THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
 FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH LUKE GRANT, 2GB

Thursday 2 July 2026

Topics: Liberal Party, One Nation, immigration, border control, social media ban, Australian values.

E&OE……………………………………

LUKE GRANT: I'm delighted to say that in Mark's absence, I get to talk to Andrew today. He's on the line from our Canberra studio. Are you well?

ANDREW HASTIE: I am, Luke. It's great to talk to you and your listeners again.

LUKE GRANT: You too, mate. Thanks so much for your time. Look, a lot of attention is paid to you, and the day that you will undoubtedly be the Leader of the Liberal Party. I just feel sure that will happen at some point, but Niki Savva, in the Sydney Morning Herald today—who is no fan of the Liberal Party, it seems clear to all of us. She says that you're set to leave the Liberals and potentially politics, pointing to the exit of your friend Jonno Duniam. Are you on your way out?

ANDREW HASTIE: No, I'm not on my way out, Luke. I am here to stay, and I will recontest the next election. It's as simple as that. I think the Australian people have a rotten government, a government that can't be trusted, whether it's on taxation or super or borders. Pick an issue, they can't be trusted. We need to deliver centre-right government for the Australian people. We need to focus on the Australian people's challenges and problems, and we need to come up with solutions that improve our prosperity, improve our security, and give Australians more hope for the future.

LUKE GRANT: You must be sick to death, mate, of talking to people like me and having that raised, whether it's an opinion poll or some claim by some lefty journalist. It must drive you nuts, because there's significant policy issues to talk about, isn't there?

ANDREW HASTIE: There are, Luke, but you know, I don't begrudge people like you asking me these questions. There's a lot out there at the moment, there's a lot of stuff online, whether it's social media or in the media, and regular Aussies are just trying to find their way through, and it's your job to try and bring some order to all the noise out there, and I'm happy to help you by answering your question directly.

LUKE GRANT: Good on you. What about personal security, mate? Because we know there's been some pretty horrific things said about you and others. You've been critical of One Nation. You're entitled to hold that view, but the toll on you and security around you, has it had to have changed over the last little bit?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, look, there have been some security issues, and the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, got in contact with me and let me know that I'd been identified for more security for my family home and also my office. That's just the challenge of public life, but again, this is not about me. It's not about One Nation voters, in fact, I want them in my column. I want to win them back. I want their support, but I've decided that I need to fight for the Liberal Party, and if I'm getting attacked by Pauline Hanson and James Ashby and Barnaby Joyce, then it looks weak to not respond, and one thing your listeners know is that weakness is provocative. So, I want to see the Liberal Party strong again, and that's what I'm working with, and that's why I'm supporting Angus Taylor as our leader.

LUKE GRANT: You've got to walk a fine line, don't you, Andrew, in terms of calling out those that want your seat and your right to say it's One Nation, but I don't know how wise it is —and wise might not be the thing anyway—but let's say is it wise to be potting One Nation? It just seems to me that every time they're called out, at least at this point, it seems to increase their support or at least strengthen the resolve of their supporters. How do you walk that fine line?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, I just think it's little things. Barnaby Joyce, for example, he's with One Nation now, but he was literally the architect of Australia's disastrous Net Zero policy under the former Coalition Government. He, as the National's leader and the Deputy Prime Minister, single-handedly could have stopped the Net Zero policy, but in fact he brought it on. And so, it's highlighting those inconsistencies in their messaging and also in their leadership. There's nothing wrong with that, particularly when Net Zero is doing tremendous damage to our economy, to family budgets, to businesses and heavy industry, which is struggling to stay alive in this country, as we've seen with smelters being bailed out across the country. So, look, your listeners would know that in life people are drawn to strength and they don't like weakness, and so if I just sit back and cop a pizzling that looks weak, and I want to win. I'm a competitive person, so I'm not going to go quietly into the night.

LUKE GRANT: Well, mate, I've made the mistake of reading reports of you and not talking to you. I'm glad we've had this conversation. I think a lot of people hearing where you stand on this, rather than just being someone that hates another conservative party, if I can put it like that. Of course, at the end of the day, you may need, I don't think so—I think you're fine, but your party may need One Nation preferences, because at the end of the day, the enemy is Labor, isn't it?

ANDREW HASTIE: Absolutely, we need to defeat the Albanese Government, that is the singular mission, and so, in as much as people have lectured me about this, they should also lecture One Nation as well, because that should be their objective too, and they should be contesting vulnerable Labor seats, not wasting people's time and resources attacking conservatives like me who want to see centre-right government delivered for the Australian people.

LUKE GRANT: Now we've had an attempted people smuggling operation. Tony Burke's dropped us a note to say that all those that have been involved in this are either removed or talking to police, but this is a this is a strong position for traditionally the Coalition parties. You don't let these people come, and when they do, they go quickly. I see that Burke said now it's a decade since there's been a successful operation, but this is embarrassing for the Albanese Government, isn't it? 

ANDREW HASTIE: It is embarrassing. And it's worth reminding people that since the Albanese Government came to power in May 2022, we've seen fifty-five boats arrive and more than eight hundred illegal maritime arrivals in Australia. Only recently we heard about gunshots being fired at an Australian Border Force vessel. We have had a massive cocaine seizure, and we have seen another border incursion. But here's the other thing, Luke, Labor doesn't have control of our borders when it comes to immigration, we have massive numbers. We have had massive numbers over the last four years. That is why our housing market has been so difficult for a lot of Australians either to get a rental property or buy a home, and that is why we have more than one hundred thousand visa overstays in this country. We have got people whose visas have expired and they are staying on. They should be departing our country. So, we've got problems with policing our borders in remote areas like Weipa, but we also have a government that is unwilling to get immigration under control. Angus Taylor, in his Budget in Reply speech, only back in May, said very clearly, we are going to cut immigration. We're going to cut it right back, and we're going to peg it to housing completions, so that the Australian people have a shot at buying their own home and having a stake in our country.

LUKE GRANT: Without the government having to lie to get back into power, then deliver that lie in a budget, and then upend all the things, I mean, Albo and Clare O'Neil, and the others who've enjoyed the benefits of negative gearing. I despise, Andrew, the potting of success. If you've got yourself in a position where you can get another property and you do it through negative gearing, half your luck. Just control the demand side of things by ensuring that we have, and I think what the Liberal Party has done here makes sense. We'll let the number in that we have the houses we've built to suit. What's wrong with that, that's just logic, isn't it?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's very, very simple, and it's designed to be simple, so the Australian people can understand it. If we're building a hundred and sixty thousand homes per year, well, then that'll be the number for Net Overseas Migration, which will be a massive reduction, because remember, we've come close to half a million over the last few years under Labor. So, there’s also a values piece as well. We want people who speak English, who embrace the Australian way of life, our values, who are committed to our flag. That's not a lot to ask, and this is the other element to immigration policy as well. It's really important that it doesn't matter what colour you are, it doesn't matter what background you have, as long as you speak English, as long as you accept that we have values in this country, you sign up to those values, you sign up to the rule of law, and you embrace our flag and our culture, then that's great. Welcome.

LUKE GRANT: Yeah, I mean, the idea that if it wasn't for immigration, we wouldn't have satay chicken or various other things, it's laughable, and that no one's saying, 'Leave you at the door, just come in here and reinvent yourself’, bring those things. But there is an Australian thing that we have, just sign up to it and promote it, and make the country better, and work hard, and pay tax, and what's controversial about that idea. 

ANDREW HASTIE: Exactly. And I do a lot of citizenship ceremonies, and the Australians that I meet, the ones who take their oath and become Australians, they don't want open borders. Many of them have worked so hard to get to that point, and they're so proud to stand under our flag and join our country.

LUKE GRANT: Yeah. 

ANDREW HASTIE: A lot of people who are pushing open borders never suffer the consequences.

LUKE GRANT: Yeah. 

ANDREW HASTIE: And it's always people in the outer suburbs who struggle to find the home and who have to deal with some of the anti-social stuff that comes with people who won't accept our way of life, and it's got to stop. And Angus Taylor has a plan for that, and that's why we need to elect a Coalition Government.

LUKE GRANT: I know you've got to go. Just before we do that, social media rules, the Coalition and the Greens have teamed up, wow, when it comes to the government's push for stronger rules on social media, is this a policy that can be delayed, or do we need to move quickly on this?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, Labor's social media ban was, it was rushed, it was half-baked, and it was badly implemented. Parents were promised their kids would be safe online, and it hasn't worked. Now we don't want to make a bad law any worse, and that's why we're taking our time, and that's why we're going to oppose it. So, I have young ones, Luke, I've got a ten-year-old—about to be eleven, eight-year-old, and a four-year-old. I don't want them on screens, I don't want them on social media, I don't want them being groomed by paedophiles or anyone else who roams around online trying to manipulate young Australians. There's a definite reason why we don't want kids on social media, they need to be old enough, but the system the government brought into place has not worked, and that's a big problem.

LUKE GRANT: Yeah, all right. Thanks for your service, then and now, Andrew. Nice to chat, mate. All the best.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, Luke.

[ENDS]