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Observer
16-07-2025
- Business
- Observer
Voters vent at Labour after disorganised first year
Voters have delivered a withering verdict on the Labour government after a week in which the anniversary of their election victory was marred by shambolic U-turns and infighting. Voters' disapproval of the government appears to have intensified with a growing number of people opposing the government's high-tax-high-spending policies, according to the latest Freshwater Strategy poll. The poll of eligible voters found that more than half (55 per cent) believe the Chancellor Rachel Reeves should resign while prime minister, Keir Starmer, who has insisted Reeves will remain Chancellor for a 'very long time', is also facing the pressure. Starmer's approval ratings have crashed to minus 38; making him the least popular politician in a monthly survey with fully 61 per cent of Brits now reporting a negative opinion of the PM. The chancellor also slipped to an approval rating of minus 37. A majority of Brits (65 per cent) said Labour has done a good job on easing the cost of living with the same percentage unimpressed by efforts to reduce immigration. A similar percentage of voters said the government has done a poor job on welfare reform. The latest snapshot provides insight into the challenges facing the government just 12 months on from their election win, with more voters now seeing immigration as the most important issue facing the UK. Small boat crossings are 50 per cent higher this year than at the same point in 2024, while forecasters believe that overall levels of migration will only be cut to 250,000 entrants a year (pre-Brexit levels) by 2030. Labour ranked worse than the Conservative Party in terms of trust on reducing immigration. Voters also put inflation near the top of their list of most important issues. UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, speaks at the House of Commons, in this file photo. — Reuters Economists in the financial district and at the Bank of England have warned that Rachel Reeves' taxes on employers through higher national insurance contributions (NICs) was feeding through to higher prices in shops. The poll shows that only 25 per cent of voters have confidence in the government's effort to spark economic growth, with 72 per cent either not very or not at all confident. Treasury officials including Rachel Reeves have celebrated a string of interest rate cuts in the last year but global economic turmoil due to tariffs and higher taxes risks delaying further reductions in the coming months, policymakers have warned. Reeves could decide to hike taxes further in this year's autumn Budget given unfunded commitments on welfare spending and the partial restoration of winter fuel payments, altogether costing more than £5 billion. Meanwhile, Reeves is facing renewed pressure to scrap the ring-fencing regime imposed on British banking giants in a bid to bolster the sector's international competitiveness and bolster economic growth. The Chancellor has been lobbied by top banking chiefs to ditch the 'redundant' 15-year-old legislation which requires major banks to separate their retail banking operations from their investment banking activities. But Reeves has now been urged to re-think the regime by the wider financial services industry, KPMG data reveals. Almost two-thirds of financial services leaders have called for a 'ring-fence' which would adapt the current regime. Meanwhile one in five have called for the rules to be completely abolished. Global and UK head of financial services at KPMG, Karim Haji, said: 'Whichever side of the argument you sit on, the industry is calling out for fresh thinking on ring-fencing. It's not 2008 anymore. Everything has changed, from the state of geopolitics to the way the world does business and the rules need to reflect that'. A majority of leaders, 80 per cent, believe overhauling the system would help drive economic growth by enabling more efficient deployment of capital. Analysts have pegged NatWest and Lloyds as the top beneficiaries of a ring-fencing overhaul.
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
A London club winning Super League? That's the vision for the new Broncos
When the most successful rugby league administrator in the country takes over one of its biggest underachievers and promptly gets the backing of major players in the Australian sports market, it's worth listening to his plans. Last week Gary Hetherington, who spent 29 years as chief executive of Leeds Rhinos, invited politicians, coaches, fans and players to the Australian High Commission to hear what he has in store for London Broncos. And he wants them all on board. Multi-club ownership has taken off in football and cricket, but the Dolphins or Canterbury Bulldogs are not about to buy London Broncos. Asked whether there are NRL clubs or directors in the new shareholder group, Hetherington said: 'No. But we've got extensive and good relationships with a number of NRL clubs so London could become a club that has an Australian flavour to it, as it has in the past. 'Hopefully the NRL, if they become involved in the administration of the game here, will see the value of London and the south. We've got to create a business that generates income, a marketing operation that sells itself. We need a shareholder group to invest in the club, new major sponsors and fans. It's going to take time.' With some NRL clubs having incomes over A$100m (£74m), they could come knocking. Australian management consultants Freshwater Strategy – who were behind the hugely successful NRL launch of Redcliffe Dolphins and are now working on the Perth Bears project - are driving the transformation from their new Mayfair base but admit they are learning about British sport on the hoof. Eyebrows were raised and brows furrowed when Hetheringron claimed the club could be in Super League next season. 'London has the potential to significantly increase its points by the end of the season with the investment in the organisation and staff. Other clubs don't as they are already at capacity.' However, the IMG grading points London gain for improving their finances will likely be wiped out by what they will lose in the fandom and performance categories, making it hard to leapfrog Toulouse or reach the magic 15 points needed for a guaranteed Super League place. 'Anything is possible,' said Rhodri Jones, the CEO of Rugby League Commercial. 'They're on 12.6 points at the moment and will need to get to nearly 14. If anybody could do that it's probably Gary.' Jones says the RFL has not yet held formal talks with prospective clubs who might replace Salford. 'The Salford thing needs to come to its natural point, which triggers those conversations, and that hasn't happened yet. I'd like to think a number of clubs will be saying: 'If we do A, B and C we'll be in a good position to be in Super League next season.'' Hetherington is also backing a plan to expand Super League to 14 clubs, which would see London pushing on an open door. It's an Australian-themed takeover, but London will not sign a phalanx of ageing NRL stars. 'There will be a strong Australian flavour, but predominantly through the fanbase,' said Mike Eccles, the club's director of rugby and current head coach. 'There may be a link with an Australian club on the horizon. We've spoken to a lot of clubs who are excited by where we are going, but you can only have seven quota spots. Bringing in seven 32-year-olds isn't the answer. They've had their careers. We need two or three motivated senior players who want to enjoy getting the best out of younger players, enthuse the group and fill them with confidence, and guys on their way up in their careers.' Once back in Super League, London could target NRL stars who have connections to the city, such as Gold Coast back AJ Brimson, whose mum is from Kingsbury, or South Sydney's rising star Jamie Humphreys, who played for Elmbridge Eagles and was part of Broncos academy as a teenager. 'A vision needs to be ambitious but realistic,' said Hetherington. 'We need a team that is successful, that can probably win Super League and compete in the World Club Challenge. We need to be ambassadors for the sport, attract major companies and a diverse population to sell out crowds.' The Broncos have not finished in the top half of Super League for 20 years, have lost 150 of their last 200 games in the top flight, and averaged 5,000 crowds just once in their 45-year history. Success used to be finishing mid-table, drawing 4,000 fans to Brentford or The Stoop and then going bust every five years. Not any more. 'That's not enough,' said Hetherington. 'Team success is important but we need a connection with the community, a coordinated strategic plan between the club, the RFL, RL Commercial and the London RL Foundation.' Londoners can watch world-class sport every weekend, so mediocrity doesn't sell. Attracting loyal crowds to anything that hasn't got deep multi-generational community roots is impossible. Only Harlequins and Saracens have cracked professional rugby in the capital, leaving behind half a dozen casualties. To succeed where others have failed – including Fulham FC, Brisbane Broncos, Richard Branson, future Wigan owner Ian Lenagan and oil magnate David Hughes – Hetherington has to unite league's fractured south-east community. 'My job is to make everyone feel part of a movement.' Under Hetherington's prudent leadership, Leeds Rhinos operated on a wage bill of £5.5m last year, the going rate for a major Super League club. To field a competitive team in Super League, London will need to spend £2m on players and the same on infrastructure. With top Championship teams spending up to £1m on players, Hetherington needs to find that first. Around £5m has been promised by investors in Australia but Hetherington himself does not have millions to spend. 'Everything is a funding issue,' said Eccles. 'If you pay money, you'll get people. Gary kept the club going in the last few months and I speak to him about what we need, but there's no shame in saying there's always been trepidation for people coming to London. When there's no certainty over the future, no one wants to go. This should help.' Given the club's problems have remained the same under four different names, do they even matter? 'That's a very good question,' said Hetherington. 'It's being researched at present and I think a new name, brand, image is probably important but that's a work in progress.' The Hundred took off despite most adults thinking its franchise names sounded abysmal. It's marketing, presentation and the fan experience that drives engagement. London have some advantages – hundreds of thousands of potential fans have been to games and know who the Broncos are – but few could tell you where they play or in what division. Playing in 10 different stadiums in 40 years hasn't helped, nor has playing home games at five different venues in the past year. Staying put and aiming to fill AFC Wimbledon's highly suitable Cherry Red Records Stadium seems sensible. A name change is probably worth the collateral damage. Follow No Helmets Required on Facebook
The Australian
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Australian
Swings and misses: party's polling debacle in election 2025
You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. In the Liberals' war room at Brisbane's swanky W Hotel on May 3 election night, it wasn't long after the vote count started that the catastrophic reality began to dawn. The party's internal polling had been terribly wrong, and the recriminations began almost immediately. Tucked away in the small enclave hidden from the party faithful assembled in the main ballroom, Liberal Party president John Olsen challenged Coalition campaign director Andrew Hirst about the accuracy of the Freshwater Strategy polling. The final of 15 Freshwater tracking polls delivered to senior campaigners on the Wednesday night before the election showed a swing to Peter Dutton's Liberals in some NSW and Victorian marginal seats of about 5 per cent. At that stage Dutton believed he could still win 10 Labor seats and push Anthony Albanese into minority government. But on election night, Dutton was upstairs in a hotel suite with his family, closest supporters and staff, as Olsen demanded Hirst explain how Freshwater and the party had got it so wrong. Olsen denies the head-to-head got heated, and rejects suggestions Hirst asked to take the conversation out of the room. 'We certainly had a conversation on polling, you wouldn't have to be Einstein to work that out,' Olsen tells The Australian. 'But it was not a heated discussion.' Peter Dutton, and his family, at the W Hotel in Brisbane on election night, as he delivers his concession speech. Picture: Adam Head Senior party figures, from Dutton down, had been told on Tuesday that Paterson in NSW, held by Labor's Meryl Swanson on a wafer-thin margin of 2.6 per cent, was swinging to the Liberals. The Freshwater polling – according to people who saw it – showed the Liberals' Laurence Antcliff leading Swanson 55-45 per cent, an eight-point two-party-preferred swing to the opposition. But the actual result was almost the opposite; Swanson won comfortably, 57 per cent to Antcliff's 43 per cent. 'The polling was a huge problem … it was way out. If we'd have known (the truth), we would have changed course overnight,' one senior Liberal source tells The Australian. Petrie delivers a shock Across town, at the Bracken Ridge Tavern in Brisbane's bayside, Liberal National Party MP Luke Howarth was in shock. Howarth had no inkling he was going to lose his outer-suburban electorate of Petrie until the votes started to roll in. He had been repeatedly reassured by friend and close ally Dutton – emboldened by the flawed Freshwater polling in his own neighbouring seat of Dickson and nationwide – that Howarth would be the last Coalition MP to be defeated. Petrie is a microcosm of what went wrong across the country for the Liberals; one of 12 seats swept away in the national swing to Labor that delivered Albanese an increased majority, tossed Dutton out of Dickson – and politics – demolished the opposition and, this week, fractured the Coalition agreement. Ex-LNP MP Luke Howarth this week, photographed in the Brisbane seat of Petrie, which he lost at the May 3 election. Picture: Glenn Hunt Five of those seats were in Queensland – historically the Liberals' unassailable fortress – including Petrie, which stretches from Brisbane's outer northern suburbs to Redcliffe on Moreton Bay and north to the growth corridor of North Lakes and Burpengary East. In a frank and revealing interview with The Australian, two weeks after the party's crushing loss, Howarth shares an eight-point list he's written titled 'what went wrong'. The only other person he has sent it to? Dutton. Errors aplenty Top of the list of errors was one of Howarth's own; the decision to erect seven joint billboards with Dutton's face next to his on the border of their two seats, and to hand out joint how-to-vote cards. He didn't realise how unpopular Dutton was, and how effective Labor's personal attack on the leader was proving to be. 'I didn't stop to think how him being leader would impact me. And it impacted me in a bad way,' Howarth says. 'The joint how-to-vote cards and the joint billboards really damaged me.' A 2025 how to vote card featuring Luke Howarth, Peter Dutton and Terry Young. But his second campaign gripe is one shared from party president Olsen down through the ranks. 'Polling all wrong and being told that our seats were not in play,' Howarth texted Dutton. Howarth says Dutton told him Petrie would be safe, and that in the lead-up to the May 3 election, he should help the LNP's long-shot efforts to unseat Labor minister Anika Wells in nearby Lilley. 'To be fair, I think Peter thought it would be an unlikely win but it would make Labor sandbag it and drag resources away from Dickson and Petrie,' Howarth says. Again, blame is cast at Freshwater. Sources say a Freshwater benchmark poll in Lilley in March – before any Coalition resources were spent in the seat – had Labor in front 53-47 two-party preferred, a swing of 8 per cent to the LNP on 2022 results. The pollsters are believed to have interpreted that result as 'no chance' of an LNP win. Liberal Party president John Olsen. 'We certainly had a conversation on polling, you wouldn't have to be Einstein to work that out. But it was not a heated discussion.' Picture: supplied But Howarth, a prodigious fundraiser, and his local campaign team, including former LNP head of corporate relations Micheal Leighton, took Dutton's request seriously and got to work, amassing a war chest of $1.7m in the months before the election. The Petrie campaign was so cashed up that after Howarth spent about $634,000 on his own seat, he spread the largesse at the request of campaign headquarters in Parramatta and Brisbane. Howarth poured $350,000 into Lilley, and shared about another $400,000 between other Coalition seats, including Dan Tehan's Wannon in Victoria, LNP-held Sunshine Coast seats where Climate 200-backed independents were running, the Greens-held Brisbane and Ryan the LNP was trying to win back, and the Nationals' Wide Bay in regional Queensland. Wells won Lilley with a 4 per cent two-party-preferred swing to her, increasing her margin to 14.52 per cent. Howarth still has hundreds of thousands of dollars left in his campaign account. He lost Petrie to Labor's Emma Comer by 2600 votes, suffering a 5.55 per cent swing against him, with the two-party-preferred margin finishing 51-49 per cent. No one saw it coming. Not even Labor, which only publicly endorsed Comer days before Albanese announced the election, and invested little in her campaign. And certainly not Dutton, Howarth says. 'In previous elections, Peter always had a good feel of what people were thinking, got it right, and knew what was going to happen on election day,' he says. 'In 2025, he was blindsided by what his team and polling was telling him.' Dickson debacle Freshwater polls during the campaign showed Dutton was ahead in Dickson. The party didn't poll Petrie, and Howarth didn't push for it, partly because he had no opponent to ask voters about until the last minute, but mostly because he was reassured he was not at risk. Luke Howarth and Peter Dutton. Picture: supplied A senior campaigner says the tracking polling showed the party was likely to hold Leichhardt, in far north Queensland, and had a chance of winning Ipswich-based Blair from Labor. If they had known the true state of affairs 'we would have put it all in (Queensland LNP-held marginals) Petrie, Longman and Forde', the campaigner says. While Howarth says he has no regrets about sharing his campaign cash – 'it's good to help other people and those people were my colleagues, and good people' – he says the Freshwater polling for the party was 'completely inaccurate'. If he and others had accurate information, they would have changed strategy away from targeting Labor marginals to sandbagging held seats. 'If I go back a few months ago, I said, 'what can I do to help the team?'. And the message was, 'help out Lilley, let's have a go at Lilley',' Howarth says. 'We've got a chance to give him (Dutton) that one back. It might be a long shot, but there's a good shot there. 'But the whole polling was wrong … The messaging from the campaign and the leader's office was 'we're going to win additional seats, there's no way the Labor Party can increase their majority, they will go backwards into minority government and that's the best they can hope for'. 'I don't think the leader or his office had any idea what was coming – clearly – because they didn't think he'd lose his own seat. They didn't think I'd lose my seat.' Luke Howarth farewells voters on May 15, sharing a photo of his family from 2013 after he was elected, after conceding he'd lost his seat. Post-mortems Olsen says the accuracy of the polling will be probed by the party's 'full and transparent' review of the federal election campaign. Campaign sources have confirmed the results of the voice referendum were factored into the Freshwater polling, as well as voters' housing status – whether they were renting, had a mortgage, or owned their homes outright. Other senior strategists point out that Freshwater's internal polling for the LNP accurately forecast its October Queensland election win. Freshwater Strategy declined to comment to The Australian, and pollster and director Mike Turner is legally prevented from talking because he's still under contract with the party. Coalition and Labor campaigners say both parties' internal research was showing there was a high number of undecided voters until weeks before the election, and those voters ended up backing Labor. In a piece for the Australian Financial Review published online the afternoon after the election night shock, Turner explained how Freshwater's poll for that publication underestimated Labor's final two-party-preferred vote, pointing to three factors, including the late swing. 'First, polling appears to have overestimated Labor 'defectors' to the Coalition. Particularly, those who voted no at the voice referendum,' Turner wrote. 'Early indications suggest that 'Labor-no' voters just didn't switch over to the Coalition in the big numbers estimated.' Freshwater did not choose seats to poll, nor which Coalition policies should have been put before focus groups. Fatal policy The Australian understands that by the time the Coalition's deeply unpopular ban on Canberra-based public servants working from home was focus group-tested by Freshwater, the damage had been done. A senior Liberal source says that when opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume announced in a speech to the Menzies Research Centre in early March that a Coalition government would order bureaucrats back to work in the office full-time, she 'got excited'. Hume had made the announcement on the fly, without it being official policy, the senior Liberal source says. But Hume expressly denies that suggestion, and her spokeswoman says both the policy and the speech went through 'all the usual policy approval processes', including through Dutton's office. Regardless of how the idea was born, instead of immediately killing it off and sparking accusations of a party split over policy, Hume's senior colleagues decided it was 'benign'. 'It got away a bit, that issue,' the senior Liberal source concedes. Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume during the campaign. Picture: Monique Harmer By the time it was put before the focus groups, and the feedback was 'negative', it had already had a 'catastrophic' impact on the vote, particularly in the outer-suburban electorates such as Petrie. It ultimately took a month for Dutton to walk back the work from home announcement. Missed opportunities Howarth says it wasn't just the public service policy that was poorly communicated by campaign headquarters and Dutton's office. He says the Coalition's super-for-housing plan and its bold nuclear power strategy were not sold well enough, and the attacks on Albanese were simply not effective. Howarth says the party did not capitalise on Albanese and Labor's broken promise on stage three tax cuts, and says he advocated running a negative campaign accusing the Prime Minister of being untrustworthy. 'I was vocal to the leader at the time and said 'this is bullshit, we shouldn't be voting for it'. '(I was told) 'If you don't like it, you can resign as shadow minister',' Howarth recalls. He says it was particularly galling when just before the election, the opposition decided to oppose the tax cuts in Labor's March budget. Senior campaigners are also critical of Hirst's Parramatta-based campaign headquarters for failing to deliver strong enough negative ads against the PM, and for not pushing back hard enough against Labor's claims the nuclear policy would cost $600bn. 'We had him on the mat for a period of time, we just didn't finish it off,' the senior Liberal source says. 'The Labor Party are better campaigners and they're just more brazen, to the point of fabrication (in their ads).' Senior campaign sources acknowledge that while some Coalition MPs may have been misled by the internal polling, others were complacent. Some 'thought it was in the f. king bag' while others were just 'very lazy', two senior campaign sources say. They're both careful to separate Howarth from those MPs, saying he worked 'night and day, seven days a week'. But Howarth himself acknowledges in hindsight that he didn't take Comer seriously enough as an opponent. 'The Petrie Labor candidate was preselected seven weeks ago, was new to the electorate, and had zero $ and little signage,' he wrote in his dot-point analysis to Dutton. 'I myself did NOT take her as a threat. I should have realised despite (the polling) I could still lose a traditional bellwether seat.' Howarth has not ruled out another tilt at Petrie in three years. Peter Dutton conceding defeat. Picture: Patrick Hamilton Back in the Coalition war room on election night in Brisbane, the party's top strategists were still reeling as they watched Dutton on television take the stage in the next room to graciously congratulate Albanese and Dickson winner Ali France on their victories. Hirst appeared taken aback. He hadn't been warned by Dutton that he was about to concede. Sarah Elks Senior Reporter Sarah Elks is a senior reporter for The Australian in its Brisbane bureau, focusing on investigations into politics, business and industry. Sarah has worked for the paper for 15 years, primarily in Brisbane, but also in Sydney, and in Cairns as north Queensland correspondent. She has covered election campaigns, high-profile murder trials, and natural disasters, and was named Queensland Journalist of the Year in 2016 for a series of exclusive stories exposing the failure of Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel business. Sarah has been nominated for four Walkley awards. Got a tip? elkss@ GPO Box 2145 Brisbane QLD 4001 @sarahelks Sarah Elks
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Broncos bring in Australian firm to 'catapult' club
London Broncos have partnered with Australia firm Freshwater Strategy to develop a new ownership group and "catapult" the club back to the top of rugby chief executive Gary Hetherington, who is stepping down from the Rhinos at the end of this season, is currently advising the Championship Broncos will remain based at AFC Wimbledon's ground and will also re-establish an academy as part of a five-year plan to "rebrand" the club lost their Super League status at the end of 2024 due to a new grading system and, in September, owner David Hughes put the club up for sale after 27 years."Rugby league is at a significant moment both nationally and globally, and London needs to be a part of that," said Hetherington at an event at Australia House in London."Stephen Smith, Australia's high commissioner to the United Kingdom, and his team recognise the importance of rugby league in terms of our links to Australia and the wider South Pacific."And in a year when we will see the return of the Rugby League Ashes for the first time since 2003, with the first Test at Wembley on 25 October, this is the perfect time to consider how best to maximise that potential." Freshwater Strategy is a sports advisory firm and their involvement aims to turn London Broncos into a "world-class franchise under new ownership", a statement have a rich history in the sport, finishing second in Super League during owner Hughes' first year at the club in 1997 and also reaching the Challenge Cup final in 1999."Freshwater's partnership with London Rugby is focused on growing sponsors and investment underpinned by NRL [National Rugby League] partnerships and an exciting and contemporary club rebrand," Freshwater director Jonathon Flegg said. "Our aspiration is to help catapult the club back into the Super League, with the strongest brand, membership, merchandise, venue, sponsorships, governance and on-field competitiveness."Broncos currently sit second bottom of the Championship, with just two wins from nine league games played this season."There is an obvious requirement to strengthen the team for 2025 which is currently active and ongoing," said director of rugby and performance Mike Eccles."However it is our ambition to ensure we build not only a competitive squad for the present, but also a squad that is built largely on homegrown talent for sustained and lasting success for the future." 'Lure of London' from Australia Matt Newsum, BBC Sport rugby league reporterWhile this isn't the Broncos' first rodeo in terms of new ownership and grand plans, the identity of those involved in this venture definitely brings with it some credibility and the hope that this won't be just another dawn of Hetherington built Sheffield Eagles up from scratch and turned Leeds into one of the most respected rugby league clubs in the world, so he's experienced life at both ends and his expertise will be call to restore the academy is a key factor as it plays into the hands of a club which has thrived on producing players, and has a huge catchment area of athletic talent to draw upon across the city if they get their development strategy involvement highlights both the interest in and lure of London from the Australian perspective, and with the National Rugby League reportedly keen on investment in the league as a whole, a thriving Broncos is seen as key to both their and strategic partner IMG's hopes for the a stable base in Wimbledon might also be helpful, as the Broncos' nomadic status has perhaps been an issue in them laying down roots and establishing a fanbase.
The Age
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Scrap nuclear: Key Liberal senator wants radioactive energy plan buried
The Liberal Party is set for a pivotal clash over nuclear power after a key senator broke ranks to urge her colleagues to dump their plans for atomic energy, shaping the choice over the party's leadership and direction. The warning from Liberal senator Maria Kovacic marks the first public rejection of the nuclear plan from a member of the federal party room ahead of a broader debate about how to recover from the catastrophic defeat at the election. The move comes as deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor contest a tight race to decide the leadership, with each side approaching immigration spokesman Dan Tehan to serve as deputy. A damaging leak of internal polling, revealed by this masthead on Tuesday, has also fuelled discontent within the party, as MPs criticise the party's pollster, Freshwater Strategy, for providing data that that gave Liberal leader Peter Dutton a false sense of confidence. Kovacic said the election campaign showed that younger voters did not support the nuclear policy, based on her experience with Liberal candidates at polling stations, and that the party needed to listen to the verdict from voters last Saturday. Loading 'We know how tough it is out there, and we didn't offer Australian voters a legitimate alternative – and they sent that message very, very clearly on Saturday,' she said. 'And we can't deny the fact that our nuclear plan was a part of that because it was one of the keystone policies. 'So it's my view that the Liberal Party must immediately scrap the nuclear energy plan and back the private market's investment in renewable energy.'
