Latest news with #MenziesResearchCentre
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Justin Trudeau accused of deliberate act to ‘draw attention' away from the King
Menzies Research Centre's Freya Leach has called out former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau over a 'clearly obvious move' during King Charles' visit. 'He wanted to stand out. He wanted to draw attention from the King,' she said. Mr Trudeau has sparked a furore after he raised eyebrows when he was spotted wearing a bright green pair of sneakers to go with his suit during his attendance to see King Charles open Canada's Parliament. Mr Trudeau drew attention with his odd fashion choice, which made him stand out among the royal and other politicians who opted for suits and dress shoes.
Sky News AU
4 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Victorian treasurer's ‘awkward moment' asking developers what their ‘favourite tax' is
Menzies Research Centre's Freya Leach discusses Victorian Treasurer Jaclyn Symes' 'awkward moment' when asking developers what their 'favourite tax' was. 'The Victorian treasurer had a really awkward moment today when she was addressing a group of high-rolling property developers and investors and she asked the really interesting question of, what is your favourite tax, now obviously the room was dead silent,' Ms Leach said. 'The treasurer of the state that has become un-investible because of the amount of taxes … is trying to make a joke of this situation.'
ABC News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Labor's thumping win exposes how broken the right is in this country
Australia's political right spent much of the past three years lamenting and fomenting over what it diagnoses as the collapse of Western order. "Wokeism", identity politics, "support for" radical Islam and belief in climate change and renewable energy top a long list of "deluded" obsessions driving the Anglosphere over the edge, assert our contemporary Hanrahans. Newspaper columns and cult-like conferences headlined by people called Jordan and Niall reinforce the idea that deranged "leftists" are sending the world to hell in a handcart. "Disunity is death," declared former Nationals leader and deputy prime minister John Anderson in the Menzies Research Centre's annual "John Howard Lecture" in 2020. "My friends, I think we all share a deep concern that those elites who hold the bulk of the microphones and, it seems the cultural heft in the West today, seem determined to divide us — not unite us — at every turn," he asserted. "We are, it seems, at war with one another: men versus women, race versus race, and generation against generation." Two consecutive federal losses and it's clear Australians aren't buying what Anderson is selling — a dark and bleak interpretation of our circumstances. But he might be right in so far as Labor's thumping win exposes how broken the right is in this country. As much as the issues he identified influenced voters' choices on the May 3 election, the results pretty much speak for themselves. The elites that voters worry most about are on the Coalition's side, it seems. People instead picked a government that said and demonstrated how it was focused on the more prosaic but relevant issues of importance to households. Fire and brimstone over the future of civilisation be damned. The savage ballot box rebuke three weeks ago continues to reverberate. A result so dramatic and painful for one side was always going to send certain players over the edge. The surprise has been how far they were prepared to leap. Over the past few days the Coalition's behaviour has resembled a clown show. Actually, scrap that, let's describe it accurately. Like chimps. In a room. Flinging faeces. At random. While seeking applause. On Tuesday the National Party's night-watchman leader David Littleproud wrote to supporters saying that "after careful consideration" the party room had decided now was not the time to continue the decades-old alliance with the Liberals. Much better to strike out solo. As a minority party. With fewer staff and less financial backing. Less than 48-hours later, presumably after more careful consideration, Littleproud announced the party room had changed its mind. It may not have been such a good idea after all. When voters kicked Labor into the dust at the 2013 election, a deeply divided and internally shattered party quickly regrouped around Bill Shorten. Three years later, despite its own internal divisions, Shorten came tantalisingly close to unseating the Coalition. Anderson's 2020 lament about disunity was aimed at Labor and the Greens. But in 2025, it's the National Party — Anderson's old stomping ground — that is providing Australians with the strongest evidence of decay, dissipation and dubious moral clarity. Sadly for its supporters, the Coalition's melodrama has further to go. Even if Littleproud and Liberal leader Sussan Ley renew the agreement between the two parties, as now seems likely, the policy and personality divisions remain unresolved. Across the four big points of difference with the Liberals — the policy hill that Littleproud appeared so willing to die on — the most significant is on climate. Both parties state they support net zero by 2050. But there is no plan on how to get there, let alone what its position will be on the pending 2035 national emissions target the government will soon take to the UN. Voters rejected Peter Dutton's promise to build seven nuclear power stations. But rather than dumping nuclear energy, the Nationals and Liberal party rooms decided they will continue to advocate for the energy source. Albeit in a much more limited way — by arguing for the repeal of John Howard's 1999 nuclear power moratorium. It is not clear how this revised position will deliver on the broader net zero goal or any interim targets the country signs up to under Labor. Another area of supposed tension — supermarket divestiture powers — the Liberals remain in the ideological box seat with a mutually-agreed policy that will only allow for the break-up of large retailers if there are no job or shareholder losses. Some critics in the Nationals recognise that for what it is; a clause that ensures the divestiture powers are dead-letter law. Then there's the $20 billion regional Australia "Future Fund". Announced during the federal election, the fund will start with $5 billion in "seed capital" before growing over time thanks to "windfall" commodity tax revenues. If you believe this will ever happen, the National Party would like to sell you a bridge. Aside from the policy debates — and it's not obvious that any of the things mentioned above address things voters care about — leadership remains the most egregious issue for both Coalition parties. Littleproud and his leadership team, which includes Bridget McKenzie and Kevin Hogan, have been seriously tarnished inside the party this week. Already there's open discussion about replacing Littleproud, even if there is no obvious contender. Sources tell this column that Littleproud's week of living dangerously has wounded him in other ways. They say he failed to level with his own party room about all the demands he put to Ley. Many Nationals only learnt from leaks to the media via the Liberals that cabinet solidarity was one of the sticking points. And others say they were not told about the "four demands" at the meeting on Tuesday when they agreed to break from the Liberals. Those items only became apparent after the fact. Many are also wondering about Littleproud's performance under pressure — perhaps for the first time — in the full frontal glare of the nation's media this week. 'He's been outwitted and encircled by Ley's office,' said one National Party source. It was only two weeks ago that Littleproud saw off a leadership challenge from Matt Canavan. The subsequent split and reunion with the Liberals appears to have divided many of his own backers. That does not mean he's about to lose his job, say Nationals insiders, especially as the Coalition appears to be back on track. But it does mean the next time leadership comes up, Littleproud may not be able to rely on all the party room members that backed him over Canavan. A recipe for more chaos from the centre right, now well and truly in its dark night of the soul.
Sky News AU
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Drop the victim complex': Jacinta Allan told to ‘take a joke' following cow poo stunt
Menzies Research Centre's Freya Leach tells Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan to 'take a joke' following a prank pulled on her. Two MPs on Wednesday left cow manure on Ms Allan's parliamentary office doorstep, protesting the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy. 'She needs to learn how to take a joke,' Ms Leach said. 'She's ruining these farmers' lives, so I think she should be a little more humble, drop the victim complex and laugh at the joke.'
Sky News AU
21-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Cash crusader's ‘got a shot' at fighting $97 parking fine in court
Menzies Research Centre's Freya Leach comments on cash crusader Oliver Griffiths refusing to use EFTPOS to pay for parking. "According to the ACCC, businesses don't have to accept cash, but they need to tell customers that in advance," Ms Leach said. "This will come down to the technicality over whether there was a disclosure statement on any of these parking signs. "I don't know, I reckon Ollie's got a shot here."
