to rebuild our party. I mean, of course, we were all devastated by the result. But it does provide us with an opportunity to rebuild and to actually focus on the things that are important to Australians. The reality is we need to make sure we're a strong alternative government by the time the next election comes around, so Australians have got a choice.

David Speers: But we were talking earlier about the difficulty of trying to win back the sensible centre as Sussan Ley calls it, the voters you've lost, and where your membership base is at, and it looks like the membership base in your state, South Australia has been taken over by conservatives.

Anne Ruston: Well, look, as I said, we're a broad church. I mean, that's where we work best when we're tolerant of the broad sort of range of views that we have, but our values are all the same. I mean, I don't think anybody in my party doesn't believe that aspiration is the most important thing that we should strive to be able to enable every Australian to be able to achieve. And so, I'm very happy to be re-elected and looking forward to being part of the broader team nationally to rebuild our party in the interests of a party that reflects modern Australia.

David Speers: The coalition agreement, well it's still not an agreement at the moment, it's very much up in the air. Are there any red lines? For you, any principles you won't walk away from just to keep a coalition agreement in place?

Anne Ruston: Well, I think we have to remember what the coalition agreement actually is. It is an agreement that is formal when we're in government to establish how executive government will operate between the two parties, and in opposition it's probably a less formal agreement largely focused on front bench positions and ratios, as you were just discussing with the panel earlier. And so I think we should maintain that coalition agreement as it's always been. I've never seen a coalition agreement. They're something that is not made public, but I think...

David Speers: Isn't that a bit weird? You're Deputy Senate Leader and you've never seen a coalition agreement.

Anne Ruston: Not at all. Obviously, it's an arrangement between the top of the Liberal Party and the top of the National Party. But it's about, my understanding is, it's about things like front bench positions and ratios and the like.

David Speers: So leave policy matters like net zero and nuclear out of it?

Anne Ruston: Well, Liberal Party policy is developed in the Liberal Party party room. National Party policy is delivered in the National Party party room. And Coalition policy is designed or is agreed to around the Shadow Cabinet table. So a Coalition Shadow Cabinet will be the one that will put forward Coalition policy. We should never shy away from the fact that we've got two separate party rooms that go through policy processes separately.

David Speers: Okay, but from what you're saying, these matters of nuclear and net zero shouldn't be in that Coalition agreement, it should be for the Shadow Ministry and the Shadow Cabinet once you're in coalition to work out.

Anne Ruston: Look, absolutely. And I make no secret of the fact that I am a coalitionist. I think that we are strongest when we're in coalition with the National Party and I look forward to seeing the outcomes of these constructive conversations that are going on at the moment between David Littleproud and Sussan Ley.

David Speers: Do you think you will stay in coalition?

Anne Ruston: I certainly hope so, because as I said I'm a coalitionist and I believe we're strongest when we are together.

David Speers: Would you give them seven spots, give the Nats seven cabinet spots to make sure you do get that coalition you're hoping for?

Anne Ruston: Look, this is not a decision for me, but the one thing I know for sure is that Sussan has made it very clear that she's going to be ultra consultative in her process. I think the one thing that will mark Sussan's reign is that she will be extraordinarily fair.

David Speers: When it comes to working out what went wrong at the election, the worst ever result for the Liberal Party. I know you have suggested that the party could use artificial intelligence to help understand where it went wrong. Can you just explain that? What role would AI play in this process?

Anne Ruston: Well, very interestingly, last week after the election result, I just used some off-the-shelf AI just to ask what AI thought about the Liberal Party and the election result. There was a, I think, probably more...

David Speers: What did it say?

Anne Ruston: Well, actually, more than anything, it showed me that there were so many different issues that Australians were considering when they went to the ballot box to vote, that I think it shows us that we absolutely have to look at everything, because there was no clear theme - apart from quite clearly the Australian public went to the ballot box and didn't vote for us, I think...

David Speers: So what did AI tell you - was it nuclear, was it Peter Dutton, was it the public service cuts? What did it suggest?

Anne Ruston: There was no clear theme that came out of it, but it basically said that the product offering that we took to the Australian public, we know quite clearly, Australians did not support and we need to go back to the drawing board and have a look at all of the issues that factored into it. Many issues have been ventilated over the last two weeks by colleagues, by commentators, and every single one of them deserves the respect of being considered as part of a broader process.

David Speers: Okay, but in this process that you go through, are you suggesting that you'll get more data, feed that into artificial intelligence and then get some clearer answers?

Anne Ruston: Look, not at all. That was a line that - I made the comment, I think, on radio one day this week. There's many ways that we need to address this. We need to speak to our party members, we need speak to the frontbench and the backbench. We need to make sure the backbench is included in the process of going forward. We need speak to the Australian public. But obviously, technology gives us an opportunity to be able to collate the broader commentary across Australia. That's something that we probably haven't had access to before and we should use that as well. Every tool that's available should be used.

David Speers: In terms of winning back women. Labor will now have 51 women in the lower house. The Liberals will have six, seven at best. Your new leader, Sussan Ley, has previously suggested the Liberal Party consider quotas for a certain number of women to be in Parliament for the Liberal Party and she nominated a quota of 40 per cent at one stage. After this election defeat, are you now more open to the idea of quotas?

Anne Ruston: Well, look, I think we need to look at all options to make sure that we have got more women in the Parliament. Disappointingly, 28 fantastic women put their hand up to run for us at the last election and didn't get up. So one of the things that I'm really keen to do over the next three years, particularly, is to make sure each and every one of those 28 women are supported and encouraged so that they will put their hands up hopefully again in three years time. At the same time, we've had a couple of fantastic new women coming into the Parliament, making sure that they've got pathways within the Parliament to rise to leadership positions in our party. But I think we have to look at everything - the pipelines of more women in our party structure, making sure that the pathway for women in our party to be able to get into our parliament, and then making sure that when the women are in the parliament that they have got a supported pathway so that they can take leadership positions.

David Speers: And look at quotas as well?

Anne Ruston: I'm saying nothing should be off the table.

David Speers: And having your first woman leader in Sussan Ley, will that make a difference in terms of the policy offerings to win back women voters?

Anne Ruston: I think our policy offerings need to reflect the feedback that we get more broadly across Australia. We had two great candidates put their hands up for the leadership position this week, and I think, you know, both great, really good candidates. But Sussan won on Tuesday and it's been great to see that all the colleagues have come out and said that they're absolutely 100% behind supporting Sussan going forward. She will bring her own unique style. I mean, she's had an incredible depth of experience in various areas in her life. Her life story is one you could write a book about. So I'm really looking forward to working with Sussan and the rest of the party room to make sure that we present the best possible Liberal Party going forward. A Liberal Party that actually, I think it's been said, meets Australia where they are so that we're actually responding to what Australians want on the ground.

David Speers: Did Angus Taylor offer you the Deputy leadership to support him?

Anne Ruston: Look, I'm making no comment about anything that happened during that process. I absolutely believe in the confidentiality of our party room, and I would never breach any confidence. Don't read into that anything, whether it was a yes or a no, I just never breach confidences.

David Speers: Finally, will you be seeking or you're hoping for a new portfolio? Would foreign affairs perhaps be something for you Anne Ruston?

Anne Ruston: Look, I will serve in whatever role the leader believes that my skills and experience are best suited to. I just really am excited and looking forward to being part of a team going forward. And whatever role that I play in that, I'll be delighted to take on.

David Speers: All right, Senator Anne Ruston, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

Anne Ruston: My pleasure.

ENDS