Member for Mallee - Transcript - ABC Radio National Breakfast with Sally Sara - Friday 23 January 2026

‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: future of the Coalition, Sussan Ley, David Littleproud, Bondi terror attack, national day of mourning, hate speech laws, Nationals Party Room, Shadow Cabinet, anonymous comments by Liberal Shadow Ministers, details of acceptable and unacceptable parts of omnibus bill

SARA

On the National Day of Mourning for victims of the Bondi terror attack yesterday, the Coalition split with these words from Nationals leader David Littleproud:

LITTLEPROUD

We cannot be part … our party room has made it very clear we cannot be part … of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley …

SARA

The relationship unraveled this week after The Nationals agreed to vote against hate speech laws supported by the Liberal Party, the Nationals will now sit by themselves on the cross bench, and it seems that won't change while Sussan Ley remains leader of the Liberal Party, Anne Webster is Nationals MP for the seat of Mallee and joins me now. Anne Webster, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

WEBSTER

Thank you, Sally, great to be with you.

SARA

In your view, was it appropriate for members of the National Party to be talking about internal politics yesterday on what had been marked a National Day of Mourning for victims of the Bondi terror attack?

WEBSTER

You know, there are plenty of opportunities that we all face with ethical dilemmas. Do we act this way – there could be these ramifications? Do we act this way -because there will be other ramifications? We have to make a decision about that. David went out with our party's blessing, and he spoke on behalf of our party yesterday morning. It doesn't give us any joy to be able to talk about ourselves, period, but to talk about the Coalition situation on the National Day of Mourning. I thought - by the by - that the ceremony last night was incredibly moving. I certainly lit a candle myself. I know millions in Australia would have done so. What we've experienced in Australia in this last month has been beyond words, you just can't put words to how horrific that situation was, that tragedy was, in Bondi. So, do we talk about ourselves? No, we don't like doing it. But yesterday morning was incredibly important, after Sussan Ley accepted the resignations of Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell as they stood in the Senate late Tuesday night to do exactly what our Party Room agreed that they should do.

SARA

And let's go back …

WEBSTER

… Sally …

SARA

… to what actually put all this together ...

WEBSTER

… this completely…

SARA

Let's go back to this question of whether it was appropriate yesterday. Why not wait 24 hours? It was a difficult situation. But can you understand that deciding to talk about yourselves on a National Day of Mourning may be seen as disrespectful.

WEBSTER

Look, there will be some that have that view. The feedback that I have received … I did a lot of media yesterday, the feedback that I have received is: thank you. I have certainly been asked by a lot of people for some time now to separate from the Liberal Party. So, the feedback that I receive, and it's my electorate that I speak to then - they are … they're okay with what happened. And you know, most people went to work yesterday. Politics is our work. We have a job to do. We have a job to make sure that we are transparent with the Australian people. That is precisely what David did. And I understand that some people might be unhappy with that, but it is what it is.

SARA

Your Nationals colleague, Michael McCormack, didn't speak yesterday because of concerns that it may be disrespectful on a day of national mourning. Did he get it right?

WEBSTER

Look, Michael is a one of my fabulous colleagues. I have worked incredibly well with Michael. He does take some strong views, and that is completely appropriate. What I love about our party is that we are democratic. We each make our own decisions. I felt that it was important - to back David, to back Bridget, Susan and Ross in this fiasco, which, in actual fact, was not of our making. And I do hope that you're going to ask me about the process and why we got to where we got to, triggered by Sussan Ley's decisions and her letter on Wednesday afternoon, which she made public…

SARA

… Tell me about the … we were hearing from Matt Canavan last night on 7:30 and he was talking a lot about process, particularly the issue around here was saying not holding a Joint Party Room meeting. Is that at the crux of this?

WEBSTER

It is absolutely one of the key factors. So, the Shadow Cabinet, I'm sure Matt [Canavan] will have described this already, but on Sunday night, the Shadow Cabinet had a draft piece of legislation which was not the final, normal piece of legislation, nor what did it carry? … all of the amendments? The Shadow Cabinet agreed in principle? Normally, what happens is, we go to our party rooms and we have distinct, separate party rooms that make our own decisions, which need to be respected, and then it goes back to Shadow Cabinet. Shadow Cabinet agree to that, or don't agree to that, whatever they … whatever decision they come to, and then they bring it to a Joint Party Room, for the Party Room to decide and agree together. That would then be a breach. Susan [McDonald], Bridget [McKenzie] and Ross [Cadell] would have then breached our processes. They did not do that because the rest of the process was missing. So, I think for Sussan Ley to accept their resignations … and David's letter that clearly pointed out that the rest of us in shadow ministry would also be resigning. And that was not an easy decision. That was a very difficult decision. To be in shadow cabinet, even let alone cabinet or outer ministry, is an enormous privilege. It carries enormous responsibility, and to not have that is … it's really disappointing for all of us, because we want to work together. We want to work with a functioning Coalition. That is our strength, and that's how we win the next election, get back into government. So there is a lot of work to do here, and I actually want to call out the anonymous Liberals making incredibly nasty comments, yesterday in the media, as being completely unacceptable. And as Michael McCormack, whom you mentioned, would say, if you're going to say something, put your name to it.

SARA

Which comments are you referring to?

WEBSTER

There were comments calling for David's resignation. There were comments that were calling him a pathological liar. All anonymous from Liberal shadow … well, I don't know whether that were ministers, shadow ministers or not now, I can't recall … but they were very nasty and very unnecessary, and I don't think helped.

SARA

If The Nationals are saying they can't be part of a Coalition, if Sussan Ley is leader, what's the difference if some Liberals are criticising David Littleproud's leadership?

WEBSTER

No, no … it is, It's the … look: calling somebody a pathological liar is pretty defamatory, and not to put your name to it … and I will also call the journalists out who take those anonymous comments. I think it's a really low bar that Australian journalism has got to when anonymous comments are taken and presented to Australia as being genuine and uncited, really, pretty low, pretty disgraceful. And I think if you go and make a comment, put your name to it.

SARA

What's the future of the Coalition now? Can it come back together?

WEBSTER

Yeah, absolutely. This is, you know, this has been a shambolic week. It has been an incredibly stressful week. The processes, you know, to have Michelle Rowland standing in Parliament, presenting the legislation while we were still working on amendments in our party room, we had 10 party room meetings. That's… that's… you know, I can't recall another time like that. We were intent on trying to get the best out of this pretty bad legislation, and Michelle Rowland’s in the parliament presenting, in the lower house, presenting the legislation, then they made amendments on the run, none of our amendments were accepted. There were discussions that Sussan had, I believe, with the Prime Minister, and came to agreements. We as a National Party, certainly accepted the migration component. We would have passed that very happily. But obviously gun reform, we wanted separate: that happened. That was good. We could stand against that wholeheartedly. And then there are other aspects of the legislation which was complex but needed time, needed committee processes over a period of months for legislation of this magnitude, which will impact Australians to not have any due inquiry is really disgraceful. This was political, what the Prime Minister hoped would be a political fix to the mess of the last two years.

SARA

Anne Webster, time is against us. So, thank you very much for joining me this morning.

WEBSTER

Thank you, Sally.

SARA

Anne Webster is Nationals member for the Federal seat of Mallee.

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