Coalition divided over energy policy, Ruston admits
The Coalition is divided on how to address the existential threat of climate change and the future of net zero, the Liberal senator Anne Ruston says.
Ruston is speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers. She was asked about how the parties may confront the issue in the context of comments by the Australian Industry Group CEO, Innes Willox, that reopening the climate wars would be “like reopening an old wound”.
Willox said:
Oh God, no, no, anything but, please. We have been there before many times over the past 20 years or so and to reopen the climate wars, as you aptly describe them, is like reopening an old wound.
Ruston said “energy is the economy and we need to get energy policy right”.
But there’s no secret there is a divergence of views in our party room about how we achieve that, but right now, I absolutely think the thing we need to concentrate on is making sure that people can afford their power bills, making sure that industry, as Innes points out, that they have confidence in our energy policy in Australia so they can’t to invest here.
We don’t want companies to go broke like we have seen. We don’t want companies offshoring like we have seen. I think one of the most important issues is to get, you know, solid feedback and make sure our energy policy is fit for purpose for modern Australia.
Key events
Ruston says she is open to the introduction of quotas for women in the Liberal party after the disastrous election result, saying “nothing is off the table”.
I think our policy offerings need to reflect the feedback that we get more broadly across Australia.
Ruston asked AI why Liberals lost – and ‘no clear theme’ emerged
After the disastrous 2025 election result for the Coalition, Ruston says she asked an “off the shelf” large-language model, commonly referred to as AI, what people thought about the party and the election results, and that the result returned “no clear theme”.
Actually more than anything, it showed me that there were so many different issues that Australians were considering when they went to the ballot box to vote that I think it shows us we absolutely have to look at everything. There was no clear theme apart from quite clearly the Australian public went to the ballot box and didn’t vote for us.
The senator continued:
Basically, it said that the product offer that we took to the Australian public, Australians did not support quite clearly and we need to go back to the drawing board and have a look at all of the issues that factored into it. Many issues have been ventilated over the last two weeks by colleagues, by commentators and every single one of them deserved to be considered.
Ruston was also quick to add that the party won’t be relying entirely on AI to conduct its post-election review.
There are many ways that we need to address this. We need to speak to our party members, we need to speak to the frontbench and the backbench. We need to make sure the backbench is included in the process of going forward. We need to speak to the Australian public.
But obviously, technology gives us an opportunity to be able to collate the broader commentary across Australia that something we probably haven’t had access to before and we should use that as well. Every tool that’s available should be used.
Climate policy to be left to shadow ministry – Ruston
Asked about ongoing negotiations on the Coalition agreement between the Liberal and National parties, Ruston says the talks are under way.
Ruston says it is her preference that the Coalition’s attitude towards climate change and the Paris agreement, and the future of nuclear, should be left to the shadow ministry to hash out.
Liberal party policy is developed in the Liberal party room. National party policy is delivered in the Nationals party room and Coalition policy is designed or is agreed to around the shadow cabinet table. So a Coalition shadow cabinet will be the one that will put forward Coalition policy. But we should never shy away from the fact that we have got two separate party rooms that go through policy processes separately.
Asked whether she will stay in the Coalition, the senator says “I certainly hope so”.
Liberals ‘work best’ when they’re a broad church – Ruston
Ruston is also asked about a decision by the South Australian Liberals to place Alex Antic, a member of the party’s factional right who has been consolidating power within the state by courting religious groups in particular, ahead of her on the Senate ticket.
Ruston:
Well, obviously that’s a decision for the party members here in South Australia. What I’m excited about is now having been hopefully re-elected to the parliament for another six years to play my role as part of the team, part of the leadership team, because I’m really excited about the opportunity to rebuild our party.
On the takeover by the conservatives in South Australia:
Well, look, as I said, we’re a broad church. That’s where we work best when we’re tolerant of the broad range of views that we have, but our values are all the same. I mean, I don’t think anybody in my party doesn’t mean that aspiration is the most important thing we should strive to be able to enable every Australian to be able to achieve.
Ruston not ruling in or out Liberals’ support for Aukus
Ruston has also demurred on the question of whether the party will review its support for Aukus, saying she is “not going to rule in, rule out”.
Quite clearly that is a very, very important policy position that has been adopted by both sides of the parliament – in fact, both the Labor party and the Coalition. I think it stands in very strong stead in very uncertain times. But it’s not for me to be ruling in, ruling out. The leaders made it very clear, I think you can read from what I have just said, I think we could consider Aukus a very strong platform in our policy rebuild.
On health policy, Ruston says she wishes “the Labor party well to make sure their policies are implemented so Australians can afford to go and see a doctor” but is “not ruling anything in or out” on whether the Coalition would help pass Labor’s reforms.
On abortion, Ruston says the issue is “something that’s well and truly in the domain of the states and territories and should stay there”, and she is not aware of any proposal that would “make any changes in relation to the small amount of responsibility that the federal parliament has for this issue”.
Liberals must ‘build from the bottom up’ after election disaster – Ruston
Asked why the Liberals were now reviewing their embrace of the Paris climate agreement under the former government of Scott Morrison, Ruston says the walloping voters handed the party meant “absolutely everything” was up for review.
To be quite frank, we have to build from the bottom up again because that election result was quite disastrous for the Liberal party and we need to be open and honest with ourselves about what we need to take forward so that we are meeting Australia where they are and not talking about where we are.
Ruston also dodges a question when pressed on the position taken by Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who has blamed a cost-of-living crisis on efforts to achieve net zero.
The senator has also signalled that the Coalition’s support for nuclear may also be up for review.
Clearly we need to be doing something different. I think, you know, keeping an open mind, making sure we’re honest and open with that analysis of what went wrong, and actually come out with a policy proposal and a modern Liberal party, still maintaining all of the values that we hold so dearly.
Coalition divided over energy policy, Ruston admits
The Coalition is divided on how to address the existential threat of climate change and the future of net zero, the Liberal senator Anne Ruston says.
Ruston is speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers. She was asked about how the parties may confront the issue in the context of comments by the Australian Industry Group CEO, Innes Willox, that reopening the climate wars would be “like reopening an old wound”.
Willox said:
Oh God, no, no, anything but, please. We have been there before many times over the past 20 years or so and to reopen the climate wars, as you aptly describe them, is like reopening an old wound.
Ruston said “energy is the economy and we need to get energy policy right”.
But there’s no secret there is a divergence of views in our party room about how we achieve that, but right now, I absolutely think the thing we need to concentrate on is making sure that people can afford their power bills, making sure that industry, as Innes points out, that they have confidence in our energy policy in Australia so they can’t to invest here.
We don’t want companies to go broke like we have seen. We don’t want companies offshoring like we have seen. I think one of the most important issues is to get, you know, solid feedback and make sure our energy policy is fit for purpose for modern Australia.
O’Brien sidesteps question on his choice of shadow portfolio
O’Brien is asked if he wants the shadow treasurer’s role, as was widely speculated ahead of last week’s leadership vote.
For context, the deputy Liberal leader typically gets their choice of portfolio, although it doesn’t always play out that way. Ley herself was believed to have asked for the foreign affairs role earlier this year only for the then leader Peter Dutton to appoint David Coleman.
Back to O’Brien, who again plays a straight bat.
Those conversations continue to be had. We haven’t finalised them.
Clennell asks O’Brien if Ley has promised the role to someone else.
I understand your wish for a yes or no answer to any question, Andrew, and I respect that. I really do, but again, my answer doesn’t change. We are having these discussions at the moment
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Russia’s jailing of Australian Oscar Jenkins a ‘sham trial’ – Watt
Just taking a step back for a minute to the interview with Labor senator Murray Watt.
The frontbencher was asked for his response to news Oscar Jenkins has been sentenced to 13 years in prison in Russia for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.
Watt said:
This is an appalling decision from Russia, and another outrage in a long line of outrages when it comes to matters involving Ukraine. We are appalled by this decision from Russia. We consider this to be a sham trial, and we don’t accept that Mr Jenkins should be treated this way. In our view, he should be treated as a prisoner of war.
O’Brien: nuclear discussion between Coalition party leaders
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The new deputy Liberal leader, Ted O’Brien, is up next on Sky.
First off the bat, he’s asked whether the Liberals and Nationals will strike a formal agreement or go their separate ways after the election disaster.
O’Brien says:
There’s no doubt … that the Liberal party and the National party are at their strongest when they are in a Coalition and they’re working together. That’s proven to be the case over many many years.
One potential sticking point is the future of the opposition’s nuclear plan, which O’Brien spearheaded as shadow climate change and energy minister.
O’Brien sidesteps the question of whether the Nationals have insisted that the nuclear plan be retained in order to agree to a Coalition deal.
Look, the discussions are between (Liberal leader) Sussan Ley and (Nationals leader) David Littleproud – I’ll leave it to them. When it comes to issues of policy, the Liberal party has already made very clear what our approach is, and that is, we need to be listening to the Australian people.
Austria wins Eurovision
Austria has won the Eurovision song contest for the third time after a jury vote delivered the 2025 win for Viennese-born JJ with their song, Wasted Love.
The favourite Switzerland received no love from the public as Austria took out the contest, but not without challenge from Israel.
Accepting the trophy, JJ said they wanted there to be “more love”.
Australia was knocked out in the semi-final and so did not compete in this round.
You can follow at our Eurovision 2025 live blog:
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Watt: ‘I’m someone who can bring different groups together’
Watt was appointed to the portfolio to replace Tanya Plibersek, whose three years in the role were defined by a failure to deliver Labor’s promised nature reforms.
Clennell asks Watt if he was placed in the role because he is a “fixer” who might make more “reasonable” decisions than Plibersek.
Watt responds:
I’ll leave it to commentators like you, Andrew, to determine why I’ve been put in this role and come up with different descriptions, but I guess, you know, I think my record does show that I’m someone who can bring different groups together and make decisive decisions and then get matters passed through the Senate.
Watt points to his success as agriculture minister in legislating an end date for the live sheep trade as well as overseeing the federal government’s intervention into the CFMEU as industrial relations minister.
For more on Plibersek’s effort to negotiate the nature positive reforms, read the Guardian’s previous reporting here:
We need an EPA ‘with teeth’, environment minister tells Sky
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The environment minister, Murray Watt, is speaking on Sky News.
In an interview with Guardian Australia published on Friday, Watt said establishing a federal environment protection agency was a “very high and immediate priority” for the re-elected Albanese government after Labor failed to get it through parliament in the previous term.
One of the big unanswered questions is the design of the EPA 2.0, including whether it would have the power to make decisions on projects or just enforce nature laws.
Speaking with Sky, Watt is refusing to rule anything in or out at this stage:
Obviously, it’s very early days in my tenure in this role and I’ll be consulting widely about all of these issues.
He adds:
We did go to the election committing and recommitting, in fact, to having an independent EPA. And we need such a body with teeth to be able to assist in protecting our environment. But in terms of the details around the model of that, that is something I’ll be consulting on.
As we reported on Friday, Watt will next week travel to Western Australia to meet with the premier, Roger Cook, and mining leaders who lobbied to sink the nature watchdog in the last term.
Host Andrew Clennell suggests it’s “unusual” for an environment minister to make a beeline for the mining state so soon after taking on the role.
Watt responds:
I don’t think so. I mean, whether it be Tanya Plibersek or other environment ministers, they’ve always engaged in wide-ranging consultations.
Anne Ruston to speak on Insiders
South Australian Coalition senator Anne Ruston will speak with ABC Insiders host David Speers this morning.
Labor’s new environment minister, Murray Watt, is speaking to Sky News, as is the Australian ambassador to the Holy See, Keith Pitt, and the Liberal deputy leader, Ted O’Brien.
We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has described the 13-year prison sentence handed to an Australian man on the charge of fighting in Ukraine as a “mercenary” as an “outrage”. The PM was speaking in Rome overnight, where he said the government would continue to advocate for Oscar Jenkins.
Albanese is representing Australia at Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass and is expected to hold talks with other leaders, with the war in Ukraine on the agenda, as well as trade. He is expected to meet with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though he told reporters on Saturday a time had not yet been locked in, according to the ABC.
The Victorian government has pledged free public transport for under-18s from 1 January next year, allowing children to register for a special youth Myki card. The government says more than 1 million children and their families will benefit from the $318m program.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
