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July 28, 2026
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
SENATOR FOR VICTORIA
TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW
2GB MORNINGS WITH MARK LEVY
Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Topics: Jacinta Allan resigns as Victorian Premier, Jess Wilson’s plan for Victoria, Oil refinery, Prime Minister must answer for private dinner at Point Piper, Pauline Hanson
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………
MARK LEVY: Anyway, let's bring in a Victorian we'll talk federal politics with him but I'm sure he's got a view on what's playing out this morning in Victoria. I speak of the Shadow Minister for Defence, Victorian Senator James Paterson. Senator, good morning to you.
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Good to be with you, and I certainly do, mate.
MARK LEVY: Mate, I must admit, as I went to bed last night and I had a quick look at the news, I thought, geez, Jacinta Allan's still digging in her heels. She's got to go and she's made the common sense decision after obviously consulting those in the party and there's going to be a change of Premier and let's hope a change of government in the next few months.
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: That's right mate, I think she and the factional bosses of the Labor Party have woken up to the reality of just how unpopular she and her government is. But the truth is that changing jockey at this point leaves the same corrupt horse, which is a Labor government, which frankly won't change because it doesn't want to change. Institutionally, it prefers a governance model that shovels public money to unions and organised criminals and bikies. And Ben Carroll was the Deputy Premier of this government that allowed that to happen. He sat around the cabinet table for almost a decade with Daniel Andrews while all these decisions were made, including refusing to call a royal commission and I think Victorians will render a judgement on that in November.
MARK LEVY: I tend to agree with you, James. I mentioned the fact that I was in Melbourne earlier this year and I got a sense of how bad it was down there. You're talking to a predominantly Sydney audience at the moment. You're also talking to our listeners on 2CC in Canberra. We've got Queenslanders listening as well. Give us an appreciation of how bad it is in Victoria at the moment
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I think we are now getting, in New South Wales' terms, to a Joe Tripodi, Eddie Obeid kind of level of institutional corruption. Now, no one's gone to jail yet, but if they have a proper royal commission, a real royal commission, not a mickey mouse one to make a political problem go away. And if they gave their anti-corruption commission the powers it has been asking for, for nearly a decade, I think you would find ministers and ministerial offices and possibly public servants implicated in this corruption. I mean, there was a story by Nick McKenzie in The Age yesterday that shows that three years ago public servants allegedly warned the Premier about this corruption. It has been on the front page of our newspapers for two years and in all this time they didn't want to look into it. There's only one reason why they wouldn't want to look into it and that's because they've got something that they don't want the public to know.
MARK LEVY: If there is a change of government, Jess Wilson will be elected Premier of Victoria. Give us a little bit of a history lesson on Jess Wilson. I've got to be honest, James, I don't know her that well, but every time I see her interviewed and when she conducts a press conference, I think to myself, this is somebody who's got a great fist of what needs to change in Victoria. And she looks to me like somebody who would make a good Premier. You obviously agree?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I think the most remarkable thing about Jess is the way in which she's united both the state parliamentary party and the organisational wing of the Victorian Liberal Party, which I think your listeners will know is not an easy feat and has eluded some leaders in the past. But she's managed to do that and that's because she's a lifelong Liberal and she eschews the kind of normal factional divisions in Victoria. She's been described as a Peter Costello-style dry. You know, she really believes in the fundamental values of the Liberal Party, has served in the Liberal Party for all of her adult life. She's got great private sector and public sector experience and although she's only been in the state parliament for three years, I think she's showing incredible drive and determination. As you said, she's visited every corner of the state, eighty-eight seats, dozens of visits across all of those electorates really getting out and listening to Victorians. Because the truth is many of them feel neglected and taken for granted by this government and they desperately want someone to listen to them, develop a plan and deliver it in government.
MARK LEVY: Just before we move on to federal politics, Senator Paterson, it wouldn't be an interview without mentioning One Nation. There's something really extraordinary happening here, isn't there? I mean, federally, you look at the rise of One Nation, but also in the lead up to a state election in Victoria, which is only a couple of months away, we still don't know who their candidates are. They don't have any One Nation candidates or policy in the state of Victoria, despite there being a rise in support for One Nation. What do you make of that?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Look, I think it's a symptom of the fact that Victorians and Australians are annoyed with the status quo. They're angry with the major parties and frankly, they're entitled to be, particularly in a state like Victoria. I mean, this is a government that can't even keep potholes filled on our roads. It is not just dangerous, not just putting Victorians' lives at risk, but it's costing them hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands of dollars every time they blow a tyre, every time they bust a rim. And it's become a symbol of a government that's failed while handing over $15 billion of money to the CFMEU, bikies and organised crime. So I get why people are annoyed. And I get why they're contemplating alternative options. But if they really want change in Victoria or nationally, they need people who are capable of delivering that change. They need a team that's got a plan. I think Jess Wilson's very clearly outlined that in Victoria and we are starting to outline that federally under Angus Taylor as well.
MARK LEVY: James, you've mentioned corruption a couple of times there. Do you support this ICAC inquiry into your Liberal colleagues in New South Wales? Already, one day in, there's been some explosive allegations. We've already had the Shadow Attorney-General, and there's no suggestion that he's done anything wrong, but he stood down because he'll be called to give evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Do you support what's happening in New south Wales at the moment, looking into these reports of this donation scandal?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Well, first of all, of course, if the corruption commission thinks there's something worth examining, they should do that and I always support corruption commissions to do that. But secondly, quite happily, I'm a Victorian and I've tried to stay far out of New South Wales factional politics all my career and I intend to continue.
MARK LEVY: Fair enough too. Look the other issue that I made a big song and dance about late last week and to start this week is the Prime Minister's appearance at this dinner at the Point Piper Mansion of the son of a bloke who's you know facing some very serious allegations from the Australian Tax Office. I thought the silence to one of the questions put to the Prime Minister by David Speers on Sunday's ABC Insiders programme said it all and he was very reluctant and uncomfortable to talk about all of this. Do you think the Prime Minster needs to be open and honest with the Australian people on why he's having dinners at these fancy mansions when there's, you know, allegations being levelled at, you now, family links to the bloke he's having dinner with?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Yes, I think you're right to be concerned about this, and I thought that was an excruciating interview by the Prime Minister on Insiders with David Speers. Even by his standards it was an exceptional level of avoidance and obfuscation. I mean, the line that he attends lots of dinners and that they're private is just ridiculous. He's not a random person in the street and this is not a family barbecue. This is a fundraiser at a home in which the Australian Taxation Office has taken an interest in the past. A family wealth, which the ATO has raised serious questions about the origins of in the past. And we now learn that APRA has also had an interest in the business of this family. So the bare minimum that the Prime Minister is required to do is be transparent about it. What did he know before he agreed to attend this person's home? What did he know before he agreed to have a fundraiser and to receive money from this family? What due diligence did he do? Was he familiar with the ATO's concerns? I mean this does not pass any sort of test and he needs to front up and be honest about it.
MARK LEVY: You've been in politics long enough to know the answer to this question, Senator. What I don't and refuse to accept is that nobody in the Prime Minister's office, keeping in mind he's got more staff than any other Prime Minister in history, I think, surely at some point someone would have said, oh, look, Albo, I don't think you should be going to this dinner. You know, the old man's facing some pretty serious allegations. Or is this all about the potential million dollar donation that was on the table?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Well, this is the problem. I think when there's a lot of money involved, sometimes judgement goes out the window. And the basic thing a prime minister's office should be doing to protect their boss is due diligence. They should be doing the searches. They've got all the resources of the federal government available to them. They can even ask our security intelligence agencies if they have sufficient levels of concern about an individual and whether or not the Prime Minister should associate with them. And I think they need to front up and be honest and say, did they actually do this due diligence? Or were they going fast and loose and putting the Prime Minister in a risky situation without doing their jobs? Or did they just decide, look, it's a bit of a risk but the money's worth it, we need the money, let's just do it anyway?
MARK LEVY: On to this potential oil refinery over in WA, the Prime Minister's unveiled plans for the refinery, though it begins with a $4 million feasibility study to assess its viability. First part of the question is, will the feasibility study, do you think, Senator Paterson, lead to the construction of an oil refineries? And do we need an oil refinery in Perth? I would have thought we needed it in the eastern state somewhere where the vast majority of our population lives.
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I would love to see a new oil refinery built, whether it's on the East Coast or the West Coast. But I seriously doubt the sincerity of the government here. I mean, they're not even allowing companies to drill for oil onshore and get some of the oil resources we have, including in Queensland. And is anyone going to, in their right mind, build an oil refinery under a government that has a policy of net zero? I mean it would be ridiculously expensive to do under that policy. That's why we've said we'll scrap Net Zero and we want to take full advantage of the resources that we have.
MARK LEVY: One last one. We spent the first hour of the show just debating 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. The Federal Court handed down its appeal yesterday dismissing the appeal of Pauline Hanson. What I pointed out was back in 2022 in the hours after the passing of Queen Elizabeth, Senator Mehreen Faruqi chose to publicly condemn the late monarch describing her as 'the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth' which is when Senator Hanson decided to reply to that by saying 'pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan.' Now a lot of my listeners say, well, she's simply replying to a pretty awful tweet in the first place in the hours post the passing of Queen Elizabeth. Were you offended by what Senator Hanson wrote, and do you think we need a closer look at 18C, Senator Paterson?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I wouldn't use language like that myself, but I don't think that the best way to resolve political disputes is through the courts. I've got a long history on this issue of 18C. I worked on it for years before I was in the Federal Parliament. I think the threshold it sets on free speech of making it unlawful to offend or insult someone is too low a threshold and it does impinge on free-speech. And it's up to other colleagues who've got portfolio responsibility to talk about what we would do about it. But frankly, Mehreen Faruqi has choices here. She didn't have to take Pauline Hanson to court over this. She could have just replied as another politician in the spirit of public debate. We accept that things are said about us all the time, that we don't like politicians. If you're not up for that, then you shouldn't be in the Federal Parliament. I mean, I'm probably defamed every day on social media. I don't go around suing people every time someone says something mean about me online.
MARK LEVY: Fantastic. Senator Paterson, keep doing what you're doing, mate. We need some more common sense and some more tough-talking Liberals out there prosecuting the case like you've done this morning. Appreciate your time.
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Thank you for having me.
MARK LEVY: Good on you, mate, there he is, Senator James Paterson, Shadow Minister for Defence.
ENDS