Interview with Isobel Roe on ABC Afternoon Briefing

‍Subjects: Liberal Party leadership ballot

E&OE………

Isobel Roe

Andrew Bragg, thank you so much for joining us. As a Moderate yourself, you must be happy with the result of Sussan Ley as your new leader?

Senator Bragg

Well Isobel, I'm not particularly interested in factional labels or labels that are used for internal purposes, but what I can say is that it is a good result that the Liberal Party has conducted a ballot. And I want to acknowledge the good work of Angus Taylor. And we now unite under Sussan Ley, who I think can take the Liberal Party back to the centre, which is where elections in Australia are won.

Isobel Roe

29 to 25 is very close, though. Can the party really unite behind Sussan completely?

Senator Bragg

I think so. And what you saw in the last Parliament was that people were prepared to unite completely behind Peter Dutton. And Peter was able to have a very clean run. And I think that is what I would expect going forward. The Liberal Party understands the moment that we are now living through. That the government have been reelected - they're a bad government, they're a weak government, and we must expose their shortcomings, but also offer a fundamentally different alternative on the policy front.

Isobel Roe

You must be familiar with the concept of a glass cliff. Women who are often brought in to fix something. Has Sussan Ley been given an impossible task here?

Senator Bragg

Well, I don't think the Liberal Party is broken. I think we are Australia's best bet in terms of economic policy and also on showing that we are a fair society. And I think if we are able to develop policies which allow Australians to be their best on the economy front, but also in a societal sense, then I think we're in a good place. And Sussan, I believe, is very well placed to provide that leadership.

Isobel Roe

Well, the electorate resoundingly rejected you at this very recent election. So what policies are you going to develop that will convince people another way next election?

Senator Bragg

Well, the starting point is understanding what you're trying to achieve. And what we are trying to achieve here is a set of economic policies which allow Australians to be their very best. To compete on the global stage, but also to ensure that all Australians feel that they are respected, valued included, and that's why I talk about fairness. I think fairness is a key plank of Australian liberalism, and it was something that Robert Menzies talked about a lot. And I think economic leadership, as well as fairness are going to be two important planks going forward to win the trust of Australians.

Isobel Roe

Did you have enough economic leadership going into that election? Should Angus Taylor stay on as Shadow Treasurer?

Senator Bragg

I think it's clear that we were not able to develop enough policies in enough time, to present Australians with an alternative that was going to make their lives better in terms of the small business person or the factory worker or the tradie or the typical family in the suburbs, we weren't able to harness that. And so we must have the right tax policies and labour law policies and energy policies, for example, to be able to win their trust, to improve their lives.

Isobel Roe

So should Ted O'Brien, for example, as the new Deputy, get to be the Shadow Treasurer?

Senator Bragg

That's not a matter for me, Isobel. That's a matter for the Leader and Deputy Leader to canvass. But what I will say is that the Liberal Party needs to show fidelity to liberalism. We should be liberal on the markets front and we should be liberal on the economy, because ultimately it is the private economy, private investment, small business, large business, which is going to ensure that Australia is strong and prosperous, and we need to be drivers of that prosperity.

Isobel Roe

One of the issues that Sussan Ley's spoken about already this afternoon has been the issue of women. Does Sussan being a woman automatically win back women, or is there more to it than that?

Senator Bragg

I think you and I both know there's more to it than that, but I think it is important and a historic moment for the Liberal Party to have a female leader. And frankly, it has taken too long for us to get to this point. And I look forward to being part of a team which is developing policies for all Australians - men, women, multicultural communities, vulnerable people, minority groups. We have to be able to speak to all parts of our society. And I think in the past, perhaps in the recent past, there's been a sense that we weren't able to speak to all different sectors and clusters of our society, and that some people felt that we weren't the party for them. But the great virtue of the Liberal Party and liberalism is that we are able to throw the blanket over all Australians. And that is what I believe Sussan will be able to do.

Isobel Roe

The National Party have indicated that they could start debating again whether or not they continue to back net zero. Sussan Ley has essentially put all policies like that under review, including net zero, when she was asked specifically. Is that the sort of message that you want to be sending?

Senator Bragg

Well, I think it's eminently sensible that you look at all the policies, but the baseline is that we do want to reduce emissions. That needs to be done in a global compact. And, of course, we want to be mindful of the impact on power prices. So you've got to do this in a way which is going to be sensible because you don't want to export industry and jobs. So I think that is an eminently sensible position to take from the Leader. And that policy, alongside others, will be reviewed.

Isobel Roe

Is that really the sensible centre though? I mean, that's, that's the sort of call of Matt Canavan. Is that where you should be going as a party?

Senator Bragg

Well, I've just said that we are committed to cutting emissions as part of a global agreement. So that is my position. That is the sensible position that we would have. But we also want to make sure that we can do that in a way which doesn't make people's lives harder. And so what that means is looking at the price impact of how you do these things. And as I say, you review policies after an election loss. It doesn't mean you're junking anything necessarily, but you review them because you want to make sure that you've got the right calibration.

Isobel Roe

So perhaps it's reviewing the time in which it took to get to net zero or the way in which it's done, not necessarily whether or not you do it at all.

Senator Bragg

Look, the Liberal Party signed Australia up to net zero. That was an important judgement for the former Coalition Government. Australia has to play an important role in reducing emissions and we will propose to do that going forward. But we will also announce our own domestic policies as to how we will do that in due course and not on the day that we've just had a change in our leadership.

Isobel Roe

Okay, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says that Jacinta Price should now come back to the National Party room. Do you think she should?

Senator Bragg

Look, Jacinta is free to join either of the party rooms. She's joined the party room of the Liberal Party. We welcome that. We welcome a broad sense of views inside our own party room. We're entirely relaxed about that, but that's a matter for Jacinta, not for me.

Isobel Roe

Are you ready for the amount of work there is ahead, do you think?

Senator Bragg

I think we have an incredibly talented team. We've got new Members, returning Members and Senators that have great capacity and capability, great life experience. And I'm confident that we can develop the economic policies and also the policies which present us as a Party able to take Australia forward on a fair basis. I'm very confident about that.

Isobel Roe

Senator Andrew Bragg. Thank you so much for your time.

Senator Bragg

Thanks Isobel.

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