‘He's dreaming': Sky News host spears outgoing Industry Minister Ed Husic after turning on party in heated ABC interview

Sky News AU

12-05-2025

Outgoing Industry Minister Ed Husic has been brought down a peg after he was booted from the Labor frontbench as part of a post-election reshuffle.
Mr Husic, along with Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, was dumped from the ministry after internal caucus votes.
Sky News was told Anthony Albanese had sympathy for the pair - as the Prime Minister was not responsible for deciding the members of ministry - but acknowledged there needed to be a refresh of the frontbench as well.
Mr Husic was quick to lash out at his party following the decision and accused Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles of acting as a 'factional assassin' in an explosive interview on ABC Insiders on Sunday.
On Monday, Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell said Mr Husic was 'dreaming' if he thought Mr Marles was the 'only architect of his demise'.
Clennell said Mr Husic was 'kind of popular' in Western Sydney, particularly among the pro-Palestinian community, but doubted there was any sniff of a scandal after his sacking.
'Is he the most talented cabinet minister that I've ever seen lose their job? No, he is not,' Clennell said.
'I think there was a bit of a self-indulgent attitude by Ed yesterday, frankly. No one out there really cares that a guy in the New South Wales right, who's not a mainstream guy, lost his job.
'Jim Chalmers wasn't getting sacked, Penny Wong wasn't getting sacked.'
Clennell said Mr Husic's accusatory interview was 'quite the dummy spit' and speculated he could cause trouble 'down the track'.
The Sky News host said there had been reports Mr Husic regularly argues with Foreign Minister Wong and Treasurer Chalmers, two of the most important and senior people in government.
'So this is perhaps where you end up when you're a relatively junior cabinet minister and you do that,' Clennell said.
Mr Husic, the first Muslim to serve as a federal cabinet minister, had been one of the few Labor voices critical of Israel's conduct in Gaza.
'Innocent civilians (were) being slaughtered in their tens of thousands and being starved out of Gaza," he said.
'I tried to find the way to be able to speak at the cabinet table and speak elsewhere, to be able to make sure that communities we represent know that their voices are heard.
'You should have the ability to speak up on the issues that you believe in. You should have the ability to question. It builds a stronger, not a weaker, party to do so.'