Protect Our Way of Life and Restore Our Standard of Living

At this important moment for the Liberal Party and our nation, I want to make it very clear: we are united, we are focused, and we are determined to restore Australia’s promise.

The election of Angus Taylor as Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party marks a new chapter.

Leadership transitions are part of a healthy and democratic party. I thank Sussan Ley for her service and commitment.

I am confident that under Angus’s leadership we will build a strong, disciplined and values-driven team focused squarely on the Australian people.

Our task is clear. We must protect Australians’ way of life and restore their standard of living.

Across Western Australia and around the country, families are working harder than ever but feeling like they are falling further behind.

The cost of living continues to bite. The dream of home ownership is slipping away for too many young Australians. Small businesses are struggling under rising costs and increasing regulation.

At a time of global uncertainty, Australians deserve leadership that is steady, principled and focused on their future.

As Liberals, the values that guide us are unwavering.

We must unapologetically defend Australian values - the belief in freedom, responsibility, reward for effort, and the rule of law.

We want our country to once again be defined by opportunity and aspiration, by freedom and safety.

Australia should be a place where if you work hard, you can get ahead; where families feel secure; and where communities are strong and united.

We are determined to restore Australia as a country where life is affordable - where our kids can buy a home, where you can raise a family with confidence, and where there is a genuine fair go once again.

Home ownership must be re-established as the centrepiece of the Australian dream. All Australians, especially young Australians, deserve the stability that comes from owning a home and the opportunity it provides.

That is not an outdated ideal; it is central to who we are as a nation.

We stand for an immigration policy that is in the interests of Australians and that puts Australian values at its centre.

Migration must support our economic needs and social cohesion - not undermine them.

We stand for lower inflation, lower interest rates and lower taxes. We understand that government must live within its means so Australians have the means to live.

Responsible economic management is not an abstract concept - it directly affects the price of groceries, the size of a mortgage repayment, and the confidence of a small business to hire another worker.

Australians need an energy policy based on common sense - not Labor’s flawed Net Zero ideology.

We will get rid of Labor’s carbon taxes that are pushing up the cost of food, cars and housing. We reject policies that make life more expensive while doing little to strengthen our economy or energy security.

We will ferociously fight Labor’s bad taxes including a tax on your home, a tax on your super, and a tax on you and your children’s future. Australians should not be punished for working hard, saving diligently or planning for retirement.

We will reduce financial pressures for families, expand childcare choice and give children the best start in life, not force every family into a universal, one-size-fits-all system. Families know what is best for their children, and government should empower them, not dictate to them.

And in an increasingly uncertain world, we will properly fund our Defence Force to deter threats and aggression. A strong Australia is a secure Australia. National security is not optional - it is fundamental.

As Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, I am ready to do everything possible to put the Coalition in the strongest position to defeat the Albanese Government at the next election.

We will hold Labor to account every single day on its economic mismanagement, its failure to ease cost-of-living pressures, and its policies that undermine aspiration and enterprise.

But more than that, we will present a clear, positive alternative grounded in our enduring Liberal values.

Your support, your advocacy and your commitment matter more than ever.

Together, united behind Angus Taylor and our Federal team, we will take the fight up to Labor and offer Australians the principled, practical and forward-looking leadership they deserve.

We are the Party of opportunity, aspiration and responsibility. And we are ready to serve.

 

The ISIS brides’ debacle

The first task of any government is simple and fundamental: to keep Australians safe and protect our way of life.

At a time of heightened global instability and very real security threats, that responsibility is not theoretical - it is immediate. It requires clarity, resolve and the willingness to use every lawful tool available to protect our borders and our communities.

That is why the Albanese Government must come clean with the Australian people about the cohort of ISIS-linked individuals currently seeking to leave camps in Syria.

Australians deserve straight answers to straightforward questions:

• Are these ISIS brides coming back to Australia?

• Why were their passports or travel documents processed?

• What specific security assessments have been or will be undertaken?

These are not political questions. They are matters of national security.

These individuals chose to associate with a declared terrorist caliphate - an organisation responsible for unspeakable brutality, genocide and attacks inspired around the world. That ideology is utterly incompatible with the values Australians hold dear: the rule of law, democracy, equality between men and women, and freedom of religion.

Australians expect their government to protect our borders and our communities from individuals connected to extremist violence.

The door must be shut to unmanaged, uncontrolled returns.

We have seen in the past where individuals linked to ISIS pose very real threats.

The recent Bondi attack was a devastating reminder that the threat of ISIS-inspired extremism is not theoretical - it is lethal and ongoing. We cannot afford to repeat past mistakes by being passive or complacent.

The Coalition has long advocated an end to Labor’s policy of self-managed returns for ISIS brides.

Leaving these matters to chaotic circumstances overseas, while claiming “no involvement”, is not a strategy, it is an abdication of responsibility.

Just months ago, two women and four children arrived in Victoria after leaving Syrian camps. The government claimed it had no involvement, yet Home Affairs had known of their plans since June.

Passports were issued. They boarded commercial flights. They arrived without pre-entry conditions, without security monitoring frameworks in place, and without community consultation.

That was uncontrolled return masquerading as “no assistance”. It cannot happen again - particularly not with a cohort of 34 individuals.

If only one of the 34 warrants a Temporary Exclusion Order, as the Minister has suggested, that raises profound questions about the Government’s risk assessment process.

All 34 individuals are in the same declared area, supporting the same listed terrorist organisation, the same organisation whose ideology has inspired attacks on innocent Australians.

It defies common sense to suggest that only one of this cohort could meet the legal threshold.

Parliament passed the Counter-Terrorism (Temporary Exclusion Orders) Act in 2019 precisely for situations like this.

Temporary Exclusion Orders (TEOs) allow the Minister for Home Affairs to prevent a person from returning to Australia for up to two years unless they first obtain a return permit with strict conditions.

The legal threshold is deliberately low. The Minister need only suspect on reasonable grounds - not prove beyond doubt - that issuing the order would substantially assist in preventing terrorist training, support for attacks, or resources reaching terrorist organisations.

For individuals who lived inside an ISIS caliphate, were married to ISIS fighters, and have spent years in camps housing ISIS families, the suggestion that this threshold cannot be met is extraordinary.

If these 34 individuals do not meet it, who possibly could?

Temporary Exclusion Orders do not permanently exile Australian citizens. They enable managed, controlled returns under strict conditions designed to protect the community. They allow authorities time to:

• Complete comprehensive security assessments

• Coordinate with law enforcement on potential criminal charges

• Establish appropriate monitoring and de-radicalisation programs

• Consult with affected communities, including victims of ISIS atrocities

• Impose strict, individualised return conditions

This is not about denying citizenship rights. It is about responsibly managing those rights to protect other Australians.

There is also the question of passports. Under Section 14 of the Australian Passports Act, the Minister may refuse to issue a passport if a competent authority suspects on reasonable grounds that a person is likely to engage in conduct prejudicial to Australia’s security or linked to terrorism-related offences.

These powers exist. They were legislated for exactly this purpose.

The Prime Minister has said, “if you make your bed, you lie in it.” If he truly believes there should be consequences for supporting a genocidal terrorist organisation, then he should ensure that any return is conditional, monitored and controlled - not a walk off a commercial flight into Australian suburbs without oversight.

The Opposition holds serious concerns that the Minister is not sufficiently prioritising national security.

The Government’s excuses, equivocation and weakness on this issue have reached new levels of absurdity. But this is not merely political spin - it is a dangerous abdication of the Government’s responsibility to protect Australians.

The path forward is clear. Temporary Exclusion Orders should be issued for each relevant individual. The law is clear. The threshold is low. The powers are available.

I will continue to press the Government to use every legal mechanism Parliament has provided to safeguard our nation. Our duty is to the Australian people, to their safety, their security, and their way of life.

National security must always come first.