Shadow Minister for Regional Health, Shadow Minister for Regional Communications - Member for Mallee - Transcript - Panel with James Macpherson 'The Macpherson Angle' with Warren Pickering - News24 - Sunday 25 October 2026

‍

‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL HEALTH
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

‍

TOPICS:  Victorian Premier's Big Red Bus, state of Victoria's roads, Premier's naps, campaign appearances and security,  attack on Helen Haines MP,  cartoon depictions of violence against MPs

Joining me now is One Nation Victoria leader, Warren Pickering, and Shadow Regional Health Minister, Anne Webster. Welcome to you both. Warren, I'll start with you. I'm not sure this bus is going to be welcome in many parts of Victoria.

PICKERING

Yeah, look, I think the Wiggles classic, toot toot, chugga chugga big red bus, comes to mind in this case. The kids might love it.

MACPHERSON

Look, it might be very welcome with its free dental and its free abortions in some of these socialist centres across Melbourne, but, look, in peri-urban and regional areas, it certainly won't be a welcome sight. I'm disappointed, Warren. I'm happy to hear you refer to the Biggles, but Wiggles, but I thought you were going to do the wake-up-Jeff joke. And he's a brave Premier to be driving around Victoria in a bus, given the state of the roads.

WEBSTER

100 per cent, especially in my patch, although everything that I see on social media, it's the same across Victoria. And I don't think you'll get a particularly warm welcome really anywhere in Mallee, which, let's face it, is over a third of the state of Victoria. So come on out and make some commitments to Mallee. Ben, we'd like to have some funding come our way. That would be wonderful.

MACPHERSON

I'm curious as to what you both think of the leaks from within Labor that the Premier is taking afternoon naps. I've got to be honest, I don't care so much about the Premier taking a nap in the afternoon. I understand being a Premier you're not working nine to five. So if you grab an hour's sleep on the couch in the afternoon because you've got a big evening, whatever, I couldn't care less. What's more telling, I think, is that staff are leaking. Warren, what's your take on that?

PICKERING

Oh, I think... The Premier sleeping in his office for a start. We know he was asleep at the wheel as co-driver of the Victorian economy and he's now asleep at the wheel as Premier of this economy. So, look, I assume that it's tiring work to sleep under your desk. I can only imagine he's just dreaming up new and exciting ways of taxing the Victorian people to death. But, look, the broader leak with respect to the staff, look, that's got to be a consequence of having such a large staff, doesn't it? I mean, you can't keep everybody happy.

MACPHERSON

That's a fair point. I hadn't considered that one. And when things fall apart in political parties, I guess it's, you know, gradual and then quite rapid. And that seems to be a little bit of what's happening with the Labor Party now as they face this. People start talking.

WEBSTER

Well, that's the only way Labor can talk is by people, MPs, making quotes that are anonymous and staff behind people's backs, including the premiers, of course. In our democratic parties, such as the Coalition, people are more upfront about about what their views are. And frankly, we welcome that democratic viewpoint. very robust debates. We discuss our policies and if people object, they're heard and people are listened to with respect and decisions are are made democratically.  Now, it doesn't mean everyone's going to agree with you, but we do get to a point of democratic decisions being made and there are parties where that is absolutely not the case.

MACPHERSON

The whole country's been focused this week on the recovery of independent federal MP Helen Haines who thankfully is now said to be in a stable rather than critical condition following that horrible attack, and we continue to obviously wish her and her family the very best. But in the wake of the attack, the AFP have warned politicians against publicising their public appearances. Warren, have you taken that advice? And how does that affect an election campaign? I can't imagine it makes things easy.

PICKERING

Well, that is prudent advice, and I would hope that everybody would take it seriously. Here in Victoria, specifically for the One Nation Party, this has been an ongoing issue for us for a long time. We can't even have branch meetings and the like at a public venue without releasing the location until the very last minute. Otherwise, the raging intolerance seems to turn up and squash all dialogue. But furthermore, you know, these are paid venues who are struggling under a Labor government, and these people get online and then leave bad Google reviews and trash the reputation of the venues that aren't necessarily supportive of the party. They just, you know, like to earn a living in a free market economy. So this has been an ongoing issue. And I'm... Probably 20 per cent of our candidates have already had a threat of some to some extent, whether it be that verbal or otherwise here in Victoria. So it doesn't necessarily change the way that I intend to campaign, because I refuse to be a victim of this sort of behaviour. I defend our democratic process. However, it causes a larger concern when we are asking thousands of people, thousands of our members and supporters to volunteer their time around pre-poll and election day, who are then likely to be the targets of these types of attacks. And that's of great concern to us here in this campaign.

MACPHERSON

Anne, when you went into politics, did you expect to be confronted with the kind of atmosphere we have now and briefings from the AFP about movements and security arrangements?

WEBSTER

Well, no, I didn't. I stepped into parliament, put my hand up, people elected me to be here to serve my community. And that was foremost, remains foremost in my mind and how we can do that. I think the reality is that if we're going to do our job, then we need to be available, we need to be accessible, we need to be present in our communities, we need to be listening to people and engaging in robust debate. I will not take these, you know, 'bring the temperature down' statements by the Prime Minister. I don't believe that robust debate is bad. I think it's very good for our society. But people who, you know, become unhinged and or make threats generally, which I've certainly faced myself, it is a problem in how you manage that. And as a woman, I'm out in a regional community. You know, Helen and I are on opposite sides of the state and... I just, you know, my heart goes out to her and to Phil and to their family and to their staff. What has happened has just been absolutely appalling. Can we protect ourselves? Honestly, Helen was getting stuff out of her boot. Yeah. What do you do?

MACPHERSON

Yeah, you're quite right. Well, just on that, we're being asked to believe today that satirical One Nation cartoons published three years ago could be in part responsible for the attack on Helen Haines. Back in 2023 and 2024, the hugely popular Please Explain cartoons featured episodes where Pauline Hanson ran over Lidia Thorpe in a bus and another where Pauline Hanson, again, in a bus, ran down her political opponents. Before I show you the clips in question, talking about the link between political discourse and violence. Have a listen.

I've got to ask, do things like a cartoon that suggests someone should be hit by a car, or something like that, does that have a direct link? Is that what you're talking about? We do see examples where there are particular announcements or, you know, things like you've just described, there is a reaction amongst the community.  Okay, here are the cartoons in question and please, in case you're a complete moron, these are cartoons, not suggestions.

CARTOON

Oh for goodness sake, Lydia get out of the way. No! Alright class chat amongst yourselves, I'll sort this out. Right-o you mob, let's go to the rum distillery. Yay! Hey Mish, how did you get Lydia to move out of the way? Who? Get in!

MACPHERSON

Warren, are these cartoons contributing to violence in the country?

PICKERING

Absolutely not. Look, I grew up in the 80s and the 90s, and at that time we used to not take ourselves so seriously, if I'm honest. Look, I think we need to go back to being able to not take ourselves so seriously. And I think this highlights the broader issue that Anne pointed out. We need to promote robust dialogue, political dialogue in this country. Now, the broader Australian community through the medium of comedy and cartoons is an important way to do that. Now, I'm not saying that it's always going to be in good taste or in good timing. However, I'd encourage if the other side of politics has a problem with this and feels like this is contributing, maybe they should create some of their own cartoons and try their hand at that. This nonsense that cartoons are contributing to this type of behaviour is actually, I just think it's... been deliberately politicised to serve an agenda at a very convenient time. I mean, how far do we go back? Do we get rid of all South Park cartoons and... Simpsons cartoons and heaven forbid Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons.

MACPHERSON

Well, Warren, I was thinking maybe we need to get rid of the Three Stooges. I agree with you, Warren. Anne, I'm interested in your take.

WEBSTER

Oh, look, going back to the Three Stooges, that's just traumatic for me. I never liked them, I've got to say. Poking people's eyes out just does not appeal to me at all, even in jest. So, look, I think that we need to have... good respect for politics and political argument and debate. I think it's really important that we do that. I appreciate what Warren says about not taking ourselves too seriously, but the fact is that when threats are made, you have to take them seriously. And, you know, I've certainly been in situations where I've been advised by the AFP that they would have the police presence at a particular turn up. They were called away to something else and that's the reality. You know, we make ourselves accessible, then we also make ourselves vulnerable. The question is, how do we manage that while remaining true to what we're here for, which is to serve our people?

MACPHERSON

Yep, and how do we manage that while being able to exercise freedom of speech and have a laugh without having to watch every word as if it's a mine waiting to explode, if I'm allowed to use that analogy these days.  Warren and Anne, I appreciate you joining me.

‍

‍

‍