00:00I wasn't involved in any of these discussions.
00:04I've been focusing on my job as the Shadow Education Minister to point out some of the
00:07rising costs in education that Australians are facing today, with a 5.4 per cent increase
00:13in the cost of education, an 11.2 per cent increase in the cost of childcare, with the
00:18doubling of the number of childcare centres now charging above the cap at a time when
00:22people are returning to schools.
00:25Australians are facing a cost of living crisis.
00:27That has been the focus of my work.
00:28I'm not focused on these other matters.
00:30I absolutely respect that that's what you want to focus on, but you know...
00:34It actually has been what I've been focused on.
00:35I actually absolutely believe you, but I also know that in your party there is feverish
00:41activity in relation to Angus Taylor.
00:44So just, I'm going to ask what your view is.
00:46Do you think if they want to challenge for the leadership, they should collect signatures?
00:51Well, I've been very clear on this.
00:53I unequivocally support Susan Lee, and I unequivocally support her because of her actions around
00:58Bondi.
00:58It was Susan that called for a Royal Commission.
01:00It was Susan that called for the Parliament to be returned to deal with the issues.
01:03It was Susan that ensured that we passed some legislation to kick out hate preachers,
01:08to ban organisations like Hizbut Tahrir and other radical Islamist organisations, and to
01:12deal with neo-Nazis.
01:14She showed herself to be a great leader in a national crisis, and that's why she has my unequivocal
01:19support.
01:20If somebody is to challenge, and clearly Angus Taylor is the most obvious, should they have
01:24to go to the effort of actually collecting signatures?
01:28If you could please just tell me what your view is on that.
01:30I just haven't spent any time thinking about this.
01:33I hope you can believe me in saying that because I haven't been.
01:35It's not that it's believing you, but it's more about the process.
01:37Because I've been told by leading moderates, which is what I'm revealing this afternoon
01:41on the program, that they think that Angus Taylor should have to demonstrate for transparency
01:47that there's enough support through signatures.
01:49It's something Malcolm Turnbull did, of course, when he was ousted.
01:52Is it a fair enough process, procedurally?
01:55This is a matter for people who are thinking about leadership issues in the party to consider
01:59the way in which they want to do that.
02:01I just reiterate my strong support for Susan, and to be very clear on that, people know I
02:07stand for things, and the reason I stand with Susan is because she's helped protect our
02:12country at a time of national crisis, and she's demonstrated the leadership that Australia
02:16needed over the summer when we had the worst terrorist attack on our soil ever.
02:20So what do you make of what Jane Hume said then, that something's got to change, that
02:24you'd be wiped out?
02:25Well, I've been focusing on the things that I've been asked to focus on, which is education
02:30policy.
02:31But you are worried, aren't you, about the potential electoral wipeout under these numbers?
02:35These numbers reflect the fact that the coalition has been split for a couple of weeks now.
02:40Australians don't like to see that.
02:41I don't like to see that.
02:42We've got the coalition back together now.
02:44We need to return to normal transmission, which is prosecuting the cases I've been doing in
02:49relation to education costs.
02:51I'm very concerned that it's become harder and harder under the Albanese government for
02:55people to afford to send their kids to school, to send their kids to childcare, and as those
03:00costs go up, Australians are having to make choices that they haven't had to make before.
03:04That's the focus of every day that I'm in here.
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