Member for Mallee - Transcript - Interview ABC Radio Mildura -Swan Hill Breakfast with Grace Marshall - 23 January 2026

DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

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FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TRANSCRIPT

TOPICS:  Representing Mallee as a Nationals MP, Shadow Ministry responsibilities, future of the Coalition, speaking opportunities in the House, National Party leadership, allocation of spokesperson roles within The Nationals, mobile offices in Mallee

‍MARSHALL

Well, Dr Anne Webster is federal member for the Mallee. Good morning. Dr Webster.

WEBSTER

Good morning, Grace. How are you?

MARSHALL

Well, thank you. Busy week for you. You did hold the shadow ministry for Regional Development, Regional Communications, Local Government and the Territories after last year's election. There has been a split, as we know, people have been listening to the news and here on ABC. What does this mean here in the Mallee, following that decision yesterday?

WEBSTER

Well, fundamentally, it means I get to have more time travelling around the electorate, meeting with locals. So that is a good piece of news. Having portfolios is a tremendous privilege. It's also a tremendous responsibility, and I don't need to tell anybody that Australia is a big place, so getting to, for example, Darwin and Karratha and other places in order to achieve portfolio responsibilities is, you know, takes a lot of time out of my time in the Mallee. However, look, I think that we will be, David [Littleproud] will be looking at portfolios. Now, I'm not into those discussions. He will let us know what he would like us to do as probably the days unfold, I would think. I know he's in discussion with the Prime Minister now. Yeah, look, it's not where any of us want to be, but we've got to have a working relationship with our coalition partner and our regional seats, particularly for Nationals, pretty conservative people want us to hold a clear line around things like freedom of speech and freedom of action, gun laws, all of those things very important to regional communities. This was a massive piece of legislation. It was a shambolic omnibus, and we managed to separate part of it out. We've had 10 meetings as a party room, The Nationals. We did not have one Joint Party Room meeting to ratify a Shadow Cabinet decision, and neither did the Shadow Cabinet finally come to see the final amendment of the legislation, or amendments, I should say, there were plenty of them in the legislation that we would stand by. So, it has been a failed process. It has been deeply distressing for all of us, and now we've just got to move forward, allow our Liberal partners to work themselves out, and I'm talking with several of my Liberal colleagues, so that's going to be a process for them.

MARSHALL

You said yesterday, Anne, Sky News, that you're very confident that you can come to an arrangement at some point in time. Do you still believe that that can happen?

WEBSTER

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we fundamentally, our principles, our values, as two parties, easily align. Well, not in every aspect, obviously, but generally speaking, we hold the same principles. And you know, it is like a marriage. You've got to be able to agree on fundamentals in order to make a marriage work. And the nature of politics, particularly in a coalition, is similar. We've got to be able to work together and accept differences and respect differences and be able to move forward. So, I think we'll just … it's a pause and reflect time. That's not a bad thing.Last time when we split, which is, as you rightly pointed out, less than 12 months ago - this is the second split under Sussan Ley's leadership,  David Littleproud worked very successfully with Peter Dutton. I think you know there is work to be done.

MARSHALL

Do you think, as you've said, Dr Webster, is the second split … do you think your constituents are losing faith in The Nationals?

WEBSTER

Well, I certainly hope not.  The information that I have been provided by constituents, I've had people ringing the office, I've had people emailing, in fact, prior to our split this week, I've had many people requesting us to split from the Liberals. So, there is clearly a feeling that what The Nationals stand for is appreciated. I certainly spend a lot of my time listening to my constituents. That's why I go to Canberra, to represent this vast electorate. And you know that will absolutely continue while I have the privilege of being in this role. So, Mallee is my focus, and the people of Mallee and the disadvantages that we face on a daily basis, because we are a large regional seat, I'll continue to fight for …

MARSHALL

… so the mass migration to the cross bench, it won't affect votes in the Lower House, as Labor holds the outright majority, but it does mean that MPs will have less speaking opportunities in the lower house, and you did state your frustrations this week at not having a chance to speak on the gun reform due to Parliament being guillotined. What does this mean, though, for your ability to speak within parliament and advocate for the Mallee?

WEBSTER

I … Look, these arrangements are made with the Prime Minister. So, David will be having those conversations, and the Leader of the House, Tony Burke, of course, will be speaking with whoever is our opposition leader in terms of the house management. So, they're kind of, they're practicalities that are sorted out. We do have vast, you know, we've a very broad cross bench, so to speak, but we are a party that gives us a different level of representation in the House that therefore has further privileges than the individual cross benchers.

MARSHALL

Do you think, Dr Webster, that some National MPs will defect to One Nation, as the rumours abound about that?

WEBSTER

Look, there are so many rumours. No, I don't I think we have a … I have to say this is the most unified, the most democratic our party room has ever been, like we've always had an incredibly well functioning party room, and David has the respect of all of us, and his leadership, I think, has been exemplary through this whole process. He has listened to everything that we have to say, and we're all very vocal, I've got to say, he has put it all together. He always ensures that he understands what we are all saying, and then he goes to represent us to the Coalition leader, which is Sussan Ley at this point, so he has our confidence. We are absolutely united. We are very collegiate in our room, and I'm very proud to be a member of the National Party.

MARSHALL

Do you think it will take a new leader of the Liberal Party to for the coalition to reform?

WEBSTER

Look, I think so. David certainly made that statement yesterday publicly. But you know, we don't determine the Liberal leadership. The Liberals do, just like they don't determine our leadership. We do that is the right and privilege of each party, and that will be up to the Liberals.

MARSHALL

Do you think there'll be a change in the Nationals leader?

WEBSTER

No, absolutely not.

MARSHALL

So you're confident that David Littleproud will stay as the leader?

WEBSTER

Yes, I am. I fully endorse David's leadership, as I've just said, he is .. he's an excellent leader. This has been an awful time for him as leader. I think you could see on the faces of the National Party yesterday, David, Kevin [Hogan], Bridget [McKenzie], this has really sucked the wind out of all of us. None of us want to be in this position. We want a working Coalition. It is our priority to have a working Coalition. We have good relationships with our Liberal colleagues and our Joint Party Room, generally speaking, is high functioning and the most democratic, I think, in Parliament

MARSHALL

And Dr Webster, lastly, as we know, you were the Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Regional Communications, Local Government and the Territories for The Nationals that can potentially …  considering their own shadow ministry roles within The Nationals, is that the same shadow ministry that you'll hold, if that does happen?

WEBSTER

Well, that'll be up to David, so we'll wait and hear what he has to say over the next week or so. But in the interim, I'm planning my mobile offices down around in Mallee, and looking forward to getting out and about.

MARSHALL

Where will be your first mobile office? Where can our listeners find you?

WEBSTER

Well, the list was … the draft list, I should say, because things can move, was - we worked up yesterday. My team worked up yesterday. I know one of the places that I want to get to is Nhill. Natimuk, of course, post the fires, I was down there a week or so ago, just after the fires, day or two after the fires, and I'll be going back there.  Horsham, I really want to get down to Maryborough, you know, it's a vast electorate, and people need time. They want time. The mobile offices that I run, you know, and I think back to seven years ago, I might have been lucky to have three people turn up. Now we have 30 people turn up to a mobile office, and they're all individual conversations. So, it certainly takes more time and takes more organising, and it's really important to me that we follow up each person's concerns as they speak to me, so I. Looking forward to getting out and hearing what people are needing.

MARSHALL

Well, thank you so much for taking the time this morning. Dr Webster, and as we know, it's changing every day, so I'm sure we'll speak again soon.

WEBSTER

I'm sure. Thanks Grace.

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