THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH PATRICIA KARVELAS, AFTERNOON BRIEFING

Monday 15 June 2026

Topics: Iran conflict; Polling; Senator Jonno Duniam; Liberal Party; 

E&OE……………………………………

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Shadow Industry Minister Andrew Hastie joins us. Welcome to the program.

ANDREW HASTIE: Good afternoon, PK.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Let's start on that big story this afternoon. There is this deal reached between the US and Iran to end the war. Are we any safer now than we were before this war began in your assessment?

ANDREW HASTIE: The Coalition welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire. There'll be some time before we see the details of the deal that will be struck between the United States and Iran. But certainly, a cessation of hostilities is welcome, as is the passage of oil and commodities out of the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz into the world economy. So that's a positive, but we'll wait and see. There's a lot of debate, I imagine, between the United States and Iran to be had, and the deal needs to be hammered out still, and we need to see the detail.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: You were always sceptical about the war. Do you believe that the danger of Iran developing a nuclear weapon has really been reduced?

ANDREW HASTIE: There are a couple of issues here. Number one: does Iran retain some sort of control over the Strait of Hormuz with a toll, or by the threat of some sort of military action? Number two: does Iran still have a nuclear program? Has it actually been reduced by the war effort over the last few months? And then, thirdly: will Iran be enriched by sanctions relief? These are the sorts of questions that need to be hammered out, and I think it would be bad if all three of those things did eventuate in a deal.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Some fear the newly emboldened hardliners in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will now secretly try to race for a bomb as their best defence against being attacked again – that they've actually been emboldened and hardened by this. Is that a fear you share?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's something that we certainly have to consider. There was no ground invasion in pursuit of the nuclear equipment, enriched uranium and program, so the Iranians know that that's not a risk if they keep going – at this stage anyway. So certainly, I think they'll be working hard to rebuild their program. It would make sense – if you're worried about having leverage, well, then you'd want some sort of nuclear leverage. We've got to wait and see what the deal is, and I hope President Trump is able to hammer out a deal which removes Iran and their nuclear program from the future.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: And do you accept the government's argument that this is going to have a long tail, that we're going to see a long period before we actually see oil being moved at the pre-war level? Some are saying that actually will be a very, very long time, it has huge ramifications.

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, we saw Brent crude drop rapidly after President Trump announced a deal was to be made, but there's a long tail. There's a lot of oil and commodities that haven't made it out of the Strait of Hormuz, and that'll take some time to get back into the global market. We'll see what the RBA says tomorrow as well – their forecast for the macroeconomic picture for Australia going forward will be interesting. We saw last week as well in the US that inflation was on the rise, and it was largely caused by the rise in energy prices. So, I think this is going to be around for some time, and Australians should be prepared to experience more pressure when it comes to their family budgets and small business operations.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Just going to today's poll. I'm sure you haven't missed that Pauline Hanson is – according to one poll at least – preferred Prime Minister. That's ahead of both Angus Taylor and the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. She says the Coalition's record low popularity shows the Opposition has lost touch with voters. Are you worried about the polling results specifically for the Coalition as well? Because they are pretty dismal.

ANDREW HASTIE: The numbers aren't great, but whatever Pauline Hanson has to say about the Coalition is just more white noise. We've got to just focus on doing our job, which is developing policy for the Australian people that meets the challenge of the time. That's why we're going to cut immigration and peg it to housing completions. We're going to do income tax reform for Australians, so they get to keep more of their money. We're going to start a sovereign wealth fund using windfall profits from the commodity sector and put that towards nation building projects. There's a whole range of things that we're working on. And we're going to get out of Net Zero, importantly – we've said that since late last year. But these are the messages that need to cut through, Australians need to hear them over and over. And so whatever Pauline Hanson might say is irrelevant to us. We've got a mission: it's to defeat Labor, and we're just going to keep pounding away with our policy.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Does it annoy you that some of your colleagues are obsessed with talking about One Nation?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's a real discipline in politics to stay focused on the objective. The objective is to defeat the Albanese government and form centre-right government – that's what I'm focused on. People are going to talk about One Nation, that's fine, but the other thing you should do in politics is focus on what you can control. The only thing we can control is our performance, and that means getting on top of our policy as well.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: But these results, to be fair, they're lower than those recorded under Sussan Ley's leadership. I know that she doesn't want to comment in the media, maybe she will in the future, but if I was her and I'd be watching this, I'd be thinking: what's that all about? I mean, how much time does Angus Taylor have to turn it around? You moved to him as a party to turn it around, and he's doing worse than even Sussan Ley was.

ANDREW HASTIE: I don't think the numbers reflect on Angus. Angus is leading our party through internal reform. There was very little policy work done over the last year. Angus is bringing a lot of experience and policy expertise internal to the party, and we're already seeing the fruit of that. So this is a process of doing the hard yards. It's easy to get sugar hits on social media – it's a lot harder to actually do the work of costing policies and doing the modelling and making sure that they're fit for purpose. That's what Angus Taylor is leading. The payoff will be down the track, and we've just got to hold our nerve, not get rattled by polling, and remind the Australian people that we're doing our best to deliver policies that deal with the problems facing our country.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Your friend and colleague, Jonathon Duniam, announced that he's leaving politics. I know you're housemates in Canberra – you're quite close. If people regarded as talented like him are leaving, isn't it a vote of no confidence in where the Liberal Party's going?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's not, Patricia. Jonno is a very close friend of mine. We've done 10 years in the Parliament together. He's the same age; I'm two months older than him. We've lived together for the last few years. I knew about this. He loves his wife and his three kids, and he's done a lot of time away from them, and I get that decision – I do a lot of time away from my wife and my three children. It's as simple as that – he's putting his family first, and whilst I will miss him immensely, I respect that. I'm sure that whoever the Tasmanian Liberal Party preselects will do a great job.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Have you thought about quitting?

ANDREW HASTIE: I'm not someone who quits. My wife backs me 100 per cent and I've always given her the right of veto over my time in politics. She's got my back, and we're just going to keep moving forward. If the Australian people – the people of Canning – toss me out in two years' time, well, that'll be a clear signal it's time to leave politics. But I'm just going to keep focused on the objective which is getting rid of the Albanese government.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: And do you still have leadership aspirations?

ANDREW HASTIE: We tested that earlier in the year. I didn't have the support of my colleagues. I support Angus Taylor, obviously, as the Leader – Angus is a friend and a colleague. And we need time for Angus to build out his policy platform and build a vision for the Australian people. I'm heavily invested in that, that's my focus, so, no, I'm not focused on manoeuvring for the leadership, if that's what your question implied.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: It did, it totally implied it, you're right. Look, the Prime Minister has not ruled out extending the fuel excise beyond its June 30 expiry. He says, in coming days even they'll make this decision. We've got this deal to end the war, although until Friday we don't know all the details – you were right, absolutely on that. Should they extend it, or is this a good way to exit?

ANDREW HASTIE: Good question. I want to see what the RBA says tomorrow. I think that'll be really important. The macroeconomic picture will be crucial. They'll have the numbers and the data; they'll be able to forecast ahead. Let's see what happens, but I'm not going to jump out and say yea or nay to the fuel excise. It's big money, and we're already heading towards a trillion dollars’ worth of debt. We need to work out how to live within our means as a nation, which will actually reduce inflation. If we're if we're spending less money publicly, we're actually going to reduce inflation, so fiscal discipline is something that this government needs to exercise.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Thank you so much for joining us.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, PK.

[ENDS]