STATEMENT

This evening, I spoke with the Leader of the Federal Liberal Party and Federal Opposition, Sussan Ley, who has asked me to step down from the shadow ministry.

I have accepted the Leader’s decision. And I reiterated my regret in not being clearer in my comments on the ABC last Wednesday.

Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to express to the Leader my disappointment that some colleagues disregarded the key point I was making about the damaging impacts of mass migration. And that some colleagues instead chose to indulge agenda-driven media commentary on this matter.

To reiterate comments from my earlier statement: I never intended to be disparaging towards our Indian community. And I wish no ill-will whatsoever to the Indian community – or any other migrant group.

My concern – as it is for millions of Australians – is Labor’s mass migration agenda and its ramifications. My concern is not migration itself – it’s the magnitude of migration. Migration at the current scale and pace is putting excessive pressures on housing, infrastructure and services. And that makes life tougher for all families. I want to see a better life for all families – whether you’re a migrant, a resident, or a citizen – and regardless of your background.

This has been a disappointing episode for the Liberal Party. I will learn from it. I’m sure others will too. No individual is bigger than a party. And I’m sure events of the past week will ultimately make our party stronger.

Although my time as the Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Defence Personnel has been cut short, it has been an honour to serve in the shadow defence portfolio.

I was incredibly proud to see officers graduate from the Royal Military College, Duntroon – young, patriotic Australians who embody the virtue of service which makes our country tick. I was inspired by the ingenuity of Australian businesses which have such determination and capacity to produce the weapons our country needs – at speed and scale – to help deter aggression and defend our nation’s interests. And I was honoured to meet with the Ambassadors of Israel and Ukraine and express the Coalition’s support for two countries that are on the frontline of the battle of civilisation against barbarity and tyranny.

Thanks also to my defence portfolio colleagues – Angus Taylor, Phillip Thompson and Darren Chester – who are doing a sterling job in holding the Albanese Government to account.

I also want to express my gratitude to the following: to those members of the Indian community who have reached out to me in solidarity; to those colleagues who have stood by side; and to the thousands of Australians who have had my back and sent me messages of support.

Although I will be returning to the backbench, I will continue to speak up on issues which are in the national interest and that are important to millions of Australians.

Be that on Indigenous issues: The plight of those in remote communities. The ongoing romanticisation of traditional culture that inhibits addressing the root causes of Indigenous violence today. The ineffectiveness of bloated bureaucracies that have done nothing to “close the gap”. And the need to push back against activists who, ignoring the referendum outcome and the will of the Australian people, march on with the goals of segregation and reparations under the guise of that Orwellian phrase “truth-telling”.

Or be that on other policy issues: The ramifications of mass migration. The economically immiserating and freedom eroding policy of Net Zero. The indoctrination of children in our classrooms that engenders national guilt and inhibits national pride. The Albanese Government’s determination to move Australia away from a free-market economy and towards a state-directed and controlled economy – having embraced the same statist ideas that have devastated economies and people wherever and whenever they’ve been implemented. And the Chinese Communist Party’s military aggression in our region and its foreign interference in our country that presents a great danger of our age.

Our remarkable country is weaker, worse off and more divided than it has ever been due to the actions of the Albanese Labor Government. In tough times for our nation, it’s a time for courage, for conviction and for truth if we are to reverse Australia’s decline and advance Australia again.

Wednesday, 10 September 2025