Member for Mallee - Transcript - Interview ABC Radio Mildura -Swan Hill - Wimmera - Monday 9 February 2026

DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TRANSCRIPT

TOPICS:  Resumption of Coalition agreement, process failures of hate crimes bill, Shadow Ministry, protecting prime agricultural land, Joint Party Room process, cost-of-living pressures, polling the Mallee electorate, Across Victoria Alliance

BUCHECKER

The Coalition are back together (after another breakup) over the weekend, the Liberals and Nationals repaired their bridges and reformed during eleventh-hour talks, this breakup kicked off when three national senators broke Shadow Cabinet rules to vote against the government's hate speech laws, but what now? And what does this all mean? Well, Anne Webster is your Nationals member for Mallee. Good morning.

WEBSTER

Good morning. Sarah, how are you?

BUCHECKER

I'm not too bad. Tell me, are you happy about this development that we've got over the weekend?

WEBSTER

Look, the priority for any hard-working MP is the Australian people. The one thing we hate doing, in actual fact, is talking about ourselves. It's been an unfortunate but necessary period of separation. We stood on principle. While I hear what you say regarding the three senators who didn't hold Shadow Cabinet solidarity, the fact is that they opposed the hate crime bill because we - as a party - said that that's what we wanted to do. And look, regurgitating the whole history all over again is probably unhelpful, however, just to say, that we abstained in the House before it went to the Senate, on the request of the Leader of the Opposition. Then it went to the Senate. Our senators did what we asked them to do. We all knew what the cost was going to be, and we all resigned from the Ministry. If it had come back to the House, we were all voting against it. It's just that there was no amendment in the Senate to bring it back to the house to allow us to do that. So, we stand together. We are not going to shy away from that - and from that, we also acknowledge the failed processes. So, the prime minister had given about five hours from the beginning of that legislation, being brought to us on the Tuesday morning at 6:13am, which we got at about 7. Then we had party room meetings to discuss amendments, to talk about what we were going to be okay with, what we were not going to be okay with, and then it had to go to the House. Literally, the minister was getting up speaking about it in the House, as we had not even had a decision made. There was no Joint Party Room. So, all of these things have been - now - clarified, and there is a process for the Coalition to work together. I think that is incredibly important. That is the good aspect, if you like, of what has occurred, and now we just need to get on and serve our communities, which is what we are actually all passionate to do.

BUCHECKER

Have you returned to your shadow ministry position now?

WEBSTER

No, I will not be returning to my shadow ministry position until March 1, along with the rest of my colleagues. However, we are in Coalition. So for example, what that means is I have a bill, a private member's bill, that I wanted to bring to the House this week on the protection of prime agricultural land, which I am extremely proud of dealing with and putting together legislation - in hand, about to go to my party room - but I can't present it, because I still have to stand by Coalition principles, and therefore I will have to go through committees and go through that process in order for these for this legislation to, I hope, get up, because it's incredibly important

BUCHECKER

So, I guess does this impact your ability to represent your people?

WEBSTER

Well, it means that we have to follow due process. Now, while that sounds like an encumbrance, and nobody loves bureaucracy, and probably few people hate it more than me, but the fact of the matter is that by standing together, we have a shot at holding this bad government to account. That is our job. And while we are apart we draw attention to ourselves, and it's ‘all about us’. We don't want that to be the case. We want to work together as a Coalition, and that is our strength. And so, we've now just got to get the wheels back on the car and get moving.

BUCHECKER

So, I guess ... do you agree with the terms of the reunification of the two parties?

WEBSTER

Yes, because the ... what has been clarified, as I said, is the process of legislation and Shadow Cabinet solidarity and Joint Party Room. So, we have two separate party rooms - I'm about to go into mine in The Nationals. We make ... have our discussions. We work out where we stand on things. Legislation is brought to us. The Liberals do the same, and Shadow Cabinet have presented what they think, any views to the contrary we discuss tomorrow in the Joint Party Room ... and so, the Joint Party Room can bring amendments to what Shadow Cabinet have brought, and therefore Shadow Cabinet needs to abide by the Joint Party Room. It's complicated, but it is best in the long term. So, it's a matter of being mature and accepting that process and working to ensure that we get better outcomes for people who live out in the regions, for us in the The Nationals, but also for every Australian. I mean, the fact of the matter is, people are doing it really tough, and inflation and mortgages and energy prices, grocery prices, somebody brought in a tiny packet of extra chewing gum the other day and said, Guess how much this was? $9! I mean, are you joking? It's not a wonder people cannot live at the standard they used to be able to live. Everything has gone through the roof, and it has been under this government - so we must hold them to account.

BUCHECKER

One listener here has texted in and said, I find it unbelievable that Littleproud has allowed the reunion of the Coalition after clearly stating he would never form a Coalition while Sussan Ley is the leader of the Liberal Party. I guess ... what do you think about David Littleproud's leadership during this time?

WEBSTER

David has done an excellent job in leadership. What people need to understand when he said that, he said while our three senators are not reinstated ... so, they have been reinstated now. We, as I said, we all took that punishment, if you like, we all were resigned from our ministries, and we are back together, and everybody will be reinstated in those roles on March 1. You know, politics, like every other aspect of life, including business, sometimes means you have to negotiate and collaborate and make concessions. There is no ... there's no benefit in simply remaining a bull in a China shop. Nobody benefits from that, certainly not the China.  So, you know, we must work together. We must come to some compromises - and compromises we can live with and we can work with - that is our job. It's not simple. If it was simple, any person could just rock into this job and do it.

BUCHECKER

I guess ... does that mean that you're happy to be serving in a Coalition under Sussan Ley?

WEBSTER

I am very happy to be in a Coalition that is working in the interests of Australian people. Recently, I did a poll - for my electorate only - and that poll indicated that 60 per cent of the people of the Mallee would prefer us to be in a Coalition, and that therefore means we need to work to ensure that it works. Regarding leadership in the Liberal Party, I have no comment to make - that is for the Liberal Party to work out. There's been plenty of commentary on it, and good luck to all of those who are doing the movings and shakings in the backrooms. I have no part in that. It's not our deal. Our deal is in The Nationals’ party room, and I am very proud of David's leadership and our leadership team more broadly, and of our party room, that we could work through any differences of opinion. We have a very democratic system in our party room, and we have a lot of respect for one another, so we work hard to ensure that we are listening and thinking about what our electorates want, what they need, and what needs to be fought for here in Canberra. That's our job.

BUCHECKER

You mentioned briefly there about the poll that you sent out. I know there was also a question on that about whether there should be a new leader of the Liberal Party. Do you know what the outcome of that was?

WEBSTER

The reason I asked the three questions was to ask about the ... to inform me.  My job, as I see it, is to engage with my electorate, which, as you know, is very sparse and very broad and deep and wide in terms of Victoria's geographical size. It's very difficult for me to get around to every town and talk to every person, but I give people the opportunity to tell me what they think about simple things like, Should we be in a Coalition? Should we go back to a Coalition because we weren't at that stage? Should we go back to a Coalition with Sussan as leader or with a different Liberal leader? Or should we remain separate? And the overwhelming evidence was that we should be going back to a Coalition. So, I speak about that because people need to understand the strength of being in a Coalition. My job is to ask my electorate, to listen to my electorate, to work through what is in the best interest of my electorate, and that's what I'll continue to do.

BUCHECKER

So, will you be releasing it all, the percentage of that, the answers to that question about whether there should be a new leader or not?

WEBSTER

No, I don't think I will be. I have thought about it, but I don't think I will be. And I think it's best simply to know that the overwhelming majority, 60 per cent, want us to be back in the Coalition that is, you know, a positive story, and while you know we might like to beat our chests and say, as an independent party, as The Nationals standing on our own, we can work towards our own policies, the fact is that we do not have the seats to be able to govern in our own right.  So, there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and it costs a lot of money to run people in different seats. I personally think that we should be going for seats in outer suburbs at least, because the principles on which we stand, the things that we fight for, are in the interest of every Australian, nobody in the suburbs is happy about their energy bills or the price they're paying for rent or their mortgages going up at least $23,000 since Labor have come into power. These are serious issues and while inflation continues to rise now to 3.8 per cent and keep watching that dial, it means that the cost-of-living continues to spiral out of control. The government is not taking any responsibility for that and we have to make sure that they do take responsibility for it. The government’s spending itself is out of control, despite what Jim Chalmers might like to say.

BUCHECKER

Before I let you go, Anne, are you concerned about the fragility of the Coalition and the surge of popularity of One Nation?

WEBSTER

I'm not concerned about the fragility of the Coalition. We have very good reason to work together, as I've articulated already. In terms of One Nation, I note that Barnaby has been down in Horsham last night. I've been working with Across Victoria Alliance for years now and hearing what they have to say, my private member's bill, is to address all of those issues. I note what Barnaby said this morning for the Wimmera Mail Times -  I think it was that one forgive me if it's the wrong paper - but he was doing a video and saying that, you know, ‘we will open up coal-fired power stations so VNI West does not have to happen’. I wrote to the leadership of AVA and I said, well, has Barnaby articulated how he's planning on doing that from the federal government because it's actually a state decision? You know, it's easy to throw a headline and it's easy to say populist words, but you've got to have a plan for how these things can actually happen. People need to ask the question, well, how's he going to do that? How's One Nation going to do that? Because I’m not hearing any policies that will make one iota of difference to the lives of people in Mallee, and that's what concerns me.

BUCHECKER

Thank you for joining us for a chat this morning, Anne.

WEBSTER

Thank you so much, Sarah.

BUCHECKER

No worries. That was Anne Webster, your member for Mallee

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