Transcript: Interview with Matt Stephens, ABC Riverland - 3 February 2026

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH MATT STEPHENS, ABC RIVERLAND

3 February 2026

Topics: Liberal Party and the National Party, wine industry, no interest loans for farmers and growers

E&OE…………………………………

MATT STEPHENS: Locally, Senator for South Australia Anne Ruston has taken on the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry portfolio, but it's not necessarily intended to be a permanent appointment. Good morning.

ANNE RUSTON: Good morning, Matt.

MATT STEPHENS: I'll come to your thoughts on the National Party soon, but realistically, is there anything you can do in this portfolio given the short space of time?

ANNE RUSTON: Well, obviously, I've only got the portfolio for the next few days as negotiations continue between the National Party and the Liberal Party, but it doesn't mean to say that I haven't maintained an incredible interest in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, having previously been the Assistant Minister and, of course, you would well know it's very close to my heart having been brought up in and lived in our beautiful Riverland for just about all of my life. I'm very keen to make sure that the issues that need to be prosecuted in Canberra - and things are pretty tough up there right now I know from first-hand experience - and making sure that we've got a loud voice in Canberra. So, great opportunity, even if it's only for a week.

MATT STEPHENS: The appointment has come from the latest split of the Liberals and Nationals. Was it really necessary for the three National Senators to be forced to resign?

ANNE RUSTON: Well, one of the things that is absolutely the fundamental basis of the Westminster system is a thing called cabinet solidarity and obviously that flows over to shadow cabinet solidarity in the alternative government that sits in the Parliament. And, quite frankly, you cannot operate a system if you don't have cabinet solidarity. You can't have people who are a party to the main decisions around policy, about keeping the Government to account and developing new policy, if people are just freelancing as they please. In the Coalition, we've always had a rule that if you're on the backbench, you're free to be able to move around the Chamber as you please. But when you're in a position of executive responsibility, so a shadow minister or a minister, you are bound by that particular convention and I think it is very, very important and fundamental to how our government runs.

MATT STEPHENS: There was no possibility for a conscience vote on this, considering what was being voted on?

ANNE RUSTON: Well, it's not a conscience vote. A conscience vote is not something that is a matter of national security. National security should never be a conscience vote. So, I think that there was no possibility there, and I think it was a tremendously important issue to send a signal to the nation that we take the safety of all Australians very, very seriously. I mean, the legislation that we were voting on was very simply about making sure that organisations that were extremist [Islamist] activists and neo-Nazis could actually be banned. There were very tight controls around that. That was the fundamental basis of this legislation, and in doing so we were trying to make sure that we sent a very strong signal to Australians that we take their safety seriously.

MATT STEPHENS: Anne Ruston is a Senator for South Australia. Let's come back to a local issue which fits in your current portfolio of agriculture and that's the state of the wine industry. I suppose in some positive news, Riverland Wine appointed Brigid Nolan as the Chair. What's your reaction to that?

ANNE RUSTON: Well, obviously, there could be no more important position to hold at the moment for the wine industry than the chair of our wine industry association in the Riverland, because there are some really tough decisions that need to be made and there's really big advocacy that needs to be taken up to both the state and the federal governments who, quite frankly, appear to have been missing in action. I mean, I've been watching this from afar. I know that Tim Whetstone, your local member, has been calling for the State Government to get up to the Riverland and speak to families that are being impacted by the terrible prices that we're seeing in the wine industry. And the same thing goes for the Federal Government - they really do need to get out of Canberra and out of their Canberra bubble and go and actually see for themselves the impact that these prices are having right across the nation, no more so than in our home area of the Riverland.

MATT STEPHENS: One of the issues that the new Chair said she would be tackling is advocating for horticultural zoning to be changed to allow growers to subdivide their land. That's one of the priorities there. Let’s crystal ball gaze for a moment, Senator - if you were to continue with this portfolio, is that something you'd support?

ANNE RUSTON: Well, first and foremost, I'd like to sit down with Brigid and all of the wine industry across Australia, but in this instance with Brigid, and actually work out and map out a plan about how we can best support our growers and our communities through what is the toughest time I can remember, and I've been around a while Matt, to work out what is going to deliver the best long-term solution for our growers, but also for our region. Because you can't solve for one problem and create another problem somewhere else. Now I'm not suggesting for a minute that's the case, but I think it's one of those things where we need to sit down and have a whole plan about how we move where we are to where we need to be, so that we've got sustainable long-term agriculture, irrigated agriculture in the Riverland into the future that is a strong basis so that we aren't constantly at the whim of international fluctuations that are often not the fault of the growers, the community or even the industry for that matter in this country.

MATT STEPHENS: Like a lot of people who are dealing with drought at the moment, there have been calls from the grape growing industry and wine industry for no or low interest loans. Is that something that can be provided by government at any point?

ANNE RUSTON: Look, absolutely. That was the purpose for the Regional Investment Corporation to be established in the first place, which was established actually by Barnaby Joyce a number of years ago when we were in government. And that was the exact reason why the RIC was set up in the first place is because we know that our growers, our agriculturists, our foresters and our fishers, they don't want handouts. What they want is to be able to get through the tough times without the additional pressure of knowing that they've got to pay back loans or with their accruing interest on loans. So, they really are just asking for help for the period of time that they need, and then when things get back to where they should be, then they're quite happy to repay their loans. So, I think that is exactly what we should be doing. We should be saying to the agricultural sector, when times are tough, this facility will be available to you so you can get access to the money that you need so you don't have the bank breathing down your neck, you can pay your bills and you can work your way through a tough time so that when you get into good times you're still there and you're still growing the food or growing the fibre that the nation needs.

MATT STEPHENS: Senator, I know you've got a busy day and we're about to hit the news, so thank you very much for your time this morning.

ANNE RUSTON: My pleasure, thanks Matt.

ENDS