Latest news with #AndrewHastie
ABC News
6 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Suspected boat arrivals from China discovered in Arnhem Land
Up to eight people, believed to be from China, have been detained by border protection authorities after reaching a remote part of the Northern Territory coast by boat earlier this week. The ABC has been told the first six members of the group were discovered by local workers on Tuesday while walking near the remote Indigenous township of Maningrida, approximately 500 kilometres east of Darwin in Arnhem Land. Another two men were picked up the following day by Indigenous rangers before eventually being taken into custody by the Australian Border Force, which has so far not commented on the operation. It's unclear where the group has now been taken, but a source familiar with the interception says the men were believed to be Chinese and had reached the Australian mainland by sea before being detected. So far authorities have not discovered any boat used by the suspected Chinese nationals, raising the possibility they were dropped off the Northern Territory coast by an Indonesian fishing vessel. Last year the ABC reported on several suspected people smuggling operations involving Chinese nationals, including a venture which was disrupted by Indonesian authorities 12 months ago. The Australian Border Force and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke have both declined to answer questions about the arrivals, saying the government does not comment on "operational matters". Newly appointed Shadow Home Affairs Minster Andrew Hastie says if confirmed, the arrival of Chinese nationals was a demonstration of the Albanese government's "underinvestment in our border security and defence capabilities". "We should have unblinking surveillance on our northern approaches, but instead we have illegal boats penetrating our borders and people making it ashore. This signals weakness to the people smugglers that business is back on under Labor," he said.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
As the Coalition reviews net zero, some Liberals fear the damage the discussion might do
Some Liberal MP's fear a looming discussion within the Coalition about net zero might damage the party politically, even as they expect the commitment to remain. Coalition leaders have made clear the pledge to lower emissions to net zero by 2050 is on the table, as the Libera Party reviews its policies after its disastrous election defeat. Some Nationals MPs have been openly agitating for the commitment to be dumped, including Senator Matt Canavan, who pitched his failed bid to lead the minor party as an attempt to "end our crazy and insane obsession of net zero". And some in the more conservative wing of the Liberal Party have also publicly questioned the policy's future. Andrew Hastie told the ABC's Four Corners net zero is a "straitjacket [he] is already getting out of" and questioned Australia selling coal and gas to India and China while looking to phase it out locally. Garth Hamilton, who represents the Queensland seat of Groom, has written in The Australian that he can't support a "blank-cheque policy [like] net zero". The questions over net zero have been met with frustration by some Liberal MPs, who are concerned about how the party seeks to reconnect with lost voters, particularly in metropolitan seats. There is also a frustration that net zero is perceived as a policy problem, while Labor has made the commitment and continues to approve new or expanded coal and gas projects. "No one wants this fight," one Liberal MP said, arguing they "don't get the obsession" within parts of the Coalition. Another Liberal MP said the focus should be on holding Labor to account for its climate commitments — like the task of reaching a 43 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg told the ABC the discussion around net zero is about how to reach the target, not whether to keep it. "We're looking at how net zero can best be deployed in Australia as part of our policy review. We are committed to cutting emissions and that can only be done as part of an international framework, so that's our starting point," he said. Zoe McKenzie, who represents Flinders on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, told Sky News she was optimistic net zero would remain. "It is important for an electorate like mine, where the environment is very highly valued," she said. "But more importantly it's very important in the minds of the people in Australia's metropolitan seats, there are 88 of them and my side of politics only now holds eight." While party leaders have said there will be a review process around policies like net zero, it is not clear what that will look like. Some Coalition MPs who spoke to the ABC said they were still unsure what form it would take. Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan was asked on Afternoon Briefing when the net zero policy review will happen. "We have no timeline on it, but just as with many of our other policies, we're going to have a review of it, get an audit of it, look at it," he said. "Are there new solutions to it? What we're trying to achieve — are there other measures we can do? Other ways we can do it that are better? "I welcome that, I welcome the discussion, but I don't have a timeline on that." He framed the review as looking at the cost borne by regional areas, rather than the fundamentals of climate change. "What I'm saying is we're going to review how we do it — if we have climate ambitions, what are they, what's achievable, and what's the best way to do this," he said. Meanwhile, Senator Canavan on Thursday posted an animated clip on social media, portraying him as a member of the "Dark Nats" — writing in the caption that he will "keep up the fight against this net zero madness".
Sky News AU
6 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Massive hypocrisy': Andrew Hastie blasts net-zero
Shadow Minister for Home Affairs Andrew Hastie says there's massive hypocrisy at the heart of the net-zero economy. 'There's massive hypocrisy at the heart of the net-zero economy,' Mr Hastie told Sky News host Peta Credlin. 'The world's three largest emitters, China, India, and the USA, are pretty much walking away from net-zero. 'So, the hypocrisy is this, whilst we're denying Australians our own abundant fuels for power, we're sending them to China and India, particularly, who are actually growing their emissions.'
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Liberal insiders say Voice triumph confused Coalition's election priorities
Was the "no" result in the Voice referendum a pyrrhic victory for the Liberal party? Our Four Corners story on the fight inside the Coalition over its future direction revealed something I didn't expect to. Even those who strongly advocated against the Voice believe it gave the party all the wrong messages about how Australians felt about a broader range of issues and established a sense of complacency that ultimately led to its historic belting. From the conservative to the moderate side of the Liberal Party room there is a growing consensus that the "no" vote fought for by the conservatives created the wrong impression for the party. Rising conservative star Andrew Hastie told me the Voice gave the Coalition "a false sense of confidence". "I think Australians are naturally, we're incrementalists," he said. "So the Voice was a massive change to our constitution, which is why I think it was defeated. But that's very different to who do you want to govern this country? And in order to win people over, you've got to demonstrate that you're fighting for them. And I just don't think we landed that argument." Asked if fighting against the Voice could have been damaging for Peter Dutton, Hastie answered: "Yes, perhaps. But I think we probably lingered over the voice for too long. Like I said, it was a tactical victory. Things can change very quickly in politics." That view is shared by former shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser, who resigned from his opposition portfolio in 2023 in order to campaign for the referendum. He argued on Afternoon Briefing yesterday that the Coalition's success in defeating the Voice to parliament referendum gave the Liberal party "a false sense of confidence" about its chances of victory in the federal election. Leeser says that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese "seemed to lose his way" after the Voice referendum was defeated and this, combined with what he says was Albanese's poor handling of the local antisemitism crisis, "gave so many in our party a false sense of confidence". Leeser says he was "shocked" that the internal polling conducted for the Coalition used the number of Labor voters who voted "no" in the referendum in his calculations of a swing against the government, which was instead returned in a landslide. The government's victory is so big it mirrors John Howard's 1996 election landslide. "Part of the reason my colleagues were successfully defeating the referendum was in 2023 the issue did not seem to be one of top priority for Australian voters," Leeser said. "Certainly, in 2025, it was completely irrelevant and I had no idea why the issue kept reappearing in our campaign." While Dutton regularly raised the Voice as one of several examples to demonstrate that Labor was out of touch, he campaigned in the last week of the campaign on what he said was a "secret plan to legislate the Voice" after Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a podcast "we'll look back on it in 10 years' time and it'll be a bit like marriage equality". "It indicated we were not in touch with the concerns of ordinary Australians," Leeser said. "People were not talking to me about those issues until we raised them; they were concerned about paying the electricity bills, their mortgage, about the future of their children and what sort of jobs they would have in a world where AI will present both threats and opportunities. "We were not talking about any of those enough, and instead focused on esoteric issues and I think it indicated a lack of discipline and real focus." Despite a deep schism over the future of the party and how to deal with vexed questions including whether to stay committed to net zero by 2050 — many in the party acknowledge that the Voice set them on a path which created false positives that didn't materialise in votes on election day. That revelation — if listened to carefully — provides warnings on how to rebuild. It is a cautionary tale on what to focus on and where Australians expect their political parties to be focused. The Liberals are now in negotiations to bring the Nationals back into the Coalition — with Nationals leader David Littleproud denying that his party "flip flopped" on its split with the Liberals. "There's no flip flopping from the National Party. We did not blink," he told Sky News. But it's Littleproud whose leadership is under pressure over the shambolic incident and he is on borrowed time according to key members of his own party room. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley may have a monumental task before her in settling issues that are red lines for many inside her party but her leadership has been strengthened by the recalcitrant junior Coalition partner's overreach. Her next job is to manage the divergence in her own party room. The Nationals may end up seeming like the easier job compared with managing some of the policy differences inside her own party. Watch Four Corners's Decimated, reported by Patricia Karvelas, on ABC iview. Patricia Karvelas is presenter of ABC TV's Q+A, host of ABC News Afternoon Briefing at 4pm weekdays on ABC News Channel, co-host of the weekly Party Room podcast with Fran Kelly and host of politics and news podcast Politics Now.
News.com.au
26-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
A senior Liberal says net zero should be reconsidered following the election wipe-out
A senior Liberal is calling for the party to reconsider the 'straitjacket' of net zero, weeks after the party's election disaster as push back comes from Nationals MPs. The commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 has long been a point of contention within conservative parties, and tensions continue to bubble within the Liberals over the promise and whether it aligns with the party's future. Opposition frontbencher Andrew Hastie – who has been touted as a future leader – says it's one policy that should be reconsidered. 'I think the question of net zero, that's a straitjacket that I'm already getting out of,' he told Four Corners on Monday night on the future of the party. 'The real question is should Australian families and businesses be paying more for their electricity? 'And should we allow this sort of hypocrisy at the heart of our economy to continue whereby we sell coal and gas to India and China, and we deny it to our own people? 'That's the question that I think we need to answer.' New Liberals leader Sussan Ley says the party will be reviewing all policies post the May 3 election wipe-out, including the commitment to nuclear energy while also trying to repair the Coalition blown-up by the Nationals last week. While negotiations on restoring the 80-year-old Coalition with the rural and regional-based party continues, several of their high-profile members are actively campaigning against net zero. Nationals senate leader Bridget McKenzie said the National were committed to net zero, but had been upset by Ms Ley's announcement to review all policies the Coalition had taken to the election without consultation. 'Our party position is that we are committed to net zero by 2050 until that's obviously reviewed and stays or doesn't stay,' she said. 'If you are serious about net zero, then you have to get serious about nuclear.' But Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic told 4 Corners nuclear should be dumped, but said net zero mattered to voters. 'Most young Australians believe that climate change is real and we have to deliver energy policies that ensure that we reach our net zero targets and that we deliver stable power … that is as cheap as possible' she said. Nationals leader David Littleproud has revealed the minor party will review its positions on such policies, saying a sensible energy mix was needed in Australia. 'We've got a party room position on this but obviously during this period of parliament, like in the last period, we'll continue to review some of those policies, including net zero,' he told Sky News. 'I think we've got to understand that the world is finding it increasingly more difficult to achieve net zero by 2050 and the serious economic impact.' High profile Nationals, including Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan, have been vocal in their calls for net zero to be dumped. Meanwhile, the Four Corners program canvassed a number of Liberals reflecting on what went so wrong with the campaign under former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who also lost his own seat on election night. Failure to outline policies or late announcements and too much focus on other issues failed to attract voters, MPs said. Tasmanian frontbencher Jonno Duniam said 'fatally flawed' polling was a significant issue. 'Something went off the rails,' he said. 'It's like having a compass telling you to go in one direction. In fact, you know you should be going in another. And that's what we did. We made decisions based on bad polling.' Education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said her education policy was 'buried' by the campaign. 'On Thursday night (before the election), the policy was uploaded onto the website … my media release was withdrawn and a lot of incredible hard work by my team and many others right across the Coalition, unfortunately, didn't see the light of day,' she said. She said too much attention was put on the cost of living during the campaign, and not enough on 'values-based' policies. Mr Hastie warned the Liberal Party's problems were so deep that without serious change, it may cease to exist. 'There's no reason to think that we won't disappear over time if we don't get our act together. That's how serious this challenge is for the Liberal Party,' Mr Hastie said.
