THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH MARK LEVY, 2GB

Thursday 25 September 2025

Topics: Social media posts; United Nations General Assembly; AFL Grand Final.

E&OE……………………………………

MARK LEVY: Every fortnight we catch up with the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, Andrew Hastie, and I'm pleased to say he joins us on the line from Perth. Andrew Hastie, good morning to you.

ANDREW HASTIE: Good morning, Mark. Good to be with you.

MARK LEVY: Well, mate, you're making a bit of news over the last couple of weeks. You've had a bit to say in recent weeks about the need to scrap net zero, the need to slash net overseas migration, a desire to manufacture things in Australia. Again, for the record, I agree with you on each and every one of them. But I wanted to start this morning, Andrew, by throwing an observation at you. It looks to me like you're frustrated under the current leadership of Sussan Ley. You don't sound like you're entirely happy as a member of the Liberal Party. Is that a fair assessment?

ANDREW HASTIE: Look, I support Sussan. Anyone who's speculating otherwise is being mischievous. My main concern is that the centre right is fragmenting. We've seen the rise in the One Nation vote and other micro parties, and having us fragmented on the right is very strategically advantageous to Labor. So I'm simply saying what people out on the street are looking for in their political leadership. And I believe it too, right? I believe that net zero is going to be a tragedy for our country, I believe that net overseas migration is far too high and locking young Australians out of the housing market. I believe that families are doing it far too tough at the moment. You used to be able to raise a family in this country on one income or two part time jobs. Now, both parents have to work really long hours just to get into the housing market. So something's got to change and I'm simply, during this policy development phase, building principled positions where I think we should go.

MARK LEVY: I said this morning, Andrew, that you're making all of the right noises, and you're making the noises that conservative voters want to hear. You've said that you support Sussan Ley. Given everything you have said in recent weeks, I would have thought the Leader would have reached out to you to at least have a conversation about what you've raised. Have you spoken to Sussan Ley?

ANDREW HASTIE: By answering that question, and I'm not being tricky, but I just don't want to start a whole bunch of speculation. My conversations with the Leader are private, I want to respect that.

MARK LEVY: But it's a fairly basic one, Andrew. It's just a very simple, given everything you've said, have you spoken to the Leader? Because you've made some pretty strong points and points that a lot of Liberal voters are agreeing on you with. I'm just wondering on whether or not Sussan Ley's actually reached out and said, look, Andrew, I think what you're saying has some merit, it's something we'll certainly look at.

ANDREW HASTIE: It's a good question, Mark, but I want to protect the relationship with Sussan, and so divulging private conversations is not going to be helpful to that. As I said, I'm still on the team, I'm a team player, I'm just being a little bolder in some of the policy positions that I think we should adopt. There's work to be done, but these are pretty straightforward principle positions which I think a lot of people are looking for us to adopt.

MARK LEVY: Alright. Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, she gave you a ringing endorsement on the breakfast show here on 2GB with Ben Fordham yesterday. She describes you as a future leader, which makes you a threat. So the obvious question off the back of that, Andrew, is are you a threat to Sussan Ley?

ANDREW HASTIE: I don't think so. Jacinta is a good friend – a great friend. She's a super talent in politics here in this country. I'm grateful for her endorsement. I didn't ask her to do that; she did that of her own free will. Like I've said, I’m simply stating some positions, mainly through social media, and people can interpret that how they want, but I just think we need to reconstitute our natural constituency on the centre right if we're going to be a force to beat Labor in two years. We've got to win 33 seats, which means we need to target about 45. We've got to preselect candidates for all those seats, we've got to raise the money, and we've got to be a lean, mean fighting machine. There's a lot to be done and I think the first thing we need to do is reconstitute our natural constituency.

MARK LEVY: Alright, it's interesting, though, Andrew. I mean, I look at this from an outsider's point of view as a political commentator these days here on the morning show. And, you know, I look at Senator Price – spoke her mind, was sidelined for speaking her mind about immigration. You've said overnight that the Liberals might even die as a political movement if it doesn't commit to curb net overseas migration. Is there a genuine fear from you, Andrew, for the future of the Liberal Party?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, there is. I think, unless we get our act together, we're going to be potentially in further decline and perhaps one day extinct. That's why what we do over the next two years is so important. A lot of people would like us to stay exactly where we are, including some people on our party side, but we can't – the world has changed. Since the Howard and Costello years, we've had the Global Financial Crisis, we've had Brexit, we've had the rise of Xi Jinping and China, we've had Trump, we've had the pandemic. The world has changed, and we have to change with it. People are very frustrated about the rising price of energy. We found out yesterday that energy and electricity in the last year has gone up 24 per cent. People are struggling to get into a house. People feel locked out of the Australian dream, and we need to give them hope, and we need to renew our country.

MARK LEVY: It's interesting. You spoke there about John Howard, and Mr Howard's mantra was that the Liberal Party is a broad church. My question to you, Andrew, is, is that possible in 2025 given there are clear divisions in the party over various issues, with climate and energy policy topping the list? And admittedly, look, you're not the Leader. You've indicated that you do harbour a desire to one day lead the party. So the second point of my question would be to you, how would you bring both sides of the debate together and unite the coalition to bring back some of the city voters to that Liberal fold?

ANDREW HASTIE: That's a good question. I think we've got to have a vision that sets up this country to be sovereign, competitive, prosperous and secure over the next 20 years, which means we've got to recapture our massive advantage in energy. We should have some of the cheapest energy prices in the world. Energy is central to family life, to business life, to industrial life and right now, under Labor, the cost of energy is going through the roof. We need to get energy down and I think that can unite people across the country – cheaper energy. We've got to harness what's happening with the artificial intelligence revolution, or AI revolution. That's going to change a lot in this world, and it's coming for us, whether we like it or not. So we've got to work out how we deal with that, and how we make it work for Australians. And then, of course, I think we need to recover advanced manufacturing. That's a huge thing. There are countries all over the world – China, the US, Korea, and countries in Europe – who are investing in their industrial base because they know the world is less secure and more dangerous. I think there is a great opportunity for us to do that and give Australians who lost out when the car industry left our country jobs that work for them and their families.

MARK LEVY: By the way, that fancy car you were standing in front of in that social media clip, is that yours?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's not mine. It's a gentleman down here who owns it.

MARK LEVY: Fancy looking car!

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, he loves his Fords and was very kind to let me have a look at it – not for too long. But we got a lot of positive feedback about that car, and it reminded people of what we have lost as a country. We used to make these cars.

MARK LEVY: Couldn't agree more. Just away from Liberal Party politics. I want to take you over to the UN. We've got Anthony Albanese addressing the United Nations General Assembly at the moment. I mean, when he's not taking selfies with Donald Trump, he's standing there undermining the US President by recognising a Palestinian state. Are you concerned that the Prime Minister's focus seems to be more about a complex region in the Middle East, as opposed to what he should be doing, and that's prioritising our relationship with the United States to ensure that our security here in Australia is paramount at the forefront of everyone's minds?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yes. Anthony Albanese is failing badly with the United States. The relationship with the US is our most important one, it's our deepest one, it's our most historic one. And the fact that he's yet to have a proper meeting with President Trump speaks volumes. He spent almost a week in China, met with President Xi. He's done everything he can to poke Donald Trump in the eye. He could learn from someone like Scott Morrison, who worked very closely with President Joe Biden. Even though they sat on different sides of the political view, Scott Morrison realised that the United States was an important relationship, and he worked on it. So I think what we're seeing is a very political, partisan Prime Minister who is unable to build a relationship with the leader of our most important ally, and that's troubling for a lot of Australians.

MARK LEVY: Donald Trump, Andrew, described climate change as the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world. Do you agree with him?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, look, the climate is changing. I don't dispute that. Whether or not we can do anything about it by killing our country is another question altogether. I think the con job is the net zero transition - that's the con job. That's wealthy people fleecing some of the poorest people with the transition and all the penalties and subsidies and rewards for renewable businesses, the green drifters and the lobbyists. It's Australian families, small businesses and industries who are going to pay for the net zero transition and it's all those people – just follow the money – it's all the people making the money who are conning everyone else.

MARK LEVY: Alright. One last one, I know you're pressed for time, you've got to drop the kids at school. AFL Grand Final Saturday. Are you a Snoop Dogg fan, and who lifts the trophy, Brisbane or Geelong?

ANDREW HASTIE: I'm going to go for Brisbane because the Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, supports Geelong.

MARK LEVY: You're even playing politics in the Grand Final, Andrew!

ANDREW HASTIE: I'm a Dockers guy. We obviously got knocked out early in the finals, but yeah, let's go Brisbane.

MARK LEVY: And Snoop Dogg, is he on your playlist when you're out going for a walk?

ANDREW HASTIE: I'm not a huge Snoop Dogger, I've got to say.

MARK LEVY: A Snoop Dogger?!

ANDREW HASTIE: I'm a pretty simple guy. He's not one of my guys.

MARK LEVY: Andrew Hastie, thanks for joining us as always mate. We'll catch up in a couple of weeks.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, Mark. Cheers.

[ENDS]