Transcript – ABC Radio Gold Coast Drive with Bern Young

Angie Bell MP
Federal Member for Moncrieff

TRANSCRIPT

ABC Radio Gold Coast Drive with Bern Young

26 May 2025

Subjects: Coalition agreement, shadow cabinet, Four Corners

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………………

BERN YOUNG:

Decimated and divided. That’s the state of the Federal Liberal Party according to a Four Corners special tonight with multiple senior Liberal politicians agreeing to talk candidly from conservatives to moderates. The deep divisions will be on show tonight. At a time when any opposition should be preparing to be exactly that, a united and formidable opposition.

The ABC is not the only one with these kinds of headlines. The Guardian was reporting over the weekend that there’s speculation David Littleproud could be rolled as Nationals leader. Today, Nine News is reporting that a reunion of the Coalition appears inevitable while speculating on who will make it to the opposition front bench. With all of that going on, what’s it like to be inside the Liberal Party bubble right now? Well, my next guest can tell you. Member for Moncrieff, Angie Bell, thank you so much for coming into the studio.

ANGIE BELL MP:

Great to be with you, Bern.

BERN YOUNG:

What’s it like to see many of your colleagues airing some of the dirty linen right now?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, I think these are party matters and I don’t think that Gold Coasters or Australians more broadly want to see what goes on inside the party machine. They want us to be representing our communities and they want us not to be talking about ourselves. And so, it’s time to respect everybody’s views and reflect on what happened at the election and get on with it, being a strong opposition, as strong as we can be, with, as you mentioned, the numbers that have greatly diminished. Australians have sent us a very clear message and we need to listen to that. We need to unite as one Coalition and move forward and rebuild to be the best opposition we can to keep the government on track, where possible.

BERN YOUNG:

So unifying is the first step in all of that. Are the Nats and the Libs ready to, you know, kiss and make up for want of a better phrase? What’s going on right now behind the scenes to make that happen?

ANGIE BELL MP:

Well, it is a long relationship. It’s an 80-year-old relationship. There has been a couple of separations along the way and it’s at this time after an election when negotiations take place. And Sussan Ley our new leader, and of course, David Littleproud, the leader of the Nats, are currently in those negotiations and talking through those little speed bumps.

BERN YOUNG:

They’re bigger than little speed bumps though, aren’t they?

You can play it down, but it has to be massive to to have created the chasm that is between the two possible parties uniting, don’t you think?

ANGIE BELL MP:

Well, I think it’s time that both parties took stock of our position, of what’s happened over the last decade or so, and we regroup, we reshape the party, and we come back better and stronger for the future and that’s certainly what I’m focused on.

But right now, Bern, I’m focused on my community here on the Gold Coast, which is so very important. And I would like to thank the good people of Moncrieff for re-electing me for the third time. It’s very humbling. It is something that I don’t take for granted. And I’m very proud to represent our beautiful community on the Gold Coast in Canberra.

BERN YOUNG:

I remember talking to you, it was just before Christmas, in fact, and you sat down here. It was sitting in the same studio, things were very different. I remember you were kind of quite happily pointing out that Anthony Albanese only had 27%, you know, popularity ratings at that time, while the Coalition had 38%.

So I am interested to know what you think went wrong. But I just want to play a couple of the things that your colleagues are saying. Some still in the parliament now, others have left the parliament. George Brandis, a former Liberal Minister, an old hand really, and a big figure in the moderates of the Liberal Party This is what he has told Four Corners.

[EXCERPT]

We alienated women, particularly women who wanted to work from home. We offended public servants. We offended multicultural communities, particularly with this announcement that went nowhere about a referendum on dual citizens. We insulted people who live in the inner cities. We didn’t really have an offering for young people, particularly students. We offended other minority groups as well. And it was almost as if we were running out of new people to offend.

BERN YOUNG:

What do you make of George Brandis’ comments?

ANGIE BELL MP:

Well, I think George is, of course, entitled to his view, as is any party member or former party member as well. But what I would say is, locally here, what I’ve been focused on is exactly those things, the multicultural community here. I’m very strong with my Moncrieff Community Cabinet. I would say I’ve also been very focused on women’s issues. I am a woman in the Liberal Party, and so that is something that I naturally am focused on.

I would also say that I’m focused on young people with the Gold Coast Youth Impact Summit. I’m about to deliver the third one on June the 6th at Sea World Resort. And so, the final registrations, I’ll just do a plug, Bern, there while I can, final registrations are actually closing on Thursday. If you’re aged 15 to 24 and a Gold Coast resident, please go on to Impact Gold Coast and register.

BERN YOUNG:

So given all of that and the fact that your new leader, Sussan Ley has said she wants to rebuild this party as something that reflects and represents modern Australia, which has to take in all of those, if not more categories than even George Brandis has said. What role do you think you can play, Angie Bell? What role do you want to play in the rebuilding of the Liberal Party?

ANGIE BELL MP:

Well, I’d like to play a big role in that, Bern, but that is ultimately up to Sussan Ley, the new leader. She is working through that process and we’re in this period now where I’m still technically the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and the Shadow Minister for Youth and I’m still focused on delivering in those areas particularly for youth here on the Gold Coast because they are our future. I spend so much time in schools speaking to young leaders, grade sixes even, just the other day at St Kevin’s, which is a beautiful local school, and of course in the high schools as well, to make sure that I’m in touch with the young people on the Gold Coast because they are our future and it’s important that we focus on helping them as well.

I think we need to be more focused, more broadly, as a party on young people. Clearly, we need to do more for women and that is something that I hope to work with Sussan on as we move forward.

BERN YOUNG:

Did you have any policies within your area of youth and early childhood education that were buried that you had hoped to bring out in this election? Because now hearing, we’ll hear it on Four Corners tonight, that the Shadow Minister for Education said that her policy was buried by a campaign and a campaign team who became obsessed with certain things and didn’t sell others well enough. What do you make of the policy failures of the Liberal Party?

ANGIE BELL MP:

Sure, I think there were certainly policies that weren’t rolled out.

BERN YOUNG:

Any in your particular area?

ANGIE BELL MP:

But you will not see me tonight on Four Corners. It is not something that I have made comment on. I certainly can say to you, Bern, that I did a large body of work across the portfolio from day one right to the very end and was working daily with the leader’s office on a number of options.

BERN YOUNG:

But you didn’t get to present those to the Australian people?

ANGIE BELL MP:

We announced $100 million over two years for the Raising the Regions Fund, which was part of the $1 billion Future Fund that David Littleproud has been talking about. We had that, which was for innovative childcare models in regional Australia, and that included some Liberal electorates as well.

BERN YOUNG:

Patricia Karvelas, who is going to be presenting tonight’s Four Corners report, says that the camps that she’s spoken to, and she says she’s spoken to a lot of people who aren’t going to be on camera tonight, but there’s plenty who are on camera. They’re basically between the moderates and the conservatives, the moderates talking about the likes of what George Brandis was saying. The conservatives and a leading conservative from Tasmania, of course, is the Senator Jonathan Duniam. He had this to say, just some of what he had to say.

[EXCERPT]

Something went off the rails and I think it was centred in campaign headquarters. We were, frankly, in a very competitive position at the start of 2025 and that completely evaporated to the point where we are at an historic low as an opposition.

BERN YOUNG:

Do you think it was campaign headquarters or the Liberal Party itself that lost you the election?

ANGIE BELL MP:

I think there were a number of things that went wrong, clearly, with the amount of seats that we lost at the election but what’s important is that we have a look at that, we review it as to exactly what went wrong. And I think there were a number of things that went wrong. It wasn’t one particular person or one particular issue. There seemed to be quite a few difficulties throughout the campaign, particularly towards the end and the party will look at that. We’ll review it. Sussan will work with her team that she’s in the middle of appointing right now in order to move the party, bring the party together and move the party forward. And we need to do it together. Absolutely.

BERN YOUNG:

And quickly, because I feel as if, you know, these are the discussions we were having just after the election. And here we are at the end of May still saying we need to talk about, you know, where we went wrong. You still haven’t even had that conversation, by the sounds of things, not in a unified way.

ANGIE BELL MP:

Well, I think first things first, and the Coalition agreement obviously has taken a bit of time to pull together, and our leaders are in negotiation with that. And once that is agreed upon, then we will move, or Sussan will move, towards appointing her ministry. And I think that’s an important, very important process, so that she makes sure she’s got the right people in the right seats on the bus and that we can move together as a united front so that we can not disappoint the Australian people by being the best opposition that we can be.

That needs to be our goal and that is, certainly. Sussan has shown that she can bring the party together in the last week. She has stood her ground when it comes to cabinet solidarity, which is so very important when you’re in a Coalition to have that solidarity. And that was the sticking point with the National Party at the beginning of the week. And so, we need to move on together, unite and be as strong as we possibly can. And we are that in a Coalition.

BERN YOUNG:

Okay, let’s see if the unity happens. You know, there’s no sign of it at the moment and certainly tonight’s Four Corners paints a different picture. But let’s see what Patricia Karvelas has on the program tonight. And let’s see what the fallout from it is. And let’s also see if you end up on the front bench. Do you want to be there again? Have you got particular portfolios?

ANGIE BELL MP:

Well, certainly I want to be part of rebuilding and reshaping the party. I’ll do whatever it is that Sussan asks me to do as my leader and I will do it with gusto.

BERN YOUNG:

Angie Bell is the Member for Moncrieff. Thanks for coming into the studio. Good to talk to you.

ANGIE BELL MP:

My pleasure, Bern.

ENDS.