EXCLUSIVE - Lucy Zelić reveals Jane Hume was allegedly set up internally to fail in Liberal Party
14:24 Share

Straight shooter for a Wednesday afternoon is the fabulous Lucy Zelich. Hello Lucy. Hello Clinton. I'm very intrigued by this very touching bit of information that you've never taken your ring off in 20 years. No, no, no. So I'm quite anti-jewellery. I have a Fitbit, that's the first watch I've worn in 20 odd years. I don't have any necklaces, don't have any earrings anymore, don't have a belly ring, I don't have any other rings on my fingers.

But when I got married, which is now 20 years ago, yes, I got the wedding ring. And I've never taken it off. And it is... I'm tugging at it now...

It is impossible to take off now. So if I got a bottle of olive oil out and splashed it across your finger, you don't think we could get that off? No way. So when I've been to hospital a couple of times, they just tape it up. They don't take it off. You can't get it off. So this is not going to happen. Love my wife very much. We're going on a cruise to mark our 20th wedding anniversary. Congratulations, by the way, because it's worth commending that. Thank you, Lucy. Cass is working at the moment, so she's not listening. So I can say this. If we did get divorced, and it's not going to happen,

They'd have to chop my finger off. You could not be able to... Well, I guess you could cut through the ring with an angle grinder or something. You would clearly have other options before amputating the finger. Look, I know a lot of men don't wear a wedding ring. No. Because it can... If you work in construction, for instance... Well, my father... That's how my father lost his. Not long after, in fact. Yeah.

He got the ring. And I'd never worn rings before. When I first got it, it was such a pain. Like even doing something basic like mowing the lawn. I just felt it banging against the handle of the lawnmower all the time when I was driving the car. You're changing the gears. Now you'd be very used to it, right? Oh, it's just part of me now. But as I said, you'd have to chop my finger off. Now, today...

You paid very close attention to Susan Lee's first ever address to the National Press Club as Liberal leader. I was really intrigued because I think we've all been waiting to hear from Susan in a more meaningful way. Of course, it's the first time that we've had a Liberal leader address the National Press Club since February 2022, which was the then Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who...

was under a lot of pressure at the time over the COVID vaccine mandates. In fact, at that very address, he had a whole host of anti-vaccine mandate protesters swarming the building. He was having to field a lot of questions around his very disastrous decision to go to Hawaii during the bushfires.

the rising cost of bills, petrol as well, and then surely not long after he was voted out and Anthony Albanese's Labor government was voted in. So I was very intrigued to hear what Susan had to say. Of course, the sentiments of defeat, I guess, are very much sort of the same three years down the line within the Liberal Party because we've just come off this historic belting.

at the election and Susan made it very clear in her speech that they recognised that they had been smashed and we know that because of the figures, right?

I thought her speech overall was very safe and I know that a lot of people have reacted to it already and said that they felt very uninspired and, you know, particularly this issue of quotas and more women in parliament. She acknowledged that that is something that they need to do more within the Liberal Party. Well, this is exactly what she had to say. If some state divisions choose to implement quotas, that's fine. If others don't, that's also fine.

But what is not fine is not having enough women. So just to clarify that, she's not advocating. She's not saying there will be quotas, but she says if the states want quotas, that's OK. But if another state doesn't want quotas, that's OK. It's all OK. It just, you know what I didn't like? Again, and it was very safe. And I think in these early stages of them committing to this review, which she referenced and spoke about in the aftermath of this historic loss, you know,

She didn't come out as strongly on a lot of issues, of course, but it's the straddling of the fence in this instance. You're saying that you need more women to come into the Liberal Party to solve this so-called women problem. You want to see more women aspiring to be within the Liberal Party and to pursue...

a life in politics, but what are you going to do to address that? And I, I, I certainly don't know what the pathway is going forward. I don't have all the answers. I don't agree with quotas, uh, because I think it should be the best person for the job that we prioritize. Uh,

To insinuate that the party lost at this election because they didn't have a woman as a leader or because they didn't have more women within the Liberal Party, I think is very foolish. Was there anything within the speech that you thought, yeah, I agree with that, that shows me a future direction of the Liberal Party? Mm-hmm.

Not really. Wow. If I'm being brutally honest. And again, that's because she played it so safe. The thing that really stuck out to me the most and I think is going to be a great source of tension between the Liberal Party and the Nationals themselves is this issue of net zero. Because she did allude to it. She did reference it. And I think from based on her comments, it's sounding very much like she wants to stay committed to the net zero pathway. But we know the Nats don't want to. Now is not the time to play it safe. No.

The reality is the Liberals, the Coalition, have only got a tiny chance of winning the next election. They're so far behind.

So isn't now the time to actually take some risk as a party, try to make some noise? You mentioned Inspire. Everyone kept commenting during the election campaign how all of our leaders were uninspiring. Isn't now the time to go, you know what, let's throw the rule book out and let's just be a bit out there? Absolutely. But as I said, to be fair to them, I think in the aftermath of this loss and the fact that they have committed to this inquiry, they have to first go through the post-mortem analysis of what it is that they determined to be...

the greatest fault of the party in the campaign. You know, I've spoken to some bigwigs within the party myself, you know, and they certainly had sentiments where they felt like everything was going well for Peter Dutton up until February. And they felt quite positively about how he was tracking in the polls. And when I sort of mentioned to them, you know, this idea of, well, was it the working from home policy that seemed to be an issue for them? They didn't bite that. They didn't believe that. And some of them, in fact, even insinuated that they believed that

that Jane Hume was set up, right, that that was all by design and that was an intention to get her out. Internally. Internally. So there are still a lot of issues that are permeating within the Liberal Party. And it pains me to say it because I've been very transparent as always. Clinton, a lot of our regular listeners know that I've always been a big fan of the Liberal Party, always voted conservative, but this was the first time at this election that I didn't.

because a lot of people are feeling disenfranchised. We need more conviction. If you watch Susan Lee's speech, what do you think of it? Let us know. And do you support quotas? 131873. We are getting lots of messages about men and their wedding rings. We'll come to those next. Lucy Zelich with me. Lucy Zelich is with me. 131873 for straight shooters. Now, I'm getting quite a few messages here, Lucy, about the wedding ring that hasn't come off my finger in 20 years. Patricia has an idea. They can cut the ring off. They can resize it and then clean it.

Would you be interested in that, Clinton? Look, it isn't looking all that flash these days. It could do with a clean. I clean mine quite regularly. Well, that's why I want the Dentagenie prize to go off, because I want to clean my ring. Noel says here, have you thought about losing some weight, Clinton, to get the ring off? I think you're slim enough. Let's leave him alone. I've decided after the cruise, I am starting a proper diet. No, but then what's going to be left of your Clinton? Not much. It is starting after the cruise. Now, Wally watched Susan Lee's address. Hello, Wally.

Yes, good afternoon, Clinton. Good afternoon, Lucy. How are you? Good. I had the opportunity to be at the National Press Club today and I thought her speech and the way she presented was inspiring. Some people would have, but I think it was good to have a female leader of the Liberal Party there

And she talked about a lot of, I think, apart from some of the things about Zira and Ed Zira, I think the issues about women's, what women are faced with domestic violence, how women work in the workplace, the issues about that women face every day came across quite well. And the women that were at my table

as she clapped and i thought that was a good indication that obviously it's resonating now how that goes with social media how does go with main media i'm not sure um there was no killer punch from any of the media questions so i think the thing is if you if you gave her uh out of 10 i'd say seven she came across far better than dutton or morrison or even

You know, she just had the time to talk about women, what women are faced with. And I think that's the biggest problem that we're faced with. We've had male leaders that don't really understand what women are faced with. So it's inspiring in that aspect. I think they're fair points, Wally. But here's the issue that I have. It's very easy for our politicians to stand up and to make these inspiring comments about, we need to see more women in Parliament, we need to protect women and girls from domestic violence and these abusive situations, and we need to do more to support them.

What does that look like in policy form? And these are the things, Clinton, that I want people to start really thinking about more critically. Move past the gender, move past all of those other issues and start to think about what these ambitions look like in policy. What do you think, Wally?

I fully agree. And I don't think the Liberal Party have a policy. They didn't have a policy that went through the election. There are a lot of people, I mean, if you ask people what the Newfoundland policy was, no one could tell you. So when I asked a Liberal Party person, what's your policy, he couldn't tell me. There was nothing. Yeah, and that's their problem. I just want to break into this discussion. I want to cross to Stanton in Surrey Hills where there's a fire. Stanton, what have you seen, mate?

G'day Clinton, yeah, there's a big fire on the floor of the City Mission. Fire police are here now trying to control it, but it looks like it's getting bigger and bigger. Okay, so it's the City Mission building in Surrey Hills. We'll get some details about that off air. We just need to find out the location of that City Mission building. It is on fire at the moment. Fire and Rescue is on the way at the moment. We'll bring you some more details in just a moment.

Just a reminder, major traffic problems, Pennant Hills Road at the moment, right throughout Carlingford, particularly around Shirley Street. That's where the crane at the Merriton Building site is on a lean. So they've had to close Pennant Hills Road both directions, Carlingford at Shirley Street, while the emergency crews attend the crane that's been pushed during the wind. John in Dundas, what were your impressions of Susan Lee today?

Look, I agree. I didn't actually see her speech, but however, I've seen a lot of what she talks about. And Lucy's LHR, fantastic. Absolutely needs someone like her, if not her, that speaks non-populist politics. You know what I mean? Lots of bells and whistles, but no steam is what I see in the current Liberal Party. The left have infiltrated them, and I'm not happy. We're not happy. We feel it's like a dead end. It's the same old stuff over and over again.

And they talk about, thank you for your kind words, by the way, but the issue that I have is that they talk about being an alternative government. What are your alternatives to the existing government? I mean, a lot of us feel like they're on this Labor-lite diet and they're not willing to give it up. And tell us now, don't wait until the next election. Now, a little birdie has told me you are a closet lover of reality television. Ha ha ha!

I'm really glad we're talking about this because there's a lot of shame and stigma that surrounds reality television. And I have to say, the reason I do have a penchant for it is because we operate in some pretty serious news cycles, right, Clinton? And I think we've all been very fatigued by what's occurring in the Middle East and has done for close to two years now. But also in the world of politics, it can all be very dry. I spend a lot of my nights in bed with my kids watching Question Time and listening to press club addresses and all of these things.

So I need an outlet, something mindless where I don't have to think and I can observe a circus of a different kind. And it happens to be the Real Housewives franchise. Please don't hate me for it. Would you? Okay.

Would you put your hand up? You are a very proud housewife, right? Would you put your hand up to appear in the real Housewives of Sydney? Oh no, I enjoy watching other people behave toxically. I don't want to be a part of that particular circus myself. Just an update on the Mission Australia fire. So there's a fire that's broken out. The Mission Australia building, which is in Surrey Hills, the corner of Denham Street, Campbell Street. Stan told us about that a little earlier. I've just been sent some vision. So there is a

fire on the fourth floor of the building there are flames and smoke actually pouring out of one of the windows on the fourth floor there are 36 firefighters on the scene they do have water on the fire hopefully they can actually contain that fire from spreading throughout the rest of the building

Can I also say, driving in this afternoon on the M2, that felt a bit like an extreme sport in the current winds. And, you know, a lot of the cars these days, modern cars, are equipped with all of the sensors. And the wind was carrying me to the point where the sensors started to go off on either side. So just be careful out on the roads, particularly the motorways. Just before we wrap up, I want your thoughts on this as a sporting commentator. And you've spent a lot of time calling big sport.

There has been a World Championship athletics event that's taking place in the Czech Republic at the moment. Chris Robinson is one of the best hurdlers in the world. He won the 400 metres hurdle overnight.

but he did suffer a wardrobe malfunction while running. Chris Robinson absolutely flying down the back straight, just stopping to adjust his shorts halfway through the race. And Chris Robinson strides into that hurdle. What concentration to keep himself going here. Chris Robinson with just a few flights left to go. So he went on and won the race, Lucy. Now, as the excellent commentator there says he's trying to adjust his shorts, I wonder...

I'll leave it up to your imagination of why he needed to adjust his shorts. As he was running, he actually had one hand just trying to keep the shorts in place. How would you handle that? Exactly how this commentator has handled it. I thought she did brilliantly to disguise obviously something that was quite controversial.

Hunting for a lot of viewers to witness. But it's always very challenging in live sport because you're having to react to some pretty hilarious but also serious moments too. So well done to her. Lucy Zilich hosting Michael McLaren's program next week. Oh, wish me luck, mate. I start on Friday. Coming up after the news, the latest on the Carlingford Crane.