Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
TRANSCRIPT
Channel 7 Sunrise
30 July 2025
Topics: Australia-US relationship, US tariffs, welcome to country ceremonies
E&OE
Natalie Barr
For their take, let’s bring in Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and shadow Foreign Minister Michaelia Cash. Good morning to you. Clare, we’ll start with you. This whole time, our government’s argument has been nobody has had a better deal than Australia at 10%. If they raise it to 15 or 20, we won’t have the best deal. How are you going to avoid it?
Clare O’Neil
Well, good morning Nat, and I just bring you back to the facts as they are today. Australia does have the best deal of any country in the world in terms of its trade arrangements with the US, and that’s appropriate. We’ll continue to push to the US government that we have 70 years of fast friendship here. It’s not just in our trade relationship. We have really warm people-to-people links. We’ve supported each other in different defence arrangements over that 70-year period. We deserve and have today the very best and most beneficial arrangements. At the end of the day, though, Nat, we manage this in a really calm and considered way that you see our government conduct foreign affairs. We want to get the very best deal for our citizens, and that’s what our government’s working towards every day.
Natalie Barr
So Michaelia, is that a good thing to do? We just assume we’re 10%, we’re going well at the moment, and it should keep going?
Senator Cash
What a failure on behalf of the Australian people. I mean, the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Albanese, is becoming the Seinfeld Prime Minister. He’s a show about nothing. It’s been 267 days since President Trump was elected, and to date, Mr. Albanese has failed in getting a face-to-face meetings. Other countries are getting meetings. They are successfully negotiating trade deals that benefit their countries. We now hear it could go 15%, it could go 20%, so Mr. Albanese needs to stop being the Seinfeld Prime Minister. Stop being a show about nothing. Step up. Get a meeting with President Trump and advocate on behalf of Australians. And I just remind the Australian people that when the Coalition was last in government, we successfully negotiated a 0% tariff.
Natalie Barr
It was a different time. Mr. Dutton did admit he didn’t even know Trump.
Senator Cash
So what Nat? So what? It was a 0% tariff. That is what we negotiated. It is as simple as that.
Natalie Barr
So okay, Clare, the opposition saying they could have had a better deal. Do you really think that sitting and assuming that 10% is going to stay, is a great plan by your government?
Clare O’Neil
Well, that’s not at all what the government’s doing, Nat, and I think those comments there from Michaelia are really rude and disrespectful and to be totally honest, the complete wrong approach that we should be taking. We’ve got to have a ‘Team Australia’ view here. Michaelia and I may have our different points of view about things that should happen here in our domestic environment, but my hope always for Australian politics is that when we project to the outside world, that we stand as one. Now we’ve got a really clear goal here. We’ve got to be calm about this. We’ve got to work through all the appropriate channels to get the very best deal for our citizens, and that is what we have today. We have the lowest arrangement of any country in the world. We expect that to continue, and we deserve for it to continue, because Australians are always there for the United States, when they ask for our help and our partnership on things we do so very willingly, because we’re friends, and that’s got to be reflected in our trade arrangements. Now we’ll manage this, not with if you know some of the kind of flamboyant language that Michaelia has used there. We’re going to manage it in a calm and considered way. That is how our government has restored our relationship with China, with France, with all of the countries that were left by the wayside by the opposition. We’ll take a really considered view. That’s how we’ve got the best deal so far, and that’s how we’ll continue that work.
Natalie Barr
Clare, if the UK and Japan and the EU have already secured deals of 15, Trump’s saying it could go up to 20, the writing’s on the wall, isn’t it?
Clare O’Neil
Well, Nat, you know, the President does make different comments about tariffs and trade as we go and we manage those sort of differences of view that are being expressed. What we know is that right now, we’ve got the best deal of any country in the world, and the way for us to deal with these things is to do that fantastic work that our Prime Minister, that Penny Wong, our Foreign Minister do, that our defence minister, Richard Marles does in that global stage. If there’s anyone in the country that can deliver a great outcome for us, it’s these three people working with our trade minister, Don Farrell, so you know, they’re doing a fantastic job. They’ve already got us the best trade deal, and that long history of friendship should be reflected by continuing that arrangement.
Natalie Barr
Michaelia, how would you guys have done it?
Senator Cash
Well, in the first instance, we wouldn’t have said insulting comments the Prime Minister, Senator Wong, Mr. Rudd, about the former President Trump, who is again now the President of the United States. I think there is a huge problem in the personal relationship because of the attitude taken by now members of the Albanese cabinet. But not only that, we would actually show up. I mean, Clare talks about a strategy of hope, a strategy of ‘wow, we’ve got the lowest of other countries and Australians should be happy with that.’ Where is the action on behalf of Australians? Where is the sense of urgency that we are going into bat for our country? I mean, Clare’s answer is, well, it could go to 15, it could go to 20, but the good news is, if it stays at 10, we’ve done well again. Hope is not a strategy. This is now a second term government. The issue I have with this government is that they are putting the relationship with the United States on the back burner. You know, in 2025, Australia’s influence in Washington should be greater than ever. There is now a growing list of concerns between the United States and Australia. We should be backing in the United States. I mean, they are, let’s face it, your viewers would know this. They are the bedrock and the foundation of our security. They are the leader of the free world. Let’s step up, take action and go into bat for Team Australia.
Natalie Barr
OK, well, Clare says they’re working behind the scenes, so I guess we’ll just have to see. Moving on now. WA’s opposition leader Basil Zempilas has declared his support for welcome to country ceremonies and indigenous flags after the state’s Liberal branch voted in favor of ditching them at official events. Mr. Zempilas cited the party’s major defeat at the federal election for his stance. Michaelia, you were part of that vote to scrap welcome to country. As we know, you’re very passionate about this. But to Basil’s point, why are you opposing this? When you took this policy to an election, Dutton was very clear on it, and look what happened. You lost massively.
Senator Cash
Well let’s be very clear, Basil Zempilas is entitled to his opinion. I’m entitled to mine. And my position has always been, I listen to Senator Nampijinpa Price. Welcome to country ceremonies and acknowledgements, they are now overdone. They have become tokenistic. I have, in my entire career in this Parliament, always focused on practical policies that improve the lives of our most disadvantaged in Australia. I will never resile from focusing on practical policies that improve the outcomes of those who are most disadvantaged and not tokenistic gestures. And as for the flag, I am proud. You know, I drove up to Parliament House this morning, the flag that flies proudly on the top of Parliament House Australia. It is our national Australian flag, I believe, like Andrew Hastie, a former member of the SAS who fought for the freedoms Nat, that you Clare and I celebrate, in particular as women in this country, every single day. He fought against the enemy for our freedoms under the Australian flag. He’s – we have members of the armed forces. They died for this country under the Australian flag. I am a firm believer, and I back in Andrew Hastie every step of the way, in particular, as someone who fought and was prepared to die for the freedoms that I have. This country should be united under one flag. That is my firm belief.
Natalie Barr
Clare, as far as welcome to country ceremonies go, is there any way that you think that we should reduce them, or have we got the mix right?
Clare O’Neil
Nat, can I just say really respectfully, our government is focused on the things that families at home are worried about most: the cost of living, issues they’re having with housing, and we’ve got a really clear plan to deliver cheaper medicines, protect Medicare and make sure that Australians are seeing their government deal with the things that matter most to their lives. And we’ve got the Liberals over here having fights about welcome to country and flags. These are ideologies, you know. And well, that is a ridiculous statement. That is a ridiculous statement. The point I am making is that our government is focused on the cost of living, on housing, on the things that are most important to ordinary people. And the Liberals are having a fight about their stance on welcome to countries. And I’m just, I’m not going to get into it. We’ve got a really clear plan that our government is putting in place today. We’ve got the Communications Minister making really important announcements about the protection of Australian children, and that is really firmly where the government’s focus is.
Natalie Barr
Yes, and we will have her on a bit later to talk about the ban on under 16 s on social media. Thank you very much for your time. We’ll see you next week.
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