Transcript: Interview with Kieran Gilbert, Sky News - 17 November 2025

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH KIERAN GILBERT, SKY NEWS

17 November 2025

Topics: Liberal Party leadership, the Coalition’s plan for affordable energy, Labor’s failed energy policy 

E&OE…………………………………

KIERAN GILBERT: Welcome back to Newsday. Let's go live to the Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston. Thanks for your time. You've put out a statement today. You wanted to clear things up from a moderate perspective within the Liberal Party. Can you explain to our viewers what the message is? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I've spoken to a lot of my colleagues this morning and I can confirm that every single one of the moderates that I spoke to this morning supports Sussan Ley as the leader of our party and just wanted to make sure that that was very clear given the speculation that we've seen in the media overnight. 

KIERAN GILBERT: Do you think it's a case of maybe one or two having a hissy fit, annoyed at the way that the net zero debate had unfolded? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, look, obviously somebody has spoken to the media, maybe one, maybe two, I'm not sure. But quite clearly they've expressed a view in the media. But I think the thing that I wanted to make sure was really, really clear is that the overwhelming number of the moderates, or the people who would consider themselves on the more progressive side of the party, back the Leader - they back her in and we are really keen to get on with the job of going out and selling an energy policy that focuses on affordability and reliability for Australian households and Australian businesses, because I quite frankly think that's what the Australian public wants us to do. 

KIERAN GILBERT: Do you think that Sussan Ley will be safe now until the new year? 

ANNE RUSTON: Look, I absolutely support Sussan. I think that she is going to be the Leader and will take us to the next election. And right now, she's out with Dan Tehan and David Littleproud selling a really important policy for Australians because, quite frankly, the Labor Party's energy policy at the moment is a complete disaster for Australian households and Australian businesses. And you've only got to have a look at the things that we've been seeing in the media of recent weeks - I mean, a thousand people who work at Tomago have their future uncertain. That's a thousand people with a thousand families who the Prime Minister said at the start of the year was a classic example of manufacturing in Australia and then, you know, little more than six or eight months later, these people have got great uncertainty about their futures and their jobs. I mean, this is the most important thing is making sure that we have got affordable and reliable power and a stable grid, so that we can underpin Australian families and underpin our economy through Australian businesses. 

KIERAN GILBERT: Yeah, I'll ask you about the policy specifically in a moment, but when it comes to Sussan Ley, do you accept that there's an argument that you can't roll your first female leader within a year - you've got to give her some time to perform or otherwise? 

ANNE RUSTON: Look, of course I'm really proud of the fact that our party has got its first female leader, but I think that nobody should be considering any sort of a challenge at the moment. We've got a really important job at the moment. We've got to call the Government out for their failures and we've got to show the Australian public that we've got an alternative policy agenda. And so that's what we should be talking about right now. And so I absolutely support stability. I support my leader and I'll continue to do so. 

KIERAN GILBERT: Does the policy allow government support for new coal-fired power stations? 

ANNE RUSTON: I think we need to be clear about the near-term and the longer-term. I think everybody accepts the fact that we need to sweat every single asset, every single opportunity and all of our resources to make sure that we put some stability back into our energy grid. And we're already seeing states and territories extending the life of their coal-fired power stations to make sure that they have got that baseload power that will underpin their energy in their states and territories. So, I think we take that as a given. But we need to have a strong and stable energy grid going forward that can stand on its own two feet. And that means that it doesn't need government support or subsidies. The market will actually allow our energy system to work properly using the market as the basis for that, and that's what we are striving for. 

KIERAN GILBERT: As a moderate, are you comfortable with this policy in its entirety? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I think the thing that we need to be really clear here is the overwhelming sentiment of our party room – and there was no debate or dissent at all – is that Australians have got a dog of an energy policy before them at the moment that is destroying businesses, destroying our economy and putting incredible pressure on family and household budgets. So, everybody agreed that something needed to be done about making sure that we stabilised our energy grid and we started to put pressure on bringing prices down for Australians, because we cannot continue to watch – I mean, forty percent increase in energy prices in the last three years – we cannot sustain that kind of increase in energy prices and not see some catastrophic results happen to Australian businesses, our economy and obviously to household budgets. So, I think we need to be clear that the overwhelming majority of the issues that were before our party room were universally agreed. 

KIERAN GILBERT: And just on the edges of the policy though, are you comfortable with the whole thing? You've spoken about the majority of the issues there's agreement. There's some issues there weren't. Are you comfortable with the whole thing now? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, look, I don't think that it would be any surprise to your listeners that there were a wide range of views that were expressed in the party room and in the shadow ministry. But one of the things that I've always been a really strong believer is that if you listen to the views of everybody, you can develop a policy – I mean, you always have to have a compromise when you do have different views. But I think the most important thing is that we have a policy now, it's focused firmly on Australia and Australians, and now we need to get on with the job of telling Australians that we've got their interests, we're putting their interests first, and we're going to work day and night between now and the next election to make sure that that is the case. 

KIERAN GILBERT: Can you win back some of those seats in the urban areas lost in recent years, recent elections? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, we absolutely have to focus on making sure that we've got policies that apply to all Australians. And this is just but one of a suite of policies that we'll be unveiling over the coming weeks and months. I mean, the Leader's already indicated that a very strong focus going forward now is around making sure that we've got a strong and credible immigration policy and population-based policy. And of course, in my own area, I've been working very hard to make sure that we're holding the Government to account on their failures in health, in aged care and in the NDIS, because we need to make sure that those policies are working because some of the most vulnerable Australians rely on those things. So, I think it's absolutely incumbent that we focus on a policy suite that focuses on the interests of modern Australia and we go out there and talk to modern Australia about what we've got to offer. But at the same time, this is a terrible government, they are failing Australians, and we need to also point that out. 

KIERAN GILBERT: It looks like there needs to be a bit of clarity around unity on a few different issues though as well, because I spoke to Sarah Henderson before and I asked her a similar question to what I asked you about coal-fired power stations and said, “does the policy allow government funded support for new coal-fired power stations?” She said, absolutely yes, a hundred percent. She was on board with it. You were talking about sweating current assets. So to me it does sound like there still needs a bit of clarity around exactly what it means for the Liberal and the Coalition policy. 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, in the short-term, we need to bring every single resource and every single technology online because our energy grid is in a reasonably precarious state. I come from South Australia, I see what happens when you don't have baseload power and you know the big extension cord to the east coast goes down. So, I think it is very clear that we need to make sure that whatever we can do to bring into our energy grid to stabilise it, to give it strength going forward, needs to be brought online. And, quite frankly, if that includes new coal-fired generation, well that's fine if it stacks up. But the reality is that we need to have a long-term energy grid that has got strength and stability such that it does not require government investment or underwriting, because we need to have a system that's strong enough to stand on its own two feet. 

KIERAN GILBERT: Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston, thanks for your time. Appreciate it. 

ENDS