Overview

• Andrew Hastie posted a high-production Instagram video lamenting the end of local car making, attacking net zero policy and writing, “It’s time to put Australians first.”
• He then rebuked internal critics who briefed newspapers anonymously, calling them “nameless cowards” and “muppets,” and said Gen Z staffers produced the video.
• Some Liberal colleagues, quoted anonymously in The Australian, questioned how the “well produced” video was funded given a modest parliamentary salary.
• Jacinta Nampijinpa Price endorsed Hastie as a future Liberal leader, with Nationals senator Matt Canavan and Liberal MPs including Garth Hamilton and Henry Pike voicing support.
• Ted O’Brien framed the flare-up as healthy internal debate on policy, while Sussan Ley remains leader as the party navigates tensions over net zero and manufacturing strategy.