Australia news live: Sussan Ley claims PM’s approach to Jewish Australians ‘one of the biggest threats to social cohesion’
Ley claims PM’s approach to Jewish Australians ‘one of the biggest threats to social cohesion’
Sussan Ley then pivots, unprompted, back to the situation in Gaza. She said:
One of the biggest threats to social cohesion and the country is the prime minister’s approach to Jewish Australians.
Everything that happens overseas, and I have reflected on that, has domestic implications.
We have a foreign minister, Penny Wong, who let down Australia in the UN this year and we have a prime minister who is intent on letting down Jewish Australians on the streets of our cities.
One thing I have heard consistently over the last two years has been the sense of isolation, fear and real concern for our wonderful Jewish Australians. I want to make clear, going forward, we will work very hard to hold this prime minister and government to account because it is not acceptable to see what we have seen on the streets of our cities and in the universities.
Key events
Luca Ittimani
Sussan Ley oldest first-time opposition leader since 1960s
Sussan Ley will be Australia’s oldest first-time opposition leader since the 1960s, after winning the Liberal leadership this morning.
At 63 years and five months old, Ley is just a handful of weeks younger than Arthur Calwell was when he took the Labor leadership in 1960. Calwell went up against Robert Menzies and Harold Holt.
Ley comfortably beats the previous title holder, Anthony Albanese, who was 56 when he became opposition leader.
She’s the third-oldest first-time opposition leader in Australia’s history, behind Calwell and post-second world war Labor leader Ben Chifley, who was 64 when he lost the prime ministership.
Many thanks to Cait Kelly for guiding us through today’s news. Cait #2 here for the rest of the afternoon.
Two people missing off Streaky Bay in South Australia
Two people are missing off the waters off Streaky Bay, near Back Beach Road, in South Australia.
Emergency services are searching for the two people who were reported missing at about 11:15am.
The search is being conducted by local police, including the water operation unit, and the State Emergency Service (SES).
Record spending on law and order in NT budget
This from AAP: Record spending of $1.5bn on law and order will deliver for voters who demanded community safety be the top priority for government, a territory treasurer says.
Delivering his Country Liberal party’s first budget for the Northern Territory, treasurer Bill Yan slammed the previous Labor government for years of economic mismanagement and failing to tackle growing crime rates:
Today’s budget puts crime victims first, prioritises law and order and begins the long task of repairing Labor’s mess.
The budget would restore confidence but it was not a time for austerity, Yan said, with the territory needing to play to its strengths in mining, gas, agriculture, tourism and defence.
Victorian Socialists aiming to expand to run socialist candidates across Australia
Victorian Socialists have said they are going to expand across Australia to run more candidates.
Jordan van den Lamb, who headed the Victorian Socialists Senate ticket in the recent election, said:
Victorian Socialists has, in this state, provided an alternative to pro-capitalist politics of major party politicians, and we want to ensure everyone, no matter where in Australia you live, has the opportunity to vote socialist in future elections.
We want to build branches in every state and territory, and ultimately every city and town in Australia. We won’t win a better, more equal society if our struggles remain isolated and divided. The more of us there are coming together across Australia to fight the rotten status quo of capitalist politics, the more powerful our movement will become.
If we can build socialist parties across Australia on the model of Victorian Socialists, our movement will be impossible to ignore. The long-term decline in the vote share of the major parties shows people want change. We’re announcing ourselves today as people who are determined to deliver that.
Ley claims PM’s approach to Jewish Australians ‘one of the biggest threats to social cohesion’
Sussan Ley then pivots, unprompted, back to the situation in Gaza. She said:
One of the biggest threats to social cohesion and the country is the prime minister’s approach to Jewish Australians.
Everything that happens overseas, and I have reflected on that, has domestic implications.
We have a foreign minister, Penny Wong, who let down Australia in the UN this year and we have a prime minister who is intent on letting down Jewish Australians on the streets of our cities.
One thing I have heard consistently over the last two years has been the sense of isolation, fear and real concern for our wonderful Jewish Australians. I want to make clear, going forward, we will work very hard to hold this prime minister and government to account because it is not acceptable to see what we have seen on the streets of our cities and in the universities.
Ley says “there won’t be a climate war” under her leadership.
There will be sound and sensible consultation.
Ley asked about standing in front of Indigenous flag and welcome to country
Ley has also been asked about standing in front of the Indigenous flag and her views on welcome to country.
We should unite under the one Australian flag. That is my firm view.
Of course, I’m happy to stand in front of the flag and quickly, with respect to welcome to country, it is simple: if it matters, it resonates then it is in the right.
As environment minister and health minister, I listened carefully and participated in welcome to country ceremonies that were all of those things. If it is done in a way that is box-ticking on a Teams meeting, then I don’t think it is relevant. I think it diminishes the value of what it is an important we understand that.
Ley says her pro-Palestine position changed after visiting Israel
Ley has been asked about previous comments she made in support of Palestine. She said she has changed her position after visiting Israel at the invitation of Liberal MP Julian Leeser.
I wish we had a leadership of the Palestinian people [that was not] letting them down quite so badly. Right now, what we’re seeing is not a party interested peace with Israel, not a party interested in a secure Israel behind secure borders and not a party interested in a just and lasting peace.
Policy review will include energy, Ley says after more net zero questions
And we are back on net zero with Ley asked if their policy on net zero will be reviewed. She said:
Energy policy is part of our review. As I said, we have to have the right energy policy for the country. We have to start from the position of affordable, reliable baseload power.
And remember that our competitive advantage in manufacturing in this country has always been built on energy. And we need to remember that.
‘It is safe. It is reliable’: Ley says live sheep exporting should continue
Ley has been asked about live exporting and if she supports it.
My position on the trade is that it should continue. It is safe. It is reliable. And it meets the animal welfare standards that it should. And in discussing the live sheep trade with the West Australians after I became deputy and travelled over, I met individually with farmers, with representatives of the pastoral industry, and WA farmers, and I assured them of my stand.
Ley praises Jacinta Price and says she welcomed her to party room ‘with a big hug’
Asked about Jacinta Price being in the Liberals now, Ley says she gave her a big hug when she saw her.
I welcomed Jacinta into the party room this morning with a big hug, and many of my colleagues did. Jacinta is a clear and talented communicator.
I want to make it clear, and I have many times, how much we welcome Jacinta into this party room. I will have more to say about the shaping of my shadow cabinet going forward, but I will say this – my shadow cabinet will include people who did support me in this room this morning, and people who did not.
Sussan Ley says no policies have been ’adopted or walked away from’ when pressed on net zero
Under questions about net zero, Ley has snapped at one of the journalists in the press pack – it sounded like Andrew Probyn – accusing him of putting words in her mouth.
Ley:
There are different views about how we appropriately reduce emissions. Now, we need to reduce emissions in this country, and Australia needs to play its part in reducing emissions. That I absolutely sign up to.
We also know that, if we don’t do energy policy well, we can crash the energy grid. We can cripple Australian manufacturing. We can have a situation where sovereign manufacturing capability in this country is going backwards, or going overseas …
Probyn:
You’re prepared to walk away … from net zero?
Ley:
You’re putting words in my mouth, Andrew. No policies have been adopted or walked away from at this time.
Ley responds to question on nuclear policy by saying party will ‘work through every single policy issue’
Ley is back up – she says after the questions finish, she will head to her mother in Albury, who is in end-of-life care.
Moving to questions, the first is on nuclear and if the Coalition will hold on to the policy.
Here in this party room only a couple of hours ago, I committed to my colleagues that there would be no captain’s calls from anywhere by me.
I also committed to the discussions that I had with them this week that we would work through every single policy issue and canvass the different views and take the time to get it right. And you might hear me saying ‘take the time to get it right’ quite a lot this morning.
Because that’s really important. Unsurprisingly in our party, there are many different views, and we will listen and we will take the positions that we need to at the appropriate time.
O’Brien says he is experienced ‘deputy’ to wife Sophia
O’Brien says he is well suited for the job of deputy leader because that is how he is at home.
When it comes to experience serving as a deputy, Sussan, can I say that I’m actually a very experienced deputy leader at home to Sophia, and our three kids.
And if I think of our three children – the oldest of whom is 12 and the youngest is around about 20 months – I think of what sort of Australia they are going to live in when they are my age and older.
Will it be an Australia that is prosperous? That is strong? That is fiercely independent? Or will it be an Australia that has followed the Labor pathway? An Australia which is poor, which is weak, and which is dependent? It is those children and their peers which drives my service, including as the deputy leader of this party.
Ted O’Brien addresses media as new deputy Liberal leader
The new deputy leader, Ted O’Brien, has also started by introducing himself and giving a little bit of background.
I grew up the youngest of nine kids. Mum and Dad had two girls, seven boys. And so, as the runt of the litter, I came to know, very early, the importance of the broader group – that it’s not just about you, it’s about everybody else.
And, indeed, it’s with that sense of team that I am feeling particularly humbled and honoured to serve as the deputy leader of the Liberal party.
‘We must learn from’ election mistakes, Sussan Ley says
Ley said she will make sure at the next election there is a “competitive policy offering”.
We stood across polling booths across this country and saw the look on people’s faces as they came in, sadly, not to vote for us – they felt disappointed and let down.
We understand that, and we must learn from that. And we must take the time to get it right. So I’ve committed to doing that. Taking the time to get it right. It is time to step up, regroup, and rebuild for the Australian people.
Ley reflects on beginnings of political career and ‘what the Liberal party has given me’
Ley said she was able to pursue her dreams as an aerial stock mustering pilot, and worked in shearing sheds.
In my life in Western Queensland, I worked in the shearing sheds. I learned the value of a hard day’s work in the hot sun. I learned the real value of, and the dignity of, manual labour. And I always said there was no better wisdom than the wisdom of the shearers in their singlets sitting at the huts at the end of a hard, hard day.
She became a farmer’s wife and raised three children, she said, before going to study finance in her 30s, getting a master’s in tax reform and entering politics in John Howard’s 2001 government.
I am incredibly grateful for what the Liberal party has given me, and everything that I am as I stand before you today is reflected by the party that has been part of, well, over half of my adult life.
