00:00Hi, I'm Kate McElwain, the Elora Mercury's Deputy Editor, and I'm here chatting to our political reporter, Glenn Humphreys,
00:07because in the past couple of days, we've all seen the headlines about the split of the coalition.
00:12And for several generations of our readers, they're probably wondering what on earth that is.
00:17The last time there was a split, it was 1987. What does this all mean?
00:22Well, it could mean a lot. It could mean nothing, because we've got three years until the next election,
00:28so there's plenty of time for the Nationals and the Liberals to work out their differences
00:31and reunite and reform the coalition for the 2028 election.
00:37And I think once you get close to that, I think the Nationals will realise it's very uncomfortable being a minor party
00:42and not being on the front bench, not having any power, and they might actually decide to link up again.
00:49In the Elora, we obviously have three pretty strongly Labor electorates,
00:55so perhaps it seems like this might not have too much to do with us.
00:59However, during the election, we did see in Whitlam that there were a bunch of things going on
01:04with the Nationals and the Liberals.
01:05We had a former New South Wales minister, Katrina Hodgkinson,
01:10who was running for the Nationals, pulling out to pave the way, she said,
01:13for the Liberals to do better in that electorate.
01:17So does this mean anything locally, this split between these two parties?
01:22I think it will mean more the further south you go.
01:26I don't see, you know, Cunningham is a very urban electorate,
01:29so I can't see the Nationals bothering to make a dent there at all.
01:34Then you go down Whitlam's a bit more regional with the Southern Highlands,
01:37and then Gilmore's even more regional than that.
01:39And the further down you go, there might be some votes in there for the Nationals,
01:44but that, again, depends on whether they want to run a three-cornered contest
01:48and have the Libs and the Nationals running against each other,
01:51which could just effectively cancel each other, cancel those votes out
01:56and effectively give the box seat to the Labor Party.
02:00What about policy-wise, do you think or are people saying that, you know,
02:05there's going to be any difference in the way policies and things play out
02:09over the next term with these two parties split?
02:12It's quite possible.
02:13I think there is the belief that the Nationals were pushing the Coalition to the right
02:18and without that party there, the Liberals may actually be able to move more to the centre
02:23where pretty much most of the votes are anyway.
02:26I mean, as we saw in the last election, the right isn't,
02:30the votes aren't there that they need, especially not in the inner city,
02:33so they may actually give the Liberal Party a chance to move more to the centre
02:37and become a better opposition to the Labor Party.
02:43Jakub from the
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