00:00:02
Speaker 1: Well, it is, without a doubt one of the most extraordinary opinion polls ever published in Australia. To today's Financial Review, the red Bridge poll shows that One Nation is now the most popular political party in Australia. One Nation stands on thirty one, Labor on twenty eight and the coalition that both the Liberal our National parties combined languishing in the twenties, in fact, just twenty twenty points, eleven points behind One Nation. Corey Bernardi is the South Australian leader of One Nation and a newly installed MLC, one of three in the upper House of the seven MPs that One Nation returned at the March twenty one state election, and we've got him on the line now. Corey, good morning and thanks for joining us.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: It's a pleasure casting your mind back.
00:00:47
Speaker 1: To your days with the Libs. How did the Liberal Party go from that when you were a member of the Howard government to this in the space of less than two decades.
00:00:59
Speaker 2: I don't want it to go through the history of the Liberal Party too much, boys, but it was all very predictable, to be honest. You know. In twenty sixteen when I left the Liberal Party, it was clear that it had lost its way, that it no longer stood for anything. I thought the Abbott government got in was ineffective and didn't pursue the things that it should have done. Then Nowcolm Turnbull came through with his wrecking ball and his left wing mates and they basically destroyed any last credibility of what the Liberal Party stood for. And that was the change for me. I realized it was actually losing its way, It had no more relevance to Australians, or was certainly waning, and I tried to create something that would anchor it into place. That didn't work. Pauline Hanson has been working doing the same thing for thirty years and the polls today demonstrate that the uniparty politics, as I refer the Labor Liberal Party duopoly is broken because they've broken the back of the country. Whatever they've done has resulted in people's lives being manifestly worse off, and so they want hope now, and that's why they're turning to one nation. Because we say what we think and we reflect the views of every day Australia.
00:02:20
Speaker 3: How do you guard against one nation following a similar trajectory as now?
00:02:25
Speaker 1: According to these.
00:02:25
Speaker 3: New poles as you should pursue actually forming government because that involves making a pitch to people in the regions and making a pitch to people in the suburbs. And this is where the Libs went awry, trying to be all things to all people. But you can't have to make a pitch, don't you. That's going to get you across the line and ultimately in a position to form government.
00:02:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to make a pitch, and the pitch has got to be authentic. You know, when you look around the country and you go the cost of living outrageous, We've got too many migrants coming into the country, The debt levels are extraordinary, and we've just got to start beiling the cat on this sort of stuff. At least talking about it is a positive and then you've got to come up with ways to address it. And you know, the simplest thing that you can talk about in this country is the level of mass migration is It is doing manifest damage to people's lives, the quality of lives here and uniparty politicians do not care about it because they only want the headline economic figures. But what's the point of having a GDP that's going up when the quality of life and the I guess per capita income for people is actually going backwards or not producing stuff. This is the big problem we've got. They don't want to talk about the reality of life in this country. They want to talk in terms of statistics or something like that, and it doesn't work for people. They're just they're over it. They're just going this is you know, they're lying to us. And we've got a budget this week in South Australia and you just know that there's no plan to repay any debt where there's no plan to do anything to put on more events, really to distract the people from the things that are not being done here. And that's what I think politics has become now. People are sick of it and just saying that we want some basic truths.
00:04:22
Speaker 1: So grouvinari One Nation is in a really good position now in South Australia on account of the huge vote that it got twenty four percent from memory at the state election, a six million dollar war chest now through the electoral funding laws that Peter mallenowskis brought in. Carlos Krember told me last week that you guys are about to set up a headquarters in Adelaide, which will be the first of its kind outside of the party's spiritual home in Brisbane where it all began in ninety ninety six. You're looking at hiring staff, You're setting up branches in all ten of the federal electorates in South Australia. The next big opportunity for your party here is the federal election in two years time. Have you given thought to what role you were playing that and could that include you being the One Nation candidate for Gray.
00:05:14
Speaker 2: I've read about that in your story the other day. I have no intention of being the One Nation candidate for Grey, David, but thanks for the invitation. I do love that part of the world and I really think it needs a one Nation candidate to be honest. Remember, but look, I maintain a separation between the parliamentary wing and the organizational wing. Carlos is that stay president. He's an extraordinary bloke and a great colleague, I have to say, But he's doing so much work for the party. He's going to set up all of that stuff. My responsibility, as I see it, is to look after the legislative requirements here in the Parliament. And to help our MPs become as capable as they possibly can in that forum whilst they're developing themselves in there.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: Elect So flying a camera twenty two weeks a year, that's that's no longer has any appeal to you as a forumusy.
00:06:05
Speaker 2: Anyway, I did that for fourteen years data you know how pleasurable it can be. And when you look at the circus that's up there, you think, my goodness is greatest? Do you really want to be part of it? We've all got roles to play and I rule nothing in or out. I have to say that. But right now I'm focused on doing exactly what my mission is, which is to help our MPs to be the best they can and make sure we're the strongest voice we can be for all South Australians. And you know, if there's a role to play in the federal election, whatever that may be, I'm happy to step up because I think the country needs one Nation.
00:06:39
Speaker 1: Cory Bernardi SA one Nation later, thank you for joining us this morning.
00:06:42
Speaker 2: You're welcome it too.
00:06:46
Speaker 1: It's crazy thirty one twenty eight, twenty thirty one one Nation twenty out Labour twenty. You know a lot of conservative vodes will go, hang on, why don't you just add the coalition twenty and one nation thirty one together and get rid of labor. I actually think that some of the rhetoric coming out of Pauline Hanson's mouth now she seems to think, well, actually, that's well, that is probably what I would like to see you get it, and then you get a sort of urbanized conservative vote and a regional conservative vote in one nation. That Libs part of the issue with that is some of their data that came out of the Pharah by election and even the South Australian election.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: Certainly Farah most recently federal elections is probably the best proxy for that thirty percent of the Libs preference labor, of Liberal voters preference laborhead of the coalition that would seem to be a pretty hard rump of anti one nation. Yeah, liberal votal Now it doesn't given all that's transpired, it feels like if those people aren't ever moving, and that's the challenge. And they're sort of the moderates, aren't they. That's right, you know they probably live in a city.
00:07:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they's low taxing, free trade people that be anti tariffs, like all of the things that one nation we always do that they're not going to rock up and sign on for that.
00:07:58
Speaker 2: Are they.
00:07:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the ideological issue at play.
Speaker 1: Well, it is, without a doubt one of the most extraordinary opinion polls ever published in Australia. To today's Financial Review, the red Bridge poll shows that One Nation is now the most popular political party in Australia. One Nation stands on thirty one, Labor on twenty eight and the coalition that both the Liberal our National parties combined languishing in the twenties, in fact, just twenty twenty points, eleven points behind One Nation. Corey Bernardi is the South Australian leader of One Nation and a newly installed MLC, one of three in the upper House of the seven MPs that One Nation returned at the March twenty one state election, and we've got him on the line now. Corey, good morning and thanks for joining us.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: It's a pleasure casting your mind back.
00:00:47
Speaker 1: To your days with the Libs. How did the Liberal Party go from that when you were a member of the Howard government to this in the space of less than two decades.
00:00:59
Speaker 2: I don't want it to go through the history of the Liberal Party too much, boys, but it was all very predictable, to be honest. You know. In twenty sixteen when I left the Liberal Party, it was clear that it had lost its way, that it no longer stood for anything. I thought the Abbott government got in was ineffective and didn't pursue the things that it should have done. Then Nowcolm Turnbull came through with his wrecking ball and his left wing mates and they basically destroyed any last credibility of what the Liberal Party stood for. And that was the change for me. I realized it was actually losing its way, It had no more relevance to Australians, or was certainly waning, and I tried to create something that would anchor it into place. That didn't work. Pauline Hanson has been working doing the same thing for thirty years and the polls today demonstrate that the uniparty politics, as I refer the Labor Liberal Party duopoly is broken because they've broken the back of the country. Whatever they've done has resulted in people's lives being manifestly worse off, and so they want hope now, and that's why they're turning to one nation. Because we say what we think and we reflect the views of every day Australia.
00:02:20
Speaker 3: How do you guard against one nation following a similar trajectory as now?
00:02:25
Speaker 1: According to these.
00:02:25
Speaker 3: New poles as you should pursue actually forming government because that involves making a pitch to people in the regions and making a pitch to people in the suburbs. And this is where the Libs went awry, trying to be all things to all people. But you can't have to make a pitch, don't you. That's going to get you across the line and ultimately in a position to form government.
00:02:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to make a pitch, and the pitch has got to be authentic. You know, when you look around the country and you go the cost of living outrageous, We've got too many migrants coming into the country, The debt levels are extraordinary, and we've just got to start beiling the cat on this sort of stuff. At least talking about it is a positive and then you've got to come up with ways to address it. And you know, the simplest thing that you can talk about in this country is the level of mass migration is It is doing manifest damage to people's lives, the quality of lives here and uniparty politicians do not care about it because they only want the headline economic figures. But what's the point of having a GDP that's going up when the quality of life and the I guess per capita income for people is actually going backwards or not producing stuff. This is the big problem we've got. They don't want to talk about the reality of life in this country. They want to talk in terms of statistics or something like that, and it doesn't work for people. They're just they're over it. They're just going this is you know, they're lying to us. And we've got a budget this week in South Australia and you just know that there's no plan to repay any debt where there's no plan to do anything to put on more events, really to distract the people from the things that are not being done here. And that's what I think politics has become now. People are sick of it and just saying that we want some basic truths.
00:04:22
Speaker 1: So grouvinari One Nation is in a really good position now in South Australia on account of the huge vote that it got twenty four percent from memory at the state election, a six million dollar war chest now through the electoral funding laws that Peter mallenowskis brought in. Carlos Krember told me last week that you guys are about to set up a headquarters in Adelaide, which will be the first of its kind outside of the party's spiritual home in Brisbane where it all began in ninety ninety six. You're looking at hiring staff, You're setting up branches in all ten of the federal electorates in South Australia. The next big opportunity for your party here is the federal election in two years time. Have you given thought to what role you were playing that and could that include you being the One Nation candidate for Gray.
00:05:14
Speaker 2: I've read about that in your story the other day. I have no intention of being the One Nation candidate for Grey, David, but thanks for the invitation. I do love that part of the world and I really think it needs a one Nation candidate to be honest. Remember, but look, I maintain a separation between the parliamentary wing and the organizational wing. Carlos is that stay president. He's an extraordinary bloke and a great colleague, I have to say, But he's doing so much work for the party. He's going to set up all of that stuff. My responsibility, as I see it, is to look after the legislative requirements here in the Parliament. And to help our MPs become as capable as they possibly can in that forum whilst they're developing themselves in there.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: Elect So flying a camera twenty two weeks a year, that's that's no longer has any appeal to you as a forumusy.
00:06:05
Speaker 2: Anyway, I did that for fourteen years data you know how pleasurable it can be. And when you look at the circus that's up there, you think, my goodness is greatest? Do you really want to be part of it? We've all got roles to play and I rule nothing in or out. I have to say that. But right now I'm focused on doing exactly what my mission is, which is to help our MPs to be the best they can and make sure we're the strongest voice we can be for all South Australians. And you know, if there's a role to play in the federal election, whatever that may be, I'm happy to step up because I think the country needs one Nation.
00:06:39
Speaker 1: Cory Bernardi SA one Nation later, thank you for joining us this morning.
00:06:42
Speaker 2: You're welcome it too.
00:06:46
Speaker 1: It's crazy thirty one twenty eight, twenty thirty one one Nation twenty out Labour twenty. You know a lot of conservative vodes will go, hang on, why don't you just add the coalition twenty and one nation thirty one together and get rid of labor. I actually think that some of the rhetoric coming out of Pauline Hanson's mouth now she seems to think, well, actually, that's well, that is probably what I would like to see you get it, and then you get a sort of urbanized conservative vote and a regional conservative vote in one nation. That Libs part of the issue with that is some of their data that came out of the Pharah by election and even the South Australian election.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: Certainly Farah most recently federal elections is probably the best proxy for that thirty percent of the Libs preference labor, of Liberal voters preference laborhead of the coalition that would seem to be a pretty hard rump of anti one nation. Yeah, liberal votal Now it doesn't given all that's transpired, it feels like if those people aren't ever moving, and that's the challenge. And they're sort of the moderates, aren't they. That's right, you know they probably live in a city.
00:07:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they's low taxing, free trade people that be anti tariffs, like all of the things that one nation we always do that they're not going to rock up and sign on for that.
00:07:58
Speaker 2: Are they.
00:07:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the ideological issue at play.
