Topics: Liberal Leadership

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THOMAS ORITI: We're joined now by Liberal senator for New South Wales, Dave Sharma. Senator, good afternoon.

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DAVE SHARMA: Good afternoon, Thomas. Nice to join you.

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THOMAS ORITI: Thank you for joining us. Where do you sit on this? Do you feel as though Sussan Ley is doing a good job as Liberal leader?

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DAVE SHARMA:, I'm afraid I'm not going to canvas with you publicly the merits and attributes of, of both candidates. What I would say, though, is, um, look, anyone who is an opposition leader after an election loss like the one we have has a very difficult hand to play. and I think Sussan has worked very hard and absolutely done her best to make us a competitive political force again. But that has not... We clearly have more work to do there. But I don't think it's... I don't have any doubt about her work ethic or her dedication to the task.

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THOMAS ORITI: Okay, so you won't tell me who you're supporting then by the of

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DAVE SHARMA: No, I won't, and look, I'm happy to tell you why I won't...

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THOMAS ORITI: well, yeah, can you? Because I, I do... I mean, the vote's tomorrow morning. Obviously, would have it clear in your mind at the moment who you would support. Why wouldn't you go down that path?

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DAVE SHARMA: Look, the most important thing to me, Thomas, is, is regardless of who the leader is tomorrow that emerges, um, we all, as a party, need to unite behind them, work with them towards their success and the success of our party, and by doing so, do the job we were sent here by the people of Australia to do, which is be a credible alternative government. And I think people going out and canvassing public positions on what is quite a bruising internal process, I think, makes that task of healing and unity, harder afterwards. So, I'm not a fan. I know other colleagues take different views and I perfectly respect their right to, but I'm very focused on the day after and how do we move forward from here.

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THOMAS ORITI: You did mention there was more work to do, though. I mean, Sussan Ley hasn't been in the job for 12 months. I, I wondered how would the party justify a change to leadership so soon? We've had people texting in this afternoon saying, "Hey, it's been nine months. Give her a chance."

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DAVE SHARMA: Yeah, look, and I think that's a, that's a very fair point to make. I'd also point out though that when we were last in opposition, I think we cycled through three opposition leaders in our first term in opposition. Brendan Nelson was there for, for nine months. I mean, it's, it's a very difficult position. People demand a lot of you. People have high expectations. And we're in quite a febrile political environment. I don't pretend any of that's not the case, though I think it can be a lot harder to satisfy... meet the performance metrics, if you like, if you're opposition leader after a bad election loss. I take that point. That's a fair point, but, um, I'd say this is not all that unusual.

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THOMAS ORITI: All right. Well, not all unusual in... but the point's been made. Okay, nine months, you made that comparison to Brendan Nelson. Fair enough, that's true, but what about the fact that she is the first female leader of the party? Do, do you think that female leaders... Well, how do you think they would feel of Sussan Ley being challenged so soon? I wonder whether there is a gender element to this.

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DAVE SHARMA: Look, in my, in my experience, and I can only speak for my experience and my perspective, no. I think, people are weighing up this issue on the merits and performance of the candidates rather than looking at it through a gender lens. And I think ultimately, we will be a successful political movement again, not just because of our leader and our team, but because of the policies they offer and the attributes they bring. Gender is an important component, I'm not going to pretend it's not, but I don't think that's the prism through which myself and my colleagues are looking at this at all.

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THOMAS ORITI: You mentioned policy there. We've obviously been canvassing this closely, and the point is made with Angus Taylor that we know his image, we know the slogans. We don't know a whole lot about his policies.

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, I'd say it's... he hasn't... firstly, he's been in government as a senior minister but it takes time to develop policy. I wouldn't expect anyone who's standing for the leadership to have a fully developed, suite of policy options, nor would I expect an opposition nine months into opposition, which is where we are, to, to have that have that developed either. It's an iterative process, and what I really think we need to have from the next leader, whoever that may be, um, is an appetite and enthusiasm and the support for that policy process. Because ultimately, I think it's how we become competitive again as a political force, is because we have not just criticism to offer the Labor government, but an alternative approach to offer to the public.

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THOMAS ORITI: We've had a text coming in making a comparison to the Coalition and in terms of the number of coaches, managers that Tottenham's gone through. I'm not trying to make light of this, but finally, Dave what do you see given there, there, there is division, there are fractures in the party, what do you see is the most urgent priority for the Liberal Party once this vote is settled?

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, I think the most urgent priority is, is for everyone to support the new leader, regardless of whether they supported them or not, and to work to, give them the best prospects and chance of success, and then I think the second-most important task is to get on with our job that we were sent here to do by the Australian people, which is to represent the communities we were sent here by, to hold the Labor government to account, and to provide an alternative, set of policies for Australia. Because the truth is, or my view is that Australia is not performing well. The economy is stagnating, people's living standards are going backwards, inflation is accelerating, the country is not getting any further ahead, and it feels in many respects like we're slipping backwards. We need to be telling the Australian public how we propose to fix that.

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THOMAS ORITI: Appreciate you giving us the time, Dave. Thank you very much for joining us.

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DAVE SHARMA: Very nice to join you. Thanks, Thomas.

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[ENDS]