Transcript: Sunday Agenda with Andrew Clennell, Sky News - 1 February 2026

TRANSCRIPT

SUNDAY AGENDA WITH ANDREW CLENNELL, SKY NEWS

1 February 2026

Topics: Liberal Party leadership, the National Party, Shadow Ministry positions, new hospital funding agreement, aged care crisis, Anika Wells

E&OE…………………………………

ANDREW CLENNELL: Joining me live now, Shadow Health Minister, Deputy Liberal Senate Leader, Anne Ruston. Anne Ruston, thanks so much for your time. 

ANNE RUSTON: Thank you for having me. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Do you expect a challenge to Sussan Ley on Tuesday? 

ANNE RUSTON: I don't expect a challenge to the leadership at all. I think we're all pretty focused in getting back to Canberra. And as you rightly pointed out in your introduction, the most important thing this week is sadly we are expecting another rate rise from the RBA and the impact that's going to have on Australians. So, that's what we're all very much focused on. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Do you expect a challenge to Sussan Ley in the next fortnight? 

ANNE RUSTON: No, I don't. I mean, there's obviously been speculation, but I quite frankly believe entirely that Sussan Ley has the support of the party room and that she will remain our leader into the future. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Should Angus Taylor resign from the frontbench if he's made it clear he wants to challenge at some point to colleagues? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I always welcome my colleagues having ambitions to make sure that our party has leadership opportunities into the future, but right now the leader is Sussan Ley and I think everybody's been quite clear on the frontbench that they support the Leader, and we just need to get on with the job. I mean, talking about and speculating about leadership does nothing to serve the important issues that the Australian public are facing, not the least of which is that they're struggling to pay their bills. So, I think we need to focus on that and leave the speculation behind. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: What did you make of the footage of Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie meeting at a meeting organised by James Patterson on the day of the memorial service for Katie Allen? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, obviously, that's a matter for them, but colleagues meet all the time about all sorts of issues. I mean, I've had many meetings - I've probably had 10 meetings this week with colleagues on various issues that relate to my portfolio and other matters. But, obviously, on Thursday it was a very solemn day for many of us who were very close friends to Katie Allen, an amazing woman, an amazing service to celebrate a great life that was cut short. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: So was it a good idea for these two blokes to decide to meet at a meeting arranged by another bloke on that day in particular? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, as I said, people meet all the time and the reason and the circumstances around those meetings are a matter for them. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: How would you describe the feeling in the party room at the moment between left and right? 

ANNE RUSTON: Look, I think most of us just want to get on with the job of being the alternative government, developing policies, but most particularly holding this incredibly bad government to account. I mean, I could sit here and spend the rest of your program telling you about the concerns that I have in my portfolio areas about the failures of the Government, whether it be health, whether it be aged care, whether the NDIS or disability in general. And I think that the overwhelming majority of the party room just wants to focus on that, because the Australian people elected us to the Parliament to make sure that we were representing their best interests, and the best thing that we can do is focus on that and I am absolutely confident that my party room has that as their focus. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: All right, do you agree with my contention that you've got a real problem at the moment because Sussan Ley is battling opponents not only in Labor, but she's also battling the Nationals and she's also battling the right of the Liberal Party. You must be looking around wondering who's the enemy. 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I mean, being the leader in opposition is always going to be a really tough gig. I don't think there'd be any opposition leader whether it be from the Labor Party or the Coalition that wouldn't say the leader of the opposition is tough and it's made doubly tough after an election result like we had last May. So I think Sussan's been doing an amazing job of being the leader in the toughest time that I can remember being in the Parliament. I don't think that it's particularly unusual that - there are always great challenges at this time and you just have to make sure that you continue to focus on what's really important. And as I said, and I sound like I'm repeating myself, but the reality is that the most important thing we can be doing is focus on things that are important to Australians and I think that's what Sussan is trying to do. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: It sounds like you're repeating yourself because you are, Anne Ruston, and that's fair enough. But I just - the Nationals, what is unusual is a split with the Nationals, right? So how do you expect Question Time to operate on Tuesday with the Nationals on the backbench? How many questions are you expecting? How do you expect it to operate? 

ANNE RUSTON: All of those things are a matter of convention and always have been a matter of convention, and things are allocated on the basis of proportionality and I'm sure that's the way it will work next week. But there's an incredible depth of talent in the Liberal Party, and I know I'm absolutely confident that next week that we'll turn up into the Parliament and we'll prosecute our issues the same way we always have, and making sure that the Government is asked the tough questions because there are so many tough questions that the Government needs to answer. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Yeah, but you only have about four or five questions, won't you? You better make them good, I guess. 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, we make all of our questions good. I mean, in the Senate, we have always operated in that way. I'm not going to pass judgement or pretend that I have great understanding about the day-to-day runnings of the House of Representatives, but I know how the Senate runs and you will see no difference in the Senate next week in terms of how the Opposition handles Question Time or all the other processes in the Senate. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Has Sussan Ley made any attempts to meet David Littleproud to try to resolve this before Parliament's on? 

ANNE RUSTON: My understanding is that the leader of the National Party has asked that all matters for discussion are left until after the leadership ballot tomorrow. Now, I'm not privy to all the goings on, but that is my understanding, is that David Littleproud has requested that the meeting not take or any meetings take place until after his leadership issues in his party room have been resolved. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Some of your colleagues think the deadline that was set by Sussan Ley the other day for the Nationals, of your people taking on other shadow positions by February 9 if the coalition's not back is too short a deadline. What do you say to that? 

ANNE RUSTON: I think the most important thing that we should be doing is making sure that we are providing certainty to the Australian public about an opposition going forward. I mean, obviously, I'm a coalitionist. I've never made any secret of the fact that that's what I am, and I'd like to see the Liberal Party and the National Party remain in coalition. However, the most important thing for the Australian public and being an effective opposition is that we get on with the job, and the only way you get on with the job is by settling things down and actually putting things in place so that Australians have certainty about what the future looks like with the Opposition. So I think that is an incredibly important thing to do and I support the Leader's decisions, actions and timelines in that effect. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Well, the certainty is unless you get back in coalition you can't win an election, isn't that the certainty? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I think you've only got to look at history to say that that actually isn't true. But, of course, we are always stronger when we are in coalition and I absolutely agree with that. But, you know, to be the Opposition, we need to be - [interrupted]. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: You think you can just win as the Liberal Party, do you? 

ANNE RUSTON: It's happened before, Andrew, and I think the one thing that we've learnt in politics is that you never say never, things change very, very quickly. But right now, the most important thing for us is to be a credible opposition and to get on with the job that matters. Look, I accept that there's interest in what's going on at the moment and people are speculating and want to talk about it and that's absolutely fine, but what I'm telling you is that I don't think that's the most important thing for me to be doing or for my colleagues to be doing. I think the most important thing is that we actually are addressing the issues that are important to Australians. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: How are you looking forward to adding agriculture and forestry to your areas of portfolio responsibility? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, having been the Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Forestry and Fisheries in the past, I mean, it is a bit of a return to something that I know quite well, and obviously I come from rural and regional South Australia. Having been an irrigator for many, many years of my life and somebody who grew things for many years of my life, it's obviously an area that I really enjoy and I probably understand intrinsically from having been involved in it quite well. It's only for a week, but yeah, I look forward to re-engaging with my stakeholders as I have done over the weekend just to make sure I'm back up to speed. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Well, how do you know it's only a week? How do you know it's only for a week? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I've been appointed acting – well, the Leader has given a timeframe as you said to the 9th of February, so I'm only assuming that I've got agriculture for that period of time. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Is there any world where Sussan Ley would have Ross Cadell, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald back in the Shadow Ministry in a week's time? 

ANNE RUSTON: I'm not going to speculate about the discussions that may take place between the leaders following the National Party's resolution of their leadership tomorrow. All I would hope is that we are able to get back to focusing on the important things with or without the National Party in coalition. But as I said, as a coalitionist, I hope matters can be resolved, but I'm not going to speculate on the discussions which might take place this week. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: I want to ask about this deal with the Commonwealth and the States on health and the NDIS. Is this a good outcome? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, it's a good outcome in the sense that it provides some certainty at last for the states and territories and Australians who rely on our hospital system around the country. But, quite frankly, two years to negotiate a deal and leaving the states and territories and Australians who need hospital services in limbo is really quite unacceptable. 

The other thing too is that nobody is really focusing on the fact that part of the problem of why the states and territories have required this additional funding is failures by the Federal Government. I mean, we've seen thousands but thousands of older Australians that are bed-blocked in our hospital system costing hundreds of millions of dollars because of the Government's failure in aged care. We similarly have people who should be in appropriate accommodation with the NDIS that are stuck in hospital because they can't get access to that.

So, quite frankly, what we saw on Friday was Anthony Albanese's failure to negotiate for two years and then he's had to pay 25 billion extra dollars to fix a problem that was to a large extent of Anthony Albanese's making. So it does concern me that the failures of the Labor Government once again are being paid for by the taxpayer, but we do welcome the certainty that the signing of an ongoing agreement does provide for people who rely on our hospital system across the country. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: It appears we'll see an interest rate hike this week. How bad do you think this inflation problem could become for Australia and what sort of budget should the Government deliver in light of last week's inflation figure? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I mean, all of the commentators are suggesting that part of the reason or lion's share of the reason why we are likely to see an interest rate rise on Tuesday is because of the inflationary impact of the policies of this government. So, first and foremost, the Government actually has to have a very serious look at its policies and make sure that they don't continue to be inflationary. But, of course, we don't want to see an interest rate rise on Thursday, but I think you're quite right, Andrew. Certainly the commentators are suggesting it's very likely that we will see one. And the biggest tragedy for this is on the households of everyday Australians who are already struggling to pay their mortgages, their electricity bills, pay for their insurance or when they turn up at the supermarket, and it will just be another blow to them and their hip pockets and their ability to provide for their families. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Just finally, you're there in Melbourne, can I assume you're there for the tennis? I note Anika Wells is not. The Sports Minister, is she in a position to stay Sports Minister when she's apparently too ashamed to travel and go to sporting events? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, obviously, who the Sports Minister is is a matter for Anthony Albanese and I'll leave that speculation to him. But I've been in Melbourne for a few days visiting with colleagues. I've out with Dan Tehan in Wannon and just speaking to people on the ground about the impact of the policies of this government in my areas of responsibility, health, aged care and the NDIS. And I have to say it's very sobering in speaking to people - people who are actually impacted by the changes that are being proposed, the uncertainty that's created around things like Thriving Kids. It is very, very devastating to speak to these people, but that's what I've been doing for the last week. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: What are you doing tonight, going to the tennis, or did you go last night? 

ANNE RUSTON: No, I didn't go last night and I'm not going tonight. I'm getting myself prepared for what is going to be a big week in parliament this week. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: There you go, Anne Ruston. Thanks for your time. 

ENDS