E&OE TRANSCRIPT
ABC RADIO SYDNEY
MONDAY, 16 MARCH 2026
 
SUBJECT: GREAT WESTERN HIGHWAY CLOSURE, ONE NATION POLLING, FUEL PRICES
 
HAMISH MACDONALD, HOST: Sam Maiden is here, the political editor for News.com.au and Susan Templeman, the Labor MP for Macquarie. A very good morning to you both.

SAMANTHA MAIDEN, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR NEWS.COM.AU: Good morning.

SUSAN TEMPLEMAN, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MACQUARIE: Good morning.

MACDONALD: Susan Templeman, can I start with you? We’ve been talking about the closure of the Great Western Highway this morning through the Blue Mountains, closed off indefinitely at least three months we’re told. This is your electorate in part, what support is the federal government offering?

TEMPLEMAN: Oh, it is absolutely in my electorate, and we are working really closely to await advice from the New South Wales government about what they need. Now they as we all know they're in what seems to be a very detailed but early stages of identifying the issue. I have already talked to my ministers, both my roads minister and my disaster emergency management minister, because this is not a normal roads issue. This goes beyond that. So, whenever there is a solution from the state government, whatever the next step needs to be to open up this road or to provide a more secure passage, that’s where we will step in and I will be advocating very strongly for assistance and I’m very confident that the government will be there federally to support our New South Wales colleagues.

MACDONALD: This is Catherine King the transport minister, on the possibility of a tunnel.

[AUDIO GRAB]

THE HON. CATHERINE KING, MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The middle bit, which was not funded at all would have required an 11 – kilometre, $14 billion tunnel under the Blue Mountains. No government is proposing to do that.

[AUDIO GRAB ENDS]

MACDONALD: So, Sam Maiden, there's some interesting politics here, right? And I guess it plays into the broader story about the growth of One Nation, and we are hearing this from the likes of Andrew Gee, and Independent in the Central West who says look, governments just treat people in the bush really differently, If you need a tunnel in the city, you’d get it. For us we’re just left to deal with a situation like this.

MAIDEN: Yeah, I mean I think that the government us concerned about the rise of One Nation for a whole bunch of reasons and there are a whole bunch of reasons playing into that, including the fuel crisis. But yeah, look, I mean there is always going to be a debate and discussion about this. I completely vacate the field though to my co-contributor today, it is not my area of expertise.

MACDONALD: Sam Maiden is here from news.com.au and Susan Templeman. I think I can hear you try to get back in, Susan.

TEMPLEMAN: Yeah, look there's a couple of things that I think are really key. This is not something that has been ignored. This is just something that is really tough and I came on the political scene 16 years ago and around about 2013 the New South Wales government at the time put forward a viaduct option that was then dumped by the subsequent state government and then that tunnel idea emerged. But it isn't easy. Clearly now there is total urgency on coming up with a viable plan that will open this road. You had previously Ron Finemore talking about Bell's Line. And, you know, that's been a really vulnerable and fragile road, particularly during the Black Summer or as a result of the Black Black Summer fires and the terrible rainstorms and things that have happened. So in the last term of government, I secured an extra $100 million just to do some really much-needed improvements there to build on what the state government had done. But that's $100 million of federal funding. And state government has gone out to the community with its plans and sought feedback on what it wants to do. Both these roads are really old, they're really vulnerable, and there needs to be... The Great Western Highway is the major crossing at this stage. I have often wondered why we're so determined to go over the mountain rather than around it, but there's probably road engineers who can tell me the reasons why that doesn't happen.

MACDONALD: Yeah, but then you'd have to buy more fuel, and that's getting more expensive, Susan Templeman. 1300 222 702 is the number. Sam Maiden is here from news.com.au and Susan Templeman, the Labor MP for Macquarie. Sam, the polls out this morning show more people trending towards One Nation. I guess that's maybe the least surprising dimension of this. It's the fact maybe that it's starting to pull from both left and right now that seems to be getting some of the headlines. What do the polls show? Can we divine anything fresh from them?

MAIDEN: Well, certainly the pollster in relation to this Resolve poll has been making the observation that perhaps we are seeing something in these polls that we saw basically in the UK. And that was the idea that these fringe parties are basically shearing off from both the left and the right. Now, I think that you can see why the war in the Middle East would be fuelling, boom tish, this, because the looming potential shortages of fuel in regional areas, the price rising obviously already is clearly going to really potentially drive people towards One Nation. So, you know, it's a 2% rise in that vote. It is a huge increase when you think about, you know, they don't really have a lot of paid advertising or anything like that. I think they've been pretty wily in the way that they've promoted themselves. But, you know, I mean, they are kind of, you know, getting this, I don't want to say for free, but, you know, like it's kind of like it's all coincided with the defection of Barnaby Joyce, obviously, as well. But, yeah, like, I think that it is quite fascinating in terms of what's going on. You know, 2% is not huge, but in one poll, it's a big jump.

MACDONALD: Let's talk about fuel. The federal government has relaxed fuel standards to tackle high fuel prices as a result of what's going on in the Middle East. Susan Templeman, this seems to be about the trickiest of problems for any government to solve. What are you hearing from constituents? How angry are people at your government over this?

TEMPLEMAN: Well, people are obviously really concerned about the price rises. I think they are very clearly seeing that it is related to a world crisis in the Middle East that's having flow-on effects, you know, globally. But the feedback about the things that we've done, you know, they've been very welcome doing things like releasing the 20% of the baseline minimum stockholding, the lowering of sulphur. Remembering I live in an area where there are many people who are very strong on environmental issues, but people can understand the need to do things temporarily that will provide reassurance. And I think, you know, we have, we still have very strong fuel stores and fuel supplies, but this is about demonstrating how quickly we will act and move in order to not just provide an increasing, a steady flow of fuel, but to reassure people that we will take the measures needed. So those measures are understood.

MACDONALD: I hesitate to push too far on this because it is incredibly complex territory. But I think it's fair to observe that a lot of Australians don't quite accept that for a with so many of these natural resources, why we're so vulnerable to overseas shocks like this. Why when we have so much of it ourselves, are we at the mercy of the winds when it comes to a conflict like this?

TEMPLEMAN: Well, it's very easy to want to, you know, remind people decisions that were made by previous governments, but we're just getting on with the job of showing people the steps that we'll take. And realistically, the biggest impact for the majority of my electorate, keeping in mind I do have, I've got farmers, I've got producers who want to get stock to various, into the supply chain, but the primary concern is the impact on families and the extra cost. So doing things that keep an eye on that, and that's why the ACCC's role to make sure that motorists aren't really being taken for a ride, so to speak, is absolutely key to what we're doing. And the ability for the ACCC to issue on-the-spot fines for retailers who are going way beyond what the market has is really important. So consumer protections are important for people to know that they are in place.

MACDONALD: Susan Templeman, Sam Maiden, thank you very much.

MAIDEN: Thank you.

TEMPLEMAN: Thank you.

ENDS