THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS KENNY, NEWS24

Wednesday 11 November 2026

Topics: Remembrance Day; higher power prices; COP31; Net Zero.

E&OE……………………………………

CHRIS KENNY: Good to talk to you on Remembrance Day, Andrew. I wanted to ask you first up how you marked the day and what your reflections are on Remembrance Day this year?

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, Chris. Good to be with you on Remembrance Day. Today, I was joined by Senator Jacqui Lambie down at the Mandurah War Memorial, where we met with several hundred locals, and we remembered our fallen as we do every year. Afterwards, we went to the Mandurah RSL Club, and I had the privilege, along with Senator Lambie, of presenting a mother of one of our fallen – Mervyn McDonald, who was killed in 2012 at the Second Commando Regiment in Afghanistan – we presented a beautiful quilt made for her by a local, and it was very moving. She was very emotional. So, today was about remembering our fallen all the way back to the First World War, but right through to the present, and also reflecting on the ADF and the important job they do in defending us today.

CHRIS KENNY: We sure do, and we all respect them, and we thank them for their service, including you, Andrew. It is such an important day on the national calendar. I want to switch to domestic politics now, and there's a lot of bad economic news around today. Of course, there's more to come on electricity prices, but David Jones has announced today they're going to be shutting about half of their stores. They'll probably keep them going until just after Christmas, then they'll shut. Thousands of jobs will go. Your concerns?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, it's a huge concern. Six-thousand jobs across the country with David Jones all of a sudden disappearing. Down here in Mandurah, we had to let go of David Jones probably a couple of years ago when they decided that it was no longer in their interests to remain here. They had a concessional lease here in the Mandurah Forum, and they disappeared, so in a sense we'd seen this coming locally. But for 6,000 people whose jobs depend on David Jones, I think they'll be very worried going into Christmas.

CHRIS KENNY: I think the optics for the government are really terrible at the moment, let alone the practicalities given that Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen are both at the COP 31 talks. Why they both have to be there, nobody knows, while electricity prices continue to soar, while forecasts predict they will continue to rise, maybe even double over coming years. And Chris Bowen seems to be in this absolute fantasy land where he says that his changes are actually going to force prices down. When will reality hit home?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, this Albanese government is completely out of touch. People are hurting. Inflation's up. Interest rates are up. Fuel, groceries, healthcare premiums – everything is up. People are doing it really tough. You talk to small business; they are on their knees. Heavy industry is struggling. We're having to bail out heavy industry across this country, and the Prime Minister and the Energy Minister are at COP celebrating their green fantasy. All we've seen since Labor came to power over the last five years is power prices going up. We never saw the $275 price reduction in power bills. Instead, power bills are up 40 per cent. And now this modelling is delivering bad news for us all because by 2029, we're going to be paying much more for our power. The thing that sticks the most is that we could be an energy superpower. We could have some of the cheapest, most reliable power in the world if we just harnessed our coal, our gas, and our uranium. Instead, we export it to countries across the world, and we force a green energy fantasy on the Australian people. It's self-harm, as you called it.

CHRIS KENNY: It just is beyond description when you think about that. So many countries desperate for our resources, including our uranium, because they want to have affordable and reliable energy for themselves, and we shun the use of all of that in this country. Now, it's obviously very good news, and I know you're a strong advocate for it within the Coalition, and that is getting rid of Net Zero. That's been the right policy decision by Angus Taylor, and you guys are strong on that now. But shouldn't you also just get out of Paris? Even if you had a Coalition government, still being part of this COP shambles only tends to legitimise it.

ANDREW HASTIE: Sure, I mean, look, Paris is a paper tiger. It's a paper tiger, and if Israel and China are still in Paris, I think that's a signal that it's kind of meaningless in the end. I mean, those two countries don't get awards for teamwork. So, sure, we could exit Paris, but in the end, it doesn't really impact our sovereignty. Now, signing up to the EU Free Trade Agreement as it stands, with the way it will actually enforce Paris – that could be very detrimental to our energy security and our national sovereignty. But look, sure, we could get out of Paris. The question is: is the juice worth the squeeze? I just think we need to repeal all the Net Zero legislation. We need to dismantle the Net Zero climate bureaucracy, which has grown up under the Albanese government. And if we do that, we save about $10 billion off the get-go. Never mind the reduction in power bills across the country for families, small business, and heavy industry. And that's how we become competitive again as a nation.

CHRIS KENNY: I just think the staying in Paris argument complicates the Coalition position, especially when people like yourself will be up against one nation candidates who are straightforward. They're against Net Zero, and they'll get out of Paris.

ANDREW HASTIE: Sure, but I come back to Paris. What is it? It's a paper tiger. Is it worth the effort to get out of it? The real question is: Are we going to repeal the Net Zero laws that Labor has legislated over the last four and a half to five years? And if we don't do that, then it doesn't matter whether we're in or out of Paris, because Labor has put a brake on our economy and until we remove that brake, we're not going to be a competitive nation. So, let's focus on what we can do here domestically. Sure, there's an argument to be had about Paris, but I think it's only the United States and Russia who pulled out, and it's immaterial in the end if Paris itself is a paperless tiger. And I guarantee, Chris, for One Nation, if we did get out of Paris, they'd create another hurdle or another challenge or another gate that the Coalition has to move through to prove themselves pure enough. In the end, we've called to get out of Net Zero – that's what the Coalition is doing - and I fought long and hard for that position, along with other colleagues.

CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, well, let's see what Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen do in COP31 in Turkey. I fear they'll make more promises that we'll have to cop back here. Thanks for joining us, Andrew.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, Chris.

[ENDS]