By 9News,Patrick Brischetto
Copyright 9news
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Hastie has rejected “mischievous” suggestions that he does not support Liberal leader Sussan Ley after making several outspoken comments on policy positions in recent weeks.
Speaking on Nine radio station 2GB this morning, Hastie said his main concern was with stopping the fragmentation of the Liberal Party and claimed he was simply channelling the concerns and key issues Australians were facing.
“I support Sussan, anyone who’s speculating otherwise is being mischievous,” he told 2GB’s Mark Levy.
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“My main concern is that the centre-right is fragmenting.
“We’ve seen the rise in the One Nation vote and other microparties, and having us fragmented on the right is very strategically advantageous for Labor.
“I’m simply saying what people out on the street are looking for in their political leadership… I believe that net zero is going to be a tragedy for our country.
“I believe that net overseas migration is far too high, and it’s locking young Australians out of the housing market.”
Hastie has garnered headlines for posts on his social media accounts, including an Instagram post yesterday with a caption, “We’re starting to feel like strangers in our own home”, a thinly veiled critique on Australia’s immigration policies.
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Hastie insists despite becoming more outspoken, it is not a sign of discontent or a wish to break away from the Liberal Party frontbench.
“I’m still on the team. I’m a team player,” he said.
“I’m just being a little bolder in some of the policy positions that I think we should adopt.”
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Hastie claimed the party needed to adapt to the modern era and needed to leave behind the previous mindset that had served it well in previous decades.
“A lot of people would like us to stay exactly where we are, including some people on our party side, but we can’t,” he said.
“The world has changed since the [John] Howard and [Peter] Costello years.
“We’ve had the global financial crisis, we’ve had Brexit, we’ve had the rise of Xi Jinping and China, we’ve had Trump, we’ve had the pandemic.
“The world has changed, and we have to change with it.”
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