E&OE TRANSCRIPT
2GB Straight Shooters RADIO INTERVIEW
TUESDAY, 3 JUNE 2025
SUBJECT: DORINDA COX, WORK FROM HOME.
CLINTON MAYNARD: Straight shooters for a Tuesday afternoon. We feature our pollies, Liberal Senator in New South Wales, outgoing Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes. Hello, Hollie.
SENATOR HOLLIE HUGHES: Hey, Clinton. How are you going?
MAYNARD: And the Labor MP for Macquarie, Susan Templeman. Hello, Susan.
SUSAN TEMPLEMAN MP: Hello. Good to be with you.
MAYNARD: Big political issue of the last couple of days has been the defection of Dorinda Cox, the Greens senator to the Labor Party, and just from the outset and I've said this when Lidia Thorpe, for instance, became an independent, when Cory Bernardi left the Liberals. I think it is morally wrong, and I actually think we should change the laws, that if somebody is elected in the Senate, they stay with that party or they resign from parliament. Because when politicians are elected on the senate ticket, it's usually above the line. People usually vote for the party, not the individual in the main. I think it is morally wrong that they stay in parliament. What do you think, Hollie?
HUGHES: I think there's a real problem with people getting elected under a particular banner and then defecting. And I think the hypocrisy is, you know, writ large from the Labor Party after the behaviour that we saw from them in the Senate, the treatment of Fatima Payman when she left the party to go sit on the crossbench, the moral outrage demonstrated by the Labor Party. And now, you know, within weeks of an election, within weeks of being unsuccessful at attempting to be the deputy leader of the Greens, Dorinda Cox is welcomed by the Prime Minister with open arms. I mean, this is someone who clearly doesn't have any true convictions or beliefs because it was in the lead up to the election that Senator Cox was very vocal about the North West Shelf and opposing that. And, you know, at least if you're a backbencher in the coalition, you actually have the freedom to speak out on issues if you disagree. That doesn't exist in Labor. And Senator Cox is now very supportive of the extension to the North West Shelf, which personally, she's had some great sensible conversion to actually ensuring we have energy security in this country rather than chasing unicorn farming dreams. Fantastic. But somehow, don't think that's the case.
MAYNARD: And I should point out; she wasn't up for election in the election we've just gone through in May. She is serving, she's midway through a six-year term. Senators have six-year terms, but she was elected as a green. She's previously been a Labor member; I should point out. It's very different when we elect a politician like yourself, Susan, in the lower house because, technically, I know a lot of people do vote on party lines, but we do vote for the individual. So, if you, for instance, Susan, were to abandon the Labor Party and become an independent, I think ethically that would be that would be okay. But the reality is most of us when we vote in the senate vote above the line. So, we're voting for a party ticket. So, from the Labor side, how can it be justified that Dorinda does this?
TEMPLEMAN: Oh, look. I think we're splitting hairs, but just for the record, I would never move from being a Labor person to being anything else. Just want to close that one off. We welcome people who, having worked with Labor senators in the Senate, obviously, Dorinda has seen from experience how you make a difference.
MAYNARD: But she was voted as a Green. What about that the Greens the Greens voters now aren't represented by her?
TEMPLEMAN: Well, she has another three years, and she was voted in to represent a state. More than anything, she's there to represent a state, and she's made a decision about how she can make the biggest contribution. And she's determined that she can do that within Government more effectively than a member of a protest party.
MAYNARD: Well, Hollie, you're an outgoing senator. Hollie, you're an outgoing senator. Do you think people were voting for you personally or the Liberal Party or the coalition ticket as it would have been in your case?
HUGHES: Well, they were voting for the coalition ticket, and I was always aware that I was a Liberal senator by the grace of the Liberal Party. I was one of, in fact, very few people. We had a number of crossbenchers as we came into the last election where people had been unsuccessful in preselection or for whatever reason had taken them outside of the party they were elected to serve. I did not do that. I didn't make that decision. And I'm not saying there weren't opportunities for me to do things, but I've always believed you've got to dance with the one that brought you. And I was a Liberal senator because of the Liberal party. I mean, I am please, please have me on when Susan, you know, is now lording the defection of senator Cox after we know there were significant claims of bleeding from her staff. There was investigations and inquiries ongoing around noise, bullying allegations, the staff turnover. There was much being made about the way Senator Cox ran her office, and now the Prime Minister and the Labor Party is welcoming her with open arms. Well, I don't think that sends a very positive message to those staffers that had made those allegations.
MAYNARD: Well, Susan, how did your colleagues feel? We know what we've heard on the grapevine, but how did they and some public comments, but how did they feel in the party room when Senator Payman left the Labor Party?
TEMPLEMAN: Oh, we were really disappointed to lose someone like Senator Payman who brought a really diverse perspective to the parliament. We are a party that welcomes people from all walks of life, and a whole lot of women do choose our party. You know, right now with Dorinda's joining the party, we must be getting closer to 60% of female representation in our party room than the sort of 56%, 57% that we were. So, look. We have all welcomed Dorinda's decision. We're really pleased when someone sees the light and can see that Labor has not only been a good government for its first term, but has really ambitious plans, which include protecting the environment, but making sure that the rules that we have given business a clear message on how they can do the essential developments that we need, but also provide better protections for the environment for future generations.
MAYNARD: Well, I just I actually think we need to change the rules. I just think it is really wrong. And look, the same goes for conservatives. Cory Bernardi did it as well to the Liberal Party. I think it's really wrong when someone's elected, particularly in the senate, to then jump sides. Onto the next issue. Andrew Bragg, one of your colleagues, Hollie, has done a bit of a backflip on the work from home issue. He's become a champion of work from home. Disagrees, it would seem, with Jane Hume. What's your view? Do you think work from home is the future, and do you think the Liberal Party should now be fully supportive?
HUGHES: Look. I think what Senator Bragg was talking about was looking at ways that we can boost productivity and everything needs to be on the table. And the reality is we've seen an increase in pay rates today above inflation for low-income earners, but it is also a pay rate that has increased higher than productivity, which we are seeing in decline. And so particularly for small businesses, that are now going to have larger wage impacts, they're going to need to see greater productivity. So, whatever is able to produce that will help our economy grow. And I know that, you know, Labor is going to say, isn't this great? These low work, low-income earners are getting a pay rise. Well, if you're working in McDonald's and someone that's going to get this pay rise, working from home isn't an option for you. So, a lot of these low-income earners are actually not the people that benefit from working from home policies.
MAYNARD: Yeah, that's a fair point.
HUGHES: We need to make sure they're not being conflated. The people that benefit from work from home are quite often in corporate white-collar jobs. It's not the doctors. It's not the nurses. It's not the teachers. It's not the police and fire brigades that are able to do that, and it's not low work low-income earners in the hospitality sector.
MAYNARD: I suspect after the election that work from home in the future actually won't be a political issue. What do you think, Susan?
TEMPLEMAN: It shouldn't be a political issue. I mean, people should work in a way that they are most productive. And when you've got people like the ones I represent in the Blue Mountains or Hawkesbury, who getting to an office can mean travelling for one and a half to two hours each way, then clearly you get massive benefits in productivity. You get people feeling less tired when they're at work. You get people who are relishing the idea that they might be able to get out, pick up a kid from school, drop them to something, and still do the work hours that are involved. So, you know, the Liberals are all over the shop on these issues. I think what's interesting is there was this commitment by the leader that they're going to review all the policies. They're not going to take positions on anything. And here we are a week or so later, different shadow ministers starting to pick policies that they're backing in. So, it looks - it's a shambles.
MAYNARD: Now a sad day for you, Hollie. You've been cleaning out your desk in Canberra?
HUGHES: I have. My office in Canberra has now been cleared. It's yeah. Everything's in boxes.
MAYNARD: When you're a politician, when you're an MP, are you allowed to have an untidy desk?
HUGHES: Oh, I think I mean, for me, personally, it would start with excellent intent that being all tidy and organised and give it about four hours into a sitting week, and I there would be different inquiries or committee reports or folders with meeting briefing notes or whatever it might they started to pile up. So, I think you start the week looking pretty good. You try and finish the week with it tidied up, but the in between, not so good sometimes.
MAYNARD: If you've ever had to clean out a desk, Susan, what's the strangest thing you've ever found?
TEMPLEMAN: Not strange so much, but I was thinking about, Hollie. I'm thinking about the things that would matter to me. I have; I drink my tea out of mugs that my local schools have given me. So, this morning, I had Kurrajong Public School. I've got Penola Catholic College right now. And it's that sort of stuff, I think, if you were packing up a desk, that would really, tug the heartstrings because we love going to our schools, and Hollie would be the same.
HUGHES: Can I tell you there's a present going to a colleague of mine who's unaware? He will get it in the internal mail, but I was gifted some whips for whip cracking.
MAYNARD: Whips?
HUGHES: Yep. To you know, which I cannot do. Years ago, I tried, and I ended up with some nice welts on my face.
MAYNARD: So, you’re telling me there's politicians that are walking around Parliament House cracking the whip?
HUGHES: I had two whips in my office. They're very high-quality whips, and a friend of mine, one of my colleagues in the Senate has one of the more interesting offices of little knickknacks and accoutrements that he's acquired over the years. So, I've written him a little note, and they'll be waiting for him in his inbox. He doesn't know they're coming.
MAYNARD: Well, of course, each party does have, formally, a position of the whip. The person who heads around, just keeps them in line and gets them into the chamber on time. You'll have to give them the whip. Thank you, Hollie. Thank you, Susan.
HUGHES: I’m seeing our whip on Thursday. I did think of keeping one for her.
MAYNARD: Susan Templeman and Hollie Hughes, our straight shooters for a Tuesday afternoon.
ENDS
