‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TERRITORIES
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS:

National and Liberal Parties, Road Speed Limits, Productivity

KENNY

Now, with all the soul searching going on in the Liberal Party, someone's pointed out that if just 7 Liberals switched to The Nationals, suddenly The Nationals would be the major party in the coalition. And Nationals leader David Littleproud has told The Australian, fair enough, he'll take any comers as long as they believe in The Nationals' values. So, let's go to the Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Anne Webster - she's at the Mildura Show, She's a National - good to talk to you again, Anne. Mildura, looking lovely. Would you welcome, Anne, some of your Liberal colleagues joining your Nationals party so that you guys could run the show and have the Liberals as your junior partner?

WEBSTER

Look, I absolutely would welcome any newcomers to the National Party. I think that our strong conservative base is something that Australia needs right now and having said that, I also of course, wish my Liberal colleagues all the very best as they work through all of these machinations, what they're standing for, what they believe, and what their policies are going to be. I know that being a National, I feel incredibly secure in the place that we are. We're working and fighting very hard to come up with policies such as our position on net zero and hopefully we'll be able to announce that very soon.

KENNY

Well, the point is that The Nationals haven't lost seats over many decades now, you guys have been holding on to your seats. It's been the Liberals who have been haemorrhaging.

WEBSTER

Well, I think the thing is that out in the bush, we spend a lot of time listening to all of our people. I just did a survey, I think I've mentioned it to you before, they had five and a half thousand responses. That's a pretty big response rate. And you know, we've got a fair idea now of where my electorate sits. I'm here to represent my electorate, so you know, that's my job.

KENNY

You're talking about your electorate. Tell us about these plans to lower the basic speed limit in rural roads, on rural roads in Victoria, is this surely 100 is slow enough?

WEBSTER

This is actually a federal consultation going on right now, so this involves the whole nation. I am appalled that the consultation is looking at, ohh, can we manage to reduce fatalities by reducing speed limits on bad roads? No, fix the damn roads! This is a Labor Party party disaster. Whether it's Victoria, whether it's the federal government, they are not putting enough money into roads and they're leaving it to shires who are bleeding, particularly out in the regions.  They cannot afford to repair the thousands of kilometres that they share, this is terrible. It's terrible for productivity because our trucks will have to go slower and you know it's not going to be good for the for the country. Labor keep talking about productivity. But seriously, I don't think their eye’s on the ball at all.

KENNY

No, no, I don't think we need to start driving slower. I think fixing the roads is a better option - Anne, we'll leave you to enjoy the Show.

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