Member for Mallee - Transcript - Sky News 'Paul Murray Live' with James Macpherson - Sunday 25 January 2026

‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: Liberal leadership, Nationals shadow ministry resignations, Albanese's 'blunderbuss bill', Coalition reconciliation, One Nation

MACPHERSON:

Joining me now is Nationals MP Dr Anne Webster. Anne, always a joy to speak with you. Thanks for coming on the program. Let me just start with the obvious question, having listened to that grab from David Littleproud. Who should lead the Liberal Party?

WEBSTER

Well, look, I know that the Liberals would take great joy in The Nationals telling them who should lead their party. We're not going to do that. is absolutely forbidden fruit, so to speak. We wouldn't welcome their views on who our leader should be any more than I would be making comment. I don't think you'll find a National Party member who's prepared to get into that whirlpool.

MACPHERSON:

But not while Sussan Ley is the leader.

WEBSTER: 

Well, look, David has been really frank about this and the fact is that three of our excellent Senators who went into the Senate Tuesday night to vote according to our party room decision were sacked. Their resignations were accepted. They didn't have to be accepted. We'd had no Joint Party Room. There hadn't even been another cabinet meeting to confirm. And certainly the Joint Party Room, normal practise is is to ratify the cabinet decision. So this was a debacle. I think, frankly, Albanese decided it was going to be a debacle right from the beginning. I've unaffectionately now termed this legislation the blunderbuss bill, and I think that's exactly what it has become. It had to be divided. We needed to separate out the points that we absolutely could not agree with. And, you know, the fact that we were going into the chamber when we had not completed amendments, were being done on the run. And, you know, Michelle Rowland was in the chamber the legislation and speaking to it. was disgraceful. It was a disgraceful process and certainly does not honour our parliament and does not honour our democracy.

MACPHERSON:

And I absolutely agree with you that Anthony Albanese set the trap, and he said it perfectly, but the truth is the Coalition ran headlong straight into it. And with regards, you know, it's not for the National Party to talk about who should lead the Liberals, and yet your leader has said there will be no Coalition while Sussan Ley is leader of the Liberals. So that's a little bit of an insinuation as to who should or should not lead the party. Let me ask you this. If the Coalition is to be restored, how important is it that it happens swiftly? I ask because Sussan Ley believes she can stay on as the leader. That would then delay any reconciliation between the Nats and the Libs. So if there is to be a reconciliation, it ought to happen quickly, shouldn't it, which means there needs to be a change in the Liberal leadership quick smart.

WEBSTER:

Well, I'm not so sure that it should happen quickly. So, none of us in the Nats are particularly fussed about that. We have a job to do, and that is to represent our electorates. That is what we did this week by saying, well, if our amendments are not accepted in the Senate, we will be voting no, should that bill come back into the House. We honoured Sussan's leadership in abstaining from the first vote, which a lot of us are not happy about. We actually wanted to go in and vote no before it went to the Senate. But, look, we honoured our Coalition partner and we we had to go through the process of the Senate. It was late Tuesday night when the amendments were not accepted. Our senators voted no, according to our party will. It was the next next morning that we had to, well, it actually took the whole day to come to a place where we would say we will step aside from the coalition because it's not right that our three senators were tossed.

MACPHERSON:

Okay, so on that point, as David Littleproud said, if a leader was to invite those three senators back into the shadow front bench, that would solve the problem. So if Andrew Hastie, for example, became leader and said, look, wrong decision was made, the Nats need to be back in the shadow cabinet, then the Coalition will be back on again. It could happen as easy, as quickly as maybe end of next week.

WEBSTER:

Well, we will see. As David said today, I heard his media this morning, he would be taking that back to our party room. I've got to say, James, that I am incredibly proud to be a National Party member and a representative for my electorate in the National Party. And one of the many reasons, but one of the reasons is we are incredibly democratic and we listen to one another. We debate in our party room. We argue with one another about the points that we need to be considering. And we come to party room consensus and agreement. And that is what our whole democracy should look like. And I'm very proud to stand with the National Party.

MACPHERSON:

Well, as the Coalition fractures, Pauline Hanson's positioning herself as the alternative government. This morning she told Outsiders her party could rise to take power. Have a listen. I want to get your thoughts.

HANSON:

If we get the number one vote and we get the majority of the vote, the majority of the lower house seat, yes, we can form government. But it's a big ask. And I'm being honest with myself and honest with the people. But it is possible. But I think that we'll probably get government in the states before eventually in the federal parliament. But there's nothing stopping us from being opposition first, then working our way towards government.

MACPHERSON:

Anne, can you understand why people are turning away from the coalition to One Nation?

WEBSTER:

Well, I think the populist vote that Pauline has, that Barnaby has run to, is one thing. We've always said that One Nation is a party of protest and they've been very loud about that and that's great, the fact of the matter is it is not run like the National Party and I'll give you the definition of what people don't understand. The National Party has branches all over Australia and those branches determine who becomes the member for Parliament. And they also have a lot of input into policy. We have conferences where they get to speak about that. There is nothing like that in One Nation. It is Pauline's rule. It is certainly not run with branches having power to make any difference at all. I think that is really disturbing. And if people understood that, I'm not sure that they'd be running as quickly as they apparently are in the polls. The National Party has a tremendous amount to offer. We are willing to work very hard to gain more seats in the lower house, certainly, and to maintain, we have maintained, let's face it, for the last three elections, all of our seats. I think we need to expand. We've got a lot to offer.

MACPHERSON:

I hear what you say about structure, and I'm not denying structure's important, but maybe people just like One Nation because they just really like the policies. What do you say to reports that the surge in support for One Nation played into the decision by Nationals MPs to vote against the government's hate speech legislation and thus cause a rift with the Liberals? Because there is that suggestion with One Nation rising that National MPs who were going to abstain from a vote altogether then felt, no, we need to be seen to be opposing this, otherwise we're going to lose more ground to One Nation.

WEBSTER:

Well, I'd give it probably a Pauline Hanson word, really, twaddle. I've heard the narrative out in the media. I know what took place in our party room. We have stood on principle. We looked at the legislation. We found so many holes in that legislation that was forced and rammed through the lower house with, I'm sure you're aware, guillotine speeches, five minutes for those who actually got a spot, and then rushed through the Senate so that, let's face it, the Prime Minister could say, what a good boy am I? got this done. Having failed the Australian people for two and a half years, I find this whole bill and the process a disgrace and something that I hope comes back to roost on Albanese's head because it's just appalling.

MACPHERSON:

Anne Webster, as I said, it's always enjoyable to speak with you and I'm really appreciative of you coming on the program tonight. Thanks so much.

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