Latest news with #DavidLittleproud
The Advertiser
3 hours ago
- Business
- The Advertiser
Farmers hit by disasters to get financial counselling
Disaster-stricken farmers will be able to access free financial counselling, as the prime minister warns of more extreme weather events. The federal government will commit an extra $2 million to the Rural Financial Counselling Service to allow them to hire more staff and deliver increased support to farmers on the ground. While some in south-eastern Australia are battling historic droughts, those in NSW have been forced to contend with 'one-in-500 year' floods, putting significant strain on farmers across the country. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged they were "doing it tough". "People put their heart and soul into their farms," he told reporters near Wasleys, north of Adelaide, on Monday. "Australia has always had droughts, we've always had flooding rains, and that has occurred throughout our history on this great continent that we're privileged to live on, but the truth is that there are more extreme weather events and they're more intense. "We need to adjust to that." The government has already promised $36 million to help farmers and producers prepare for, and respond to, drought conditions while expanding its disaster recovery allowance to more areas affected by floods. But Nationals Leader David Littleproud has called on Labor to bring back interest-free loans from the Regional Investment Corporation to help farmers experiencing hardship. The commitment, introduced by the coalition in 2020 according to Mr Littleproud, gave farmers access to a $2 million loan with an initial two-year interest-free period, then three years interest-only before five years principal and interest, offering breathing space and allowed them to restock and replant. Some members of his party have urged Australia to abandon its pursuit of net zero emissions by 2050. Mr Albanese said the science was clear about the increased frequency and ferocity of natural disasters. "Climate change is real and we need to respond to it," he said. "The science has been proven, unfortunately, to be playing out." Unusual weather has also continued to transform the east coast, with heavy fog and dust storms both blanketing Sydney in the span of one week. The prime minister maintained his government had a plan to deal with climate change, noting Australia's bid to co-host the United Nations's climate change conference with Pacific nations in 2026. Australia also remains on-track to meet its legislated 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030, according to Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Mr Bowen has said Woodside will be required to ensure the project meets net zero emissions by 2050. Disaster-stricken farmers will be able to access free financial counselling, as the prime minister warns of more extreme weather events. The federal government will commit an extra $2 million to the Rural Financial Counselling Service to allow them to hire more staff and deliver increased support to farmers on the ground. While some in south-eastern Australia are battling historic droughts, those in NSW have been forced to contend with 'one-in-500 year' floods, putting significant strain on farmers across the country. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged they were "doing it tough". "People put their heart and soul into their farms," he told reporters near Wasleys, north of Adelaide, on Monday. "Australia has always had droughts, we've always had flooding rains, and that has occurred throughout our history on this great continent that we're privileged to live on, but the truth is that there are more extreme weather events and they're more intense. "We need to adjust to that." The government has already promised $36 million to help farmers and producers prepare for, and respond to, drought conditions while expanding its disaster recovery allowance to more areas affected by floods. But Nationals Leader David Littleproud has called on Labor to bring back interest-free loans from the Regional Investment Corporation to help farmers experiencing hardship. The commitment, introduced by the coalition in 2020 according to Mr Littleproud, gave farmers access to a $2 million loan with an initial two-year interest-free period, then three years interest-only before five years principal and interest, offering breathing space and allowed them to restock and replant. Some members of his party have urged Australia to abandon its pursuit of net zero emissions by 2050. Mr Albanese said the science was clear about the increased frequency and ferocity of natural disasters. "Climate change is real and we need to respond to it," he said. "The science has been proven, unfortunately, to be playing out." Unusual weather has also continued to transform the east coast, with heavy fog and dust storms both blanketing Sydney in the span of one week. The prime minister maintained his government had a plan to deal with climate change, noting Australia's bid to co-host the United Nations's climate change conference with Pacific nations in 2026. Australia also remains on-track to meet its legislated 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030, according to Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Mr Bowen has said Woodside will be required to ensure the project meets net zero emissions by 2050. Disaster-stricken farmers will be able to access free financial counselling, as the prime minister warns of more extreme weather events. The federal government will commit an extra $2 million to the Rural Financial Counselling Service to allow them to hire more staff and deliver increased support to farmers on the ground. While some in south-eastern Australia are battling historic droughts, those in NSW have been forced to contend with 'one-in-500 year' floods, putting significant strain on farmers across the country. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged they were "doing it tough". "People put their heart and soul into their farms," he told reporters near Wasleys, north of Adelaide, on Monday. "Australia has always had droughts, we've always had flooding rains, and that has occurred throughout our history on this great continent that we're privileged to live on, but the truth is that there are more extreme weather events and they're more intense. "We need to adjust to that." The government has already promised $36 million to help farmers and producers prepare for, and respond to, drought conditions while expanding its disaster recovery allowance to more areas affected by floods. But Nationals Leader David Littleproud has called on Labor to bring back interest-free loans from the Regional Investment Corporation to help farmers experiencing hardship. The commitment, introduced by the coalition in 2020 according to Mr Littleproud, gave farmers access to a $2 million loan with an initial two-year interest-free period, then three years interest-only before five years principal and interest, offering breathing space and allowed them to restock and replant. Some members of his party have urged Australia to abandon its pursuit of net zero emissions by 2050. Mr Albanese said the science was clear about the increased frequency and ferocity of natural disasters. "Climate change is real and we need to respond to it," he said. "The science has been proven, unfortunately, to be playing out." Unusual weather has also continued to transform the east coast, with heavy fog and dust storms both blanketing Sydney in the span of one week. The prime minister maintained his government had a plan to deal with climate change, noting Australia's bid to co-host the United Nations's climate change conference with Pacific nations in 2026. Australia also remains on-track to meet its legislated 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030, according to Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Mr Bowen has said Woodside will be required to ensure the project meets net zero emissions by 2050. Disaster-stricken farmers will be able to access free financial counselling, as the prime minister warns of more extreme weather events. The federal government will commit an extra $2 million to the Rural Financial Counselling Service to allow them to hire more staff and deliver increased support to farmers on the ground. While some in south-eastern Australia are battling historic droughts, those in NSW have been forced to contend with 'one-in-500 year' floods, putting significant strain on farmers across the country. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged they were "doing it tough". "People put their heart and soul into their farms," he told reporters near Wasleys, north of Adelaide, on Monday. "Australia has always had droughts, we've always had flooding rains, and that has occurred throughout our history on this great continent that we're privileged to live on, but the truth is that there are more extreme weather events and they're more intense. "We need to adjust to that." The government has already promised $36 million to help farmers and producers prepare for, and respond to, drought conditions while expanding its disaster recovery allowance to more areas affected by floods. But Nationals Leader David Littleproud has called on Labor to bring back interest-free loans from the Regional Investment Corporation to help farmers experiencing hardship. The commitment, introduced by the coalition in 2020 according to Mr Littleproud, gave farmers access to a $2 million loan with an initial two-year interest-free period, then three years interest-only before five years principal and interest, offering breathing space and allowed them to restock and replant. Some members of his party have urged Australia to abandon its pursuit of net zero emissions by 2050. Mr Albanese said the science was clear about the increased frequency and ferocity of natural disasters. "Climate change is real and we need to respond to it," he said. "The science has been proven, unfortunately, to be playing out." Unusual weather has also continued to transform the east coast, with heavy fog and dust storms both blanketing Sydney in the span of one week. The prime minister maintained his government had a plan to deal with climate change, noting Australia's bid to co-host the United Nations's climate change conference with Pacific nations in 2026. Australia also remains on-track to meet its legislated 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030, according to Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Mr Bowen has said Woodside will be required to ensure the project meets net zero emissions by 2050.
Perth Now
6 hours ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Farmers hit by disasters to get financial counselling
Disaster-stricken farmers will be able to access free financial counselling, as the prime minister warns of more extreme weather events. The federal government will commit an extra $2 million to the Rural Financial Counselling Service to allow them to hire more staff and deliver increased support to farmers on the ground. While some in south-eastern Australia are battling historic droughts, those in NSW have been forced to contend with 'one-in-500 year' floods, putting significant strain on farmers across the country. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged they were "doing it tough". "People put their heart and soul into their farms," he told reporters near Wasleys, north of Adelaide, on Monday. "Australia has always had droughts, we've always had flooding rains, and that has occurred throughout our history on this great continent that we're privileged to live on, but the truth is that there are more extreme weather events and they're more intense. "We need to adjust to that." The government has already promised $36 million to help farmers and producers prepare for, and respond to, drought conditions while expanding its disaster recovery allowance to more areas affected by floods. But Nationals Leader David Littleproud has called on Labor to bring back interest-free loans from the Regional Investment Corporation to help farmers experiencing hardship. The commitment, introduced by the coalition in 2020 according to Mr Littleproud, gave farmers access to a $2 million loan with an initial two-year interest-free period, then three years interest-only before five years principal and interest, offering breathing space and allowed them to restock and replant. Some members of his party have urged Australia to abandon its pursuit of net zero emissions by 2050. Mr Albanese said the science was clear about the increased frequency and ferocity of natural disasters. "Climate change is real and we need to respond to it," he said. "The science has been proven, unfortunately, to be playing out." Unusual weather has also continued to transform the east coast, with heavy fog and dust storms both blanketing Sydney in the span of one week. The prime minister maintained his government had a plan to deal with climate change, noting Australia's bid to co-host the United Nations's climate change conference with Pacific nations in 2026. Australia also remains on-track to meet its legislated 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030, according to Energy Minister Chris Bowen. But Labor has recently come under fire from environmental groups for giving gas giant Woodside the green light for its North West Shelf project to continue operating to 2070 as it could release 4.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over 50 years, the Australia Institute has found. Mr Bowen has said Woodside will be required to ensure the project meets net zero emissions by 2050.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Liberal dysfunction allows Labor to get away scot-free on emissions failure
One consequence of a broken, distracted and internally-focused opposition is that it gives the government leeway to do what it wants. Unencumbered. Add a thumping electoral majority to the mix and what might be considered confidence can easily morph into hubris. Labor is easily managing politically vexed problems while the dysfunction of the other side chews up endless column inches. And to be fair, the ongoing fracturing of the Coalition is indeed a compelling story. Australians voted for a House of Representatives in which as many as 110 seats out of 150 could broadly be categorised as "progressive". The remainder are conservative. That the Coalition would conclude from that result, as some conservatives loudly assert, that the answer is to veer even harder to the right by doubling down on culture wars is rather surprising. "Really? What voters really wanted was a culture war out on the right?" said former Liberal candidate and political consultant David Gazzard. "If only we'd had a big old dinger with right wing ideology they would have voted for us?" It's hard to shake the impression the Coalition continues to miss the May 3 memo from voters. Sussan Ley and David Littleproud — both perched atop the restive dragon tails of their respective party rooms — have determined that net zero needs to be debated, reviewed and potentially dumped. As one reader noted to this columnist, the whole scene is "like going to a party with old mates and realising you got your shit together and they're still on the bongs". While the Coalition figures out how to mature its energy and climate idea over the next six years — during which time the renewables rollout will continue to deepen — the real game is with the government and what it's doing and not doing to manage a series of tricky decision points. Nowhere is this more evident than Labor's move to green-light an extension to Woodside's North West shelf gas project. Given the backlash, Labor was politically canny to postpone its decision from the original deadline that would have coincided with the election. Seats the government nearly lost to climate action independents such as Fremantle in WA and Bean in the ACT would no doubt have fallen. Wills in Victoria might have gone to the Greens. Adam Bandt might still be in parliament. When it came on Wednesday, the project approval itself was no great surprise. Woodside has been jumping through existing state and federal regulatory and environmental hoops and clearing them for the best part of seven years. Manufacturing unions and WA's mining industry are delighted. Minerals Council of Australia chief Tania Constable told the ABC on Friday that future critical minerals rare earth production needs the gas at competitive prices to develop those resources. Murray Watt, who replaced Tanya Plibersek in the environment portfolio after the May 3 election, is pretty much the final rubber stamp. But by extending the operating licence for the NorthWest Shelf from 2030 to 2070, Woodside and its investment partners can now work to unlock the vast Browse Basin off the WA coast, which climate groups have branded a "carbon bomb". Watt has given Woodside until this coming week to agree to a number of final conditions. These likely relate mostly to the proximate impact on Indigenous rock art of industrial emissions released during liquefaction of gas for export. While relevant, such plant-level impacts are relatively minor. The emissions that really matter are those associated with the energy-intensive process of converting extracted gas into a liquefied form for export shipment. Alongside "fugitive emissions" from leaks and flaring, such energy use across the gas industry accounts for a significant portion of overall national emissions. Potentially up to 10 per cent a year, according to Climate Change Authority data. Critically for Labor, those "scope two" emissions don't come for free. They add to the nationwide pollution burden and they weigh on Australia's global reputation as a fossil fuel super polluter that exports "scope three" emissions at an industrial scale. Australia is about to ramp up its efforts in coming months to win hosting rights to next year's UN climate summit and younger voters continue to register alarm over the lack of urgency over climate action. All of this should be uncomfortable ground for Labor. Were the Liberals not still arguing about the basic entry-level proposition of whether net zero by 2050 should remain on their policy books, they might instead be squeezing the government over the North West shelf decision and its climate policy performance more broadly. Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen is currently awaiting advice from the Climate Change Authority on what the nation's 2035 emissions reduction target should be. Authority chairman Matt Kean — a former NSW Liberal treasurer and energy minister appointed by Labor nearly a year ago — is busy crunching the numbers on a proposed emissions target for 2035. The range the authority believes is consistent with Australia meeting its obligations to the Paris climate agreement (which seeks to limit global average temperature increases "to well below 2 degrees Celsius") would be an emissions cut of between 65 per cent and 75 per cent of the nation's level in 2005. That would extend the current 2030 target for a 43 per cent reduction. This column understands the Climate Change Authority's modelling does not currently include the impact from the Woodside extension or Browse, but that it will be significant. That work is being done now. For Bowen the yet-to-be answered question is how exactly this gets managed under his existing Safeguard Mechanism policy. A carrot and stick approach that aims to force down industrial and resources emissions in coming years, the mechanism works by penalising big polluters that fail to adopt low-emissions alternatives or by making them buy a limited pool of carbon offsets. Kean, who has plenty of experience in this space, will no doubt be urging Labor to make Woodside pay its own emissions bill rather than socialising the cost on the rest of the economy. Kean might indeed be telling Bowen that the company, which maintains an official "aspiration of net zero by 2050 or sooner", be required to source the energy it needs for its export operations from renewables rather than fossil fuels. That would be expensive. But so is decarbonising an entire economy. Watt does not appear to have put any such condition on Woodside, but that does not mean the issue now goes away. Labor is racing to pass its environmental protection legislation when parliament resumes next month. The Greens, whom Labor needs in the Senate, will again likely insist that climate impacts of big new projects like Browse be taken into consideration. Labor counters that its Safeguard Mechanism should be the primary policy of industrial emissions action. But Australians are yet to see firm evidence it's working as advertised. Indeed the government continues to whistle past the graveyard on national emissions. Official quarterly data released on Friday shows Australia's greenhouse gas reduction performance has tanked. Emissions inched lower last year by an essentially invisible 0.05 per cent to an estimated 446.4 million tonnes, the fourth year in a row that progress has stalled. To get emissions down to 350 million tonnes — the legislated 2030 target — will now require six straight years in which pollution falls by an average 3.6 per cent. A tall order, you might say. The reasons behind this weak performance are equally discouraging. Agricultural emissions fell 2 per cent last year because crop production declined. Energy emissions were up 2.2 per cent because lower hydro generation led to more reliance on coal power. Meanwhile transport was up 1.9 per cent as aviation consumption reached a record. The only good news was from industry, where emissions fell 5 per cent thanks to technology and production changes in chemicals and metals sectors. Labor's safeguard mechanism is "inadequate" for the challenges facing the nation because of emissions such as the NorthWest Shelf, warns Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the Climate Council, a group that campaigns against climate pollution. "There's no way to sequester those emissions," McKenzie says. "If you allow your fossil fuel sector to expand and you don't have tight enough targets in the safeguard that put pressure on those projects to cut emissions, then other sectors like agriculture and transport have to do more. "The idea that this is an offshore problem is entirely false because any fossil fuel project is using fossil fuels for export. "So we have to account for that climate pollution in Australia." It's a point the opposition might care to make. If it wasn't so busy toying with a world where doing nothing is the apparent answer.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Sussan Ley wants to keep the Coalition together – but caving on net zero won't help her win back seats
After another scrappy week for the faltering Coalition, Bridget McKenzie on Thursday called for the National party to stop talking about itself. No sane observer of politics since the 3 May election could disagree, but the party's Senate leader made the observation in an awkward setting: a Sky News interview. While they were tearing up their alliance with the Liberals, then attempting a patch-up job with the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, senior Nationals appeared dozens of times on TV and radio. The immediate stakes are low. Labor just won a thumping majority and any return to government for the Coalition is unlikely before 2031, at the earliest. Whether the new frontbench survives or if the two parties can stick together at all remains an open question. But McKenzie and her party's leaders are doing their best to remind voters why the Coalition was so thoroughly rejected in the first place. Publicly and privately, the Nationals continue to fight over whether to hold fast to the goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. They agreed to that target in 2021, despite strong internal opposition. Those negotiations saw the party secure an additional spot in Scott Morrison's cabinet. But without strong leadership now, the support appears a lot less secure. Consider last Sunday alone. The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, appeared on Sky just after 8am. Asked whether net zero would remain a Nationals position, he said governments around the world were reconsidering. Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as an email Net zero by 2050 remained party policy for now, but Littleproud promised 'further discussions'. 'What the world is starting to understand is it's very difficult to get there, but we shouldn't give up on trying to reduce emissions,' he said. Less than an hour later, the deputy leader, Kevin Hogan, was on ABC TV. 'The Nationals support net zero [by] 2050,' he declared, stressing the policy was settled seven years ago and 'that's not up for review or being changed'. Within minutes, their Queensland colleague Matt Canavan was appearing on Sky, contradicting Hogan. 'There is a willingness to open this up. There's a question about when and how we do that,' he said. Canavan has even released animated videos styling himself as a 'dark Nat' out to fight net zero and the woke left. The former Nationals leaders Michael McCormack and Barnaby Joyce both oppose net zero, with the latter calling it 'a great scam' this week. It's clear the Nationals are failing on net zero on style and substance. The pledge is the lowest common denominator of action to stem the damage being wrought by climate change, an emergency the CSIRO warns will deliver Australia increasing temperatures, declining rainfall, more drought and dangerous fire days, further sea level rises, species loss, more frequent and severe bleaching events in coral reefs, and increased natural disasters driven by wild weather. As well as deadly flooding in New South Wales in the past fortnight, a toxic microalgae bloom off the South Australian coast this month has seen sharks and other marine life washing up along popular beaches. Overseas, the Swiss village of Blatten was almost entirely destroyed this week when thousands of tonnes of mud and ice fell from a collapsing glacier. Research published on Friday in the journal Science found almost 40% of glaciers are already doomed to melt due to emissions from fossil fuels. Set to put millions of lives at risk and wreak havoc with food supplies, the melt would drop by 50% if the Paris climate agreement's target of limiting global heating to a 1.5C target can be achieved. But the more dangerous test of net zero credibility rests with Ley. The former environment minister was asked on Wednesday if net zero policies were under review within the wider Coalition. She said the discussion would take place behind closed doors, led by the newly appointed shadow energy and emissions minister, Dan Tehan. 'We have to play, as a country, our part in the global response to climate change. Net zero, Paris targets, gas, all of the resources, conversations around critical minerals, they're all part of that,' Ley said. Sign up to Clear Air Australia Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis after newsletter promotion 'We have to play our part, but we have to make sure that we don't do it at any cost.' Business and environment groups agree shifting to anything less than net zero will be bad for investment and economic growth. Such a move would leave the Liberals unelectable, particularly in the metropolitan areas it needs to win back. After just seeing off a teal challenger in her Mornington Peninsula seat of Flinders, the Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie quickly called for the party to hold firm on net zero. 'It is important for an electorate like mine where environment is very highly valued,' she said, noting the Liberals hold just eight of the 88 metropolitan electorates around the country. A fellow moderate, New South Wales senator Andrew Bragg, said the Liberals were looking at how Australia could best get to net zero and how the target could be 'deployed'. But the Western Australian frontbencher Andrew Hastie this week told the ABC net zero was 'a straitjacket that I'm already getting out of'. 'The real question is should Australian families and businesses be paying more for their electricity?' he said. Powerful forces in business and the media are pushing back against net zero, emboldened by Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris agreement. They could influence the whole Coalition via the back door of National party agitation. The head of this year's UN climate talks, Cop30, warned on Friday the world is facing a new form of climate denial, in the form of a concerted attack on the idea that the economy can be reorganised to fight the crisis. The veteran Brazilian diplomat André Corrêa do Lago said economic denialism will lead to the same dangerous outcomes as now discredited scientific denialism. Labor faces criticism of its own, after the environment minister, Murray Watt, this week approved an extension to Woodside's massive North West Shelf gas project in Western Australia out to 2070. Watt said he was signing off subject to 'strict conditions' relating to local air pollution. He also had to consider the potential impact on nearby ancient rock art, and economic and social matters. Climate change is not grounds to refuse or limit a development application under Australia's national environment law. The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said the government was waving around net zero 'as a fig leaf' while putting the Great Barrier Reef at existential risk. Groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation say net zero by 2035 would give Australia the best shot at fairly contributing to efforts to limit global heating to below 1.5C. They argue cutting emissions by 71% by 2035, based on 2019 levels, should be the floor of federal ambition in Australia. Ley may have to hold the Nationals close to keep the Coalition together, but caving on net zero won't help her win back the more than 30 seats the Liberals have lost since Tony Abbott became prime minister. Tom McIlroy is Guardian Australia's chief political correspondent
News.com.au
3 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
‘Clown show': Laura Tingle makes her real feelings clear as she lashes out at Coalition
Esteemed ABC political journalist Laura Tingle has lashed out at the Coalition, labelling the current state of it a 'clown show' of politicians. After a surprise split was initially announced last week, David Littleproud and Sussan Ley later backtracked and confirmed the Coalition would no longer be separating. In a blunt new interview, ABC's Laura Tingle, who is about to leave her role as the broadcaster's Political Editor, made her true feelings about the temporary split known. 'I can say this because I'm going, but I don't care,' Tingle told the ABC's Party Room podcast. 'I mean, like, seriously, these people are irrelevant for the next little while. They're a sideshow. They're a clown show. 'And the fact that their personal ambitions are just so blatantly out there (is) basically disgraceful, because we as taxpayers are paying for them to be looking after the interests of their voters in their electorates and to be looking after the national good.' The Coalition split last Tuesday after Littleproud said both parties were not able to agree on key policy matters However, he later revealed that those issues have now been resolved. Tingle went on to share that the Coalition 'deserves' to be in its 'current state of oblivion'. 'My sense is that the Coalition doesn't have any ideas, and it hasn't had any ideas for a really long time,' added the ABC star. Tingle's latest remarks come after she courted controversy last year when she had some choice words for Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton. She was on a panel at the Sydney Writers Festival when she said: 'We are a racist country, let's face it. We always have been and it's very depressing'. Her comments were in response to Dutton's budget reply pledge to slash Australia's permanent migration program to just 140,000 per year. She also accused him of encouraging racism towards migrants looking to buy or rent property in Australia during the discussion. Despite receiving some backlash for her comments, Tingle later doubled down on them in a follow-up statement. 'In my commentary at the ABC, and at the Sydney Writers' Festival, I expressed my concern at the risks involved in Peter Dutton pressing the hot button of housing and linking it to migration for these reasons,' she said. 'Political leaders, by their comments, give licence to others to express opinions they may not otherwise express. That does not make them racist. But it has real world implications for many Australians.' Meanwhile, after the week-long divide of the Coalition, David Littleproud and Sussan Ley briefly shared their thoughts on their time apart. 'I agree this is a professional partnership between two really strong parties in our Australian democracy that work very well when they work together,' she said, refusing to characterise their split as 'bitter'. 'Personally, David and I will be friends. I think a woman who got her start in the shearing sheds of western Queensland can always find something to talk about over a steak and a beer (with you, David)'.
