Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
TRANSCRIPT
Sky News Sunday Agenda
28 September 2025
Topics: Albanese meeting with Trump, Israeli PM UN comments, PM UK trip, cost of energy, migration.
E&OE
Kieran Gilbert
Let’s go to Perth where Shadow Foreign Minister, Michaelia Cash, joins us. Thanks for joining us in the early hours there in WA. Let me ask first of all, what the Prime Minister said there in Scotland. He says, Australia does pull its weight. He’s got no fears about that upcoming meeting at the White House. Do you agree with him that Australia pulls its weight in the Alliance?
Senator Cash
I think that in the first instance, in relation to whether or not the Prime Minister was trepidatious, Australians don’t expect their Prime Minister to be scared. They expect their Prime Minister to deliver outcomes. This is not about whether or not Mr. Albanese was ever scared to meet President Trump. This is all about delivering for Australia and for Australians, and certainly now if you look at the list of issues that Prime Minister Albanese is going to have to address loudly and concisely with the President, I think now we’re looking at what are the outcomes on AUKUS. Mr. Albanese, will you be able to get a clear statement from the President in relation to the commitment in relation to tariffs? I mean, I just listened to Albanese say: oh, but we’ve got the lowest – well, guess what Mr. Albanese – the Coalition, because of its relationship with the Trump administration, was able to secure an exemption. You also now have the recent announcement, Kieran, of the 100% tariff on pharmaceuticals entering into the United States. I want to know what Mr. Albanese is going to be doing in relation to that, to secure something better for Australians and protect Australian jobs. So I think there’s a lot that Mr. Albanese does need to discuss. And as I said, it’s never about the Prime Minister being scared. Australians couldn’t care less. They expect outcomes. They expect delivery, and that is what we’ll be looking for in relation to this meeting.
Kieran Gilbert
When, when we talk about the pharmaceutical tariffs, how concerned are you by that move from Donald Trump, and is our FTA with the United States worth anything?
Senator Cash
Well, that’s a really good question, and certainly we are incredibly concerned with the announcement. And I think what this really does highlight though, is, you know, we’ve got a date for a meeting – big tick, Mr. Albanese. Even though you were highly critical when we were last in office in relation to former Prime Minister Morrison, securing a meeting with then President Biden, which he did at the White House and in New York. So we’ve got a date, but this is the issue. Kieran, the relationship in Washington is not strong, and because it’s not strong, Mr. Albanese is not able to pick up the phone like other world leaders are able to do, and speak directly to the US President about the impact of his announcements on Australia. When you look at Sir Keir, I think it is a great contrast between Mr. Albanese and Sir Keir. You could hardly say that Sir Keir Starmer and President Trump are on the same page, could you when it comes to their politics? But Sir Keir has actually put that above a working relationship with President Trump. He has a healthy relationship. He has now met with him on three occasions. Even President Macron is able to pick up the phone. Kieran to President Trump. So I do have real concerns about the impact of this decision, in particular on Australian jobs, but I think the wider concern that the Coalition and indeed Australians should have is just how little of a relationship we have with Washington, and that is solely down to the fault of Mr. Albanese putting that relationship on the back burner, or even worse, Ambassador Rudd clearly not doing his job.
Kieran Gilbert
Isn’t it likely that will change over the next month, with that October 20 meeting at the White House and the Prime Minister his interview with Andrew, saying repeatedly they’ve had very warm conversations, four of them.
Senator Cash
Oh, well, if they’ve had very warm conversations, so what? That’s even an even worse indictment on Mr. Albanese, because he has achieved nothing as a result of those conversations. In fact, I would put it to you that every time Mr. Albanese says something’s happened with the White House, I’ve had a warm conversation – in the next breath, President Trump announces something detrimental to Australia. So again, Mr. Albanese was always full of criticism when he was in opposition. Well, guess what? By his own standard, now, Mr. Albanese has failed Australia. He is the one now embarrassing us on the world stage. It is almost one year since President Trump was elected to office, and the most we got out of last week at the United Nations was a quick selfie. I mean, that was almost an embarrassment for Mr. Albanese. We now have a date. That is a good thing. It’s taken way too long. But the issue that Mr. Albanese now faces is that there is a very, very long list of grievances that he not only needs, Kieran to raise with President Trump. Raising them is actually the easy part. It is now the outcomes that he secures on behalf of Australia when he walks out of that meeting. And as I said, the clear contrast with the former Coalition government, when we were in office and the Trump administration was there for the first time, was that we had a working relationship with the Trump administration, and as a result of that working relationship…. (interrupted)
Kieran Gilbert
Isn’t Trump 2.0 more aggressive on tariffs?
Senator Cash
So what? What does that mean? He was aggressive on tariffs the first time round, and because of the working relationship that the Coalition had with Trump, mark one, we managed to secure exemptions. Mr. Albanese has turned a blind eye, quite frankly, to Washington and to the relationship. As commentator after commentator have said, he has basically turned away from the relationship with the United States the bedrock of Australia’s security, and as a result, Australians are paying the price. As I said to you, Kieran, you just need to compare the relationship that other prime ministers, not of President Trump’s political persuasion, have with him. Sir Keir being the obvious one, – the Prime Minister’s there in the UK at the moment with Sir Keir – Sir Keir, three meetings. Can pick up the phone, even President Macron, again, hardly of President Trump’s political persuasion, but again, even he can pick up the phone, it is an indictment on Mr. Albanese and, quite frankly, Ambassador Rudd that they have not been able to forge a similar relationship, regardless of their politics.
Kieran Gilbert
The Prime Minister has been criticized by Sussan Ley for attending the ALP, sorry, not the ALP, the Labour conference in the UK. He has just said to in that interview this morning, he’ll be meeting with other ministers there, including Prime Minister Starmer, and discussing substantive issues like AUKUS. Isn’t that appropriate?
Senator Cash
The Prime Minister is in the United Kingdom, I thought, as the Prime Minister of Australia, he is not there as the leader of the Labor Party. The Labour conference in the United Kingdom Kieran, is a domestic political event put on by the Labour Party. If Mr. Albanese wants to turn this into a little trip where he basically now goes to functions that are of a domestic political nature and are directly related to the Labor Party, well, he needs to be upfront about that and the cost to the Australian people. This is where Albanese and his previous statements when he was in opposition are starting to catch up with him. He criticised Scott Morrison for doing a similar thing with the Republicans. Well, guess what? You don’t get to say one thing when you’re in opposition and then just blow off the questions when you are in government. You don’t get to have double standards, Mr. Albanese. And double standards is what we are now seeing from this Prime Minister. You are there – in your own words when Scott Morrison was our Prime Minister – you are there as the head of our country, not as the head of the Australian Labor Party. So why don’t you try behaving like the head of our country, as opposed to turning this into a domestic political exercise.
Kieran Gilbert
Michaelia Cash, the Israeli Prime Minister has said at the UN over the last couple of days that nations caved on the issue of Palestine. He said, when the going got tough, you caved. Instead of fighting the terrorists who murdered many of your citizens, you are fighting us. It appears increasingly, though, regardless of your view on Benjamin Netanyahu, his government, is becoming more and more isolated internationally. Is it not?
Senator Cash
Well, let’s be very clear. I think the speech that Benjamin Netanyahu gave was one of great moral clarity. He spoke directly to the people of Gaza. He spoke directly to the hostages, and he called on Hamas to lay down its arms, release the hostages and end the war. Isn’t that what we all want Kieran? But I think also he gave a very, very clear message to Western nations. They hate us as well, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, that’s who Israel are fighting, haters of the West. And I think it was really interesting to see that the New Zealand government, Sir Winston Peters, in his address, made it very, very clear that they will not be recognising Palestine, the State of Palestine, whilst the terrorists are still in charge. I also, you know, I do listen to what the United States says on this Kieran, and this is the reason why. Unlike Mr. Albanese in Australia, the United States are directly involved in the peace process. They are directly trying to secure a negotiated ceasefire, the release of the hostages and a pathway forward. And that’s what President Trump was doing at the UN. So whilst Mr. Albanese was standing up, issuing his big statement, which was all symbolism, there was nothing of substance there. There was nothing that said: here is a concrete plan to take a step forward towards peace. That’s what President Trump was doing. I mean, as Marco Rubio said, again, Marco Rubio directly involved in trying to get a positive outcome for both Israel and the Palestinian people. The day France stood up and said they were recognising the state of Palestine was the day Hamas walked away from the peace negotiations. So Mr. Albanese, all substance, all symbolism, sorry, all symbolism and no substance. The substance I want to see is President Trump negotiating to get what we all want, and that is an end to this war, a return of the hostages and a guarantee of Israel’s security going forward.
Kieran Gilbert
The comments by, just finally if we bring the focus back home, the comments from your WA colleague, Andrew Hastie, on the Liberal Party, its direction, causing a lot of discussion internally and externally. Can I get your thoughts? Do you agree with him on the substance of what he’s saying about manufacturing, about migration levels?
Senator Cash
I think we all agree with Andrew Hastie and Sussan Ley when it comes to Labor’s failure on migration. I mean, this is a government that has out of control migration numbers, and I can tell you that is something that absolutely resonates in the street with the Australian people. They know because Labor lost control of our migration program, it is putting direct negative pressure on housing. Australians cannot get into houses Kieran, and they know that is a direct causal link to the number of immigrants that Mr. Albanese has brought in. So yes, we all agree with those comments. And certainly in relation to manufacturing, the point that Mr. Hastie was making is that under Albanese, there is nothing that we make in this country. If you want to be a sovereign nation going forward, you need to think about your settings, and in particular those settings when it comes to access to cheap energy. If you don’t have access Kieran to cheap energy, guess what? You’re never going to make something in this country. So I think Sussan Ley has been very upfront. She herself has said robust debate is good, and that is what we are having in the Liberal Party on the issues that actually matter to the Australian people.
Kieran Gilbert
Does Andrew Hastie’s intervention – you know the way he’s doing it? Does it risk ongoing disunity within your party?
Senator Cash
I think Sussan’s made it very, very clear – healthy, robust debate is what our democracy needs. Because let’s face it, people are being silenced under the Albanese government. You do not get to have an opinion. You get told what is happening. Well, it’s the opposite. In the Liberal Party, we are very comfortable with our members having healthy, robust debate, and I would hope the Australian people back us in on that. Let’s talk about the issues that matter.
Kieran Gilbert
Does it undermine Sussan Ley at all?
Senator Cash
Let’s be very clear. Sussan Ley is the leader of the Liberal Party, full stop. That is it. Sussan Ley backs healthy robust debate, and that is what we are having on behalf of the Australian people, in particular, in relation to two major failures on behalf of Mr. Albanese that are having a direct negative impact on the Australian standard of living. The first being their total, complete and utter failure to control migration numbers, and the second being, their failure to tell Australians the actual cost of their energy policies. But as Chris Uhlmann said, they’re putting us on this is, Mr. Albanese, a pathway to poverty. Well, we are not going to stop talking about those issues Kieran, because the Australian people deserve a robust opposition, and that is what they will get under the Liberal Party and the National Party.
Kieran Gilbert
Shadow Foreign Minister Michaelia Cash, thank you for your time as always, appreciate it.
Senator Cash
Great to be with you.
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