THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH PETE STEFANOVIC, SKY NEWS

Tuesday 26 May 2026

Topics: Labor’s CGT changes; the Coalition’s plan for a better Australia; electricity prices; ISIS brides; polling; One Nation; Teals.

E&OE……………………………………

PETER STEFANOVIC: Joining us live this morning is Shadow Industry and Sovereign Capability Minister, Andrew Hastie. Andrew, despite what appears to be a haphazard, ad-hoc, patch-up policy on the run here, the Prime Minister says: all good, this is what happens after a Budget. How are you viewing it?

ANDREW HASTIE: Anthony Albanese's war on aspiration continues. He's brought in new taxes without a mandate from the Australian people – breaking promises that he made before the last election – and now after the blowback last week, he's on the run and he's trying to find a way through this with potential carve outs. We're expected to vote on this Bill on the CGT changes on Thursday. It's a shambles, and we want to see carve out – we're going to oppose this tax, full stop – but we want to see carve outs for farmers and other people who are critical to this nation. Farmers are vital to this country, our food security – they do so much – and a lot of their wealth is accrued through capital gains.

PETER STEFANOVIC: How do you have carve outs anyway because aren't you favouring one entrepreneur over another?

ANDREW HASTIE: That's the problem, isn't it? That's exactly the problem. The Australian people didn't vote for this tax – that's why we're going to oppose it, and that's why we're going to repeal it. We're going to axe this tax.

PETER STEFANOVIC: But as I put to Matt Canavan a little earlier, the politics of this – you know full well – is if you oppose it, you're opposing tax cuts in the form of the rebate. Are you going to have to wear that?

ANDREW HASTIE: Labor is trying to put a poison pill in this Bill in the Working Australian Tax Offset, which we support. But nonetheless, the Australian people did not vote for an increase to their taxes, and this is exactly what Labor is going to do. This is ultimately a vote for more taxes, which is why we will oppose it.

PETER STEFANOVIC: The Coalition has used this sort of tactic before. I remember this was used during the stage three tax cut argument years and years ago. Is this just being used against you as a wedge here?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yes, this is classic wedge politics, and people can see through it, because in the end they're going to get hit harder by a tax increase than a tax cut. That's why we're going to oppose it. We've got our own plan. We want to give people more of their money back, which is why we're going to index tax thresholds to inflation. That's why we're going to cut Net Zero and get energy prices down. You mentioned electricity prices have come down today – we want to bring them all the way down. And then, of course, we're going to cut immigration, because we think net overseas migration should be pegged to housing completions. We want young Australians to realise the dream of home ownership, and you can only do that when you've got a level playing field. So, these are things that we're going to do – it's far more substantive than this Labor government, and that's why we're prepared to oppose this bad tax increase.

PETER STEFANOVIC: I did want to ask you about those energy prices, the power prices to drop from July. Over the course of a year, it doesn't look like much, but it's something. What's your view of that today?

ANDREW HASTIE: Energy prices have gone up 40 per cent under this Labor government. We want to bring them all the way down, and then some. We want to make Australia an energy superpower – we should have some of the cheapest base load power in the world. If we do that, then we recover a lot of our lost heavy industry, a lot of our advanced manufacturing, and we can also supercharge small business as well, and families will keep more of their hard-earned money. So, getting out of Net Zero, killing the green grift at the heart of the energy sector is so important, and we can really get power prices down if we do that.

PETER STEFANOVIC: That's going to take a long time, though. I mean, you've got to win first, and then you've got to impose your policies, and that takes years and years. But as a start, is this part of Chris Bowen's renewable plan paying off, if you like?

ANDREW HASTIE: I don't think so. It's a drop, sure, but a swallow doesn't make a summer. There's a long way to go. That's why we've got to have a plan for reform in this country, and that's what we have, and Labor does not.

PETER STEFANOVIC: A couple of other issues to get to this morning, Andrew. Your thoughts ahead of the ISIS brides – they're returning tonight, the second batch of them. One of the so-called brides wasn't allowed to come in – she was excluded – but the others are allowed. What are your thoughts on that?

ANDREW HASTIE: The government is being very passive here – their job is to protect Australians. These people betrayed their country, they joined one of the most murderous terrorist organisations of this century, and now they're coming back, and the government's saying: we've got nothing to do with this. Well, they do have a job, and that is to protect us and to manage the risk that these people pose. And so, I think it's important that Tony Burke, the Minister for Home Affairs, takes a more active role – he can't be as passive as he has been. We need to see some action, and we need to see this government taking these risks seriously, which I don't think they are.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Just a final topic here.  It emerged on the weekend, Andrew, this Redbridge poll, which showed One Nation picking up 53 seats at the next election. It also includes your WA seat of Canning, Andrew. Apparently, there's a 100 per cent chance of you losing that. Again, that's according to Redbridge and the poll. What's your read of all of that? Is that likely?

ANDREW HASTIE: Polls are good and they keep you sharp, but in the end, I've served my community for more than 10 years. I live there; it's my home. My children go to school there; I have friends there. It's an absolute privilege to represent Canning. I'll seek re-election in two years' time – anyone can run for that seat. My single mission is to defeat Labor to return a strong centre-right Coalition government, and that's all I'm focused on.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Alright, are you worried about the One Nation party picking up your seat, though? Is that a possibility?

ANDREW HASTIE: I don't live in fear. My mission is clear: it's to defeat Labor. One Nation – their mission is less clear. Pauline Hanson came out on the weekend and said she's targeting Canning. Well, if she wants to defeat Labor, I'm not sure why she'd be targeting people like me on the centre-right. So, we crack on. Two years is a long time so I'm going to be working very hard with my colleagues to win government.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Yeah, I know you're not afraid of anything, given your work on the battlefield, Andrew. Just finally, have you got a thought on the Teals maybe breaking away and forming their own party?

ANDREW HASTIE: Good on them. We already assume that they're a party anyway – they may as well just come out into the open and declare it. They get resourced by the same donors and the same campaign machinery – it'd just be easier for Australians if they came out and declared themselves a party. Why be squeamish about it?

PETER STEFANOVIC: Andrew Hastie, good to have you with us this morning. Appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon.

[ENDS]