Thursday, 10 July 2025

Topics: Antisemitism report, Women in the Liberal Party, U.S. tariffs, Smart Energy Council CEO's comment on Team China

CAROLINE MARCUS: Well, joining me now is Claire Chandler, Tasmanian Liberal Senator Claire. Great to see you. First off, what is your reaction to this new antisemitism action plan that I talked about at the top of the show?

SENATOR CLAIRE CHANDLER: Thanks for having me on the show, Caroline. And, and look, I thought your comments at the top of the show were spot on. There seems to be an awful lot of considering of these recommendations that will now be underway by the Albanese government rather than actually putting them into action and I think you know, we know that this review has been underway for some time. I don't think that the recommendations were revolutionary or unheard of. Now is the time for Anthony Albanese and his government to stand up and say enough is enough. We are going to put these recommendations into action. So fantastic piece of work by the anti Semitism Special envoy. But like I say, a disappointing response from the government in not saying “here today we're going to do this.”

CAROLINE MARCUS: I know it would have been such an easy opportunity to at least implement some of them. Look, let's move on to your party now and we have an opposition leader who is clearly, clearly trying to brand herself as pro women. There are photos that are out today in the Women's weekly showcasing shots of Sussan Ley with her granddaughter Sage who calls her Glammy, which is lovely, plus a horrifying story about the night she had to draw a gun on a menacing man And but Claire, one of the criticisms I've made on here before about Sussan Ley is that she's talked very publicly about supporting women, but demoted, talented female performers like yourself out of the shadow cabinet. I mean, what do you think of this attempt to rebrand the Liberals as more women friendly?

SENATOR CLAIRE CHANDLER: Oh look, I don't think anyone out there in in Australia you know is looking at the Liberal Party's performance at the last election and thinking that we have a good record when it comes to engaging with women. I've publicly said many, many times that the Liberal Party has to do better when it comes to engaging with women, I want to see more liberal women in our parliaments. I want to see more liberal women within our party. But you know there, there's there are many various ways that we do that and you know, I know quotas have been talked about. I'm vehemently anti quota. I think they're, you know, they fundamentally undermine what we as liberals believe in. And I don't think they're the best tool that we as liberals can use to increase our female parliamentary ranks, but in terms of the piece in the women's weekly that you refer to where with our opposition leader Sussan Ley, look, I think that's a good thing. Often I hear people criticise politicians that you know we don't get to see who you really are. We don't get to see your back story and that's certainly true and I think it's you know, entirely fair and expected that Sussan would be doing some of these interviews now, sharing her personal stories with Australians, just as Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison, many of our liberal leaders have done before.

CAROLINE MARCUS: Well, look, let's move on to Albanese now. There are fears that Australia could be asked to pay more for nuclear submarines as part of the Pentagon's review into the AUKUS deal. That's on top of these flagged tariffs from Trump on copper and pharmaceuticals, with the chairman of the country's biggest drugs manufacturers saying tweaks to the PBS should be considered to avoid the tariffs, Claire, as I've said many times, Albanese can't even secure one meeting with the leader of the free world, and it's looking like a very expensive failing right now.

SENATOR CLAIRE CHANDLER: Well, that's certainly right. And I think it's been about 247 days since President Trump was elected and our Prime Minister hasn't been able to secure a meeting with him in that time. Now I think as our closest ally that securing a meeting with President Trump after his election should have been a pretty high priority for Prime Minister Albanese and it's incredibly disappointing that that hasn't happened yet. And like you say, we are now seeing the fallout from that failure to secure a meeting, and it's all very well for the Prime Minister to show up at press conferences and say oh, this is under consideration or we're having conversations or we're engaging at the highest level. But the reality is we haven't engaged at the highest level because the Prime Minister hasn't been able to secure that meeting with President Trump. So, like so many Australians, I'm concerned about what the US tariff policy is going to have on Australians and on our businesses here, but I also want to see our Prime Minister engaging with the US administration and fighting for Australian interests. And we all know that that hasn't happened yet.

CAROLINE MARCUS: Oh, but he is off to China this weekend. Don't forget I just quickly speaking of China in a bizarre Press Club experience, the CEO of a major climate change charity has praised China. Yes, China, the world's worst carbon polluter. There was this

John Grimes, Smart Energy Council CEO: “One thing you can say about the Chinese system is that China plays as a team.”

CAROLINE MARCUS: Then came this.

John Grimes, Smart Energy Council CEO:  “And Australia spends all of our time trying to tear each other apart. That is no way to compete for Team Australia.”

CAROLINE MARCUS: Claire, just quickly your response.

SENATOR CLAIRE CHANDLER: I mean, I was as baffled by those comments as I think anyone would be. I think we all know that China is the greatest global emitter when it comes to CO2, and we have to always view what we're doing here in Australia within that context. But I think it was, yeah, a complete falsehood to try and say that that there, that China is playing. It's part on the global stage when we know that's not the case. I was, yeah, very Confused.

CAROLINE MARCUS: I think many people were. Claire Chandler thank you so much for your time.

ENDS