Australia must reject unconditional free trade and reinvest in key industries to counter the war in Iran, Nationals leader Matt Canavan has announced, putting him in solidarity with the prime minister, who said last week that Australia had been exposed to years of outsourcing.
Canavan will use a speech on Wednesday to call for an “economic revolution” and permanent tariffs to protect domestic producers, dismissing suggestions that his protectionist stance puts him at odds with the Liberal Party and orthodox economist Angus Taylor.
Build on it call on this topic last month for China’s steel tariffs, a Queensland senator says a rethink on industry protection is needed given the provocative trade practices of US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Currently, Australia’s anti-dumping commission can impose restrictions on certain imports, but Canavan said this ad hoc process was too slow to deal with China’s massive government subsidies and should be replaced by a “robust and realistic tax approach”.
“I have been isolated and frustrated these past few years watching Australia pile up debt, destroy our energy advantages and destroy the strong economy we inherited,” Canavan will tell the National Press Club, according to speech notes.
“I am not here to explain what the Liberal Party wants, but I did not run to be the National leader to bring about economic recovery. Our country needs an economic revolution.”
In a speech heavy on policy details, Canavan will set out his “patriotic agenda for Australia’s economic recovery”, which comes a month from the Farrer by-election where the Coalition parties are expected to lose to One Nation or Climate supported by 200 independents.
Albanese, in his press club address last weekhe criticized the existing economic model, which held that “there will always be someone else … who would sell us what we need for cheaper than we can make it”.
The prime minister used new language in his speech about Australia’s lack of oil refining, declaring there was “no safety in maintaining the status quo”.
Canavan echoed those views, emphasizing the convergence between the left and the right who want to see greater spending on industry subsidies, contrary to the wishes of many economists.
“It’s no wonder we’re seeing an increase in support for smaller parties and alternative options. Australians want a shake-up in our politics. Business as usual isn’t working economically, and it’s going to fail politically too,” Canavan said.
Canavan and Albanese, whom Canavan has dubbed ‘captain the status quo’, differ on key questions such as the role of green energy in rebuilding blue-collar industries, and the government’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Major parties are increasingly using direct language acknowledging voter frustration increasingly towards the message of the majority of the people of One Nation.
Canavan’s comments on the need to reform the economic system echo those of Liberal leader Andrew Hastie, reflecting a growing appetite for change among conservatives and a challenge to Taylor’s conventional view.
He suggested the long-awaited anti-immigration policy would put a spotlight on the prospect of Australia’s immigrant population growing at a faster rate than its native-born population.
“Australia is a welcoming country and immigrants have helped build it. But we have maintained our culture and heritage because there have always been many people who grew up here as Australians,” he will say.
“If we don’t raise our birth rate, our Australian way of life is at risk.”
Canavan’s remarks could draw the ire of the Labor Party, which has used the Coalition’s remarks to campaign in immigrant communities. He has been a national leader sharp in calling out Pauline Hanson’s brand of racial politicsbut it acknowledges that a successful Australian cultural project is difficult.
Heralding the “Hawke-Howard era of economic reform” at the top, Canavan will use his speech to argue against the entrenched economic principle of comparative advantage.
“High, comfortable, second-rate political talk as if the worst economic performance since the Great Depression can be solved with one more economic summit, one more ‘energy transition’ push, or one more ‘sensible tax reform’,” he will say.
“Our nation’s leaders remain trapped in the narrow thinking of the old highway of economic rationalism. Many of our leaders grew up in the Reagan-Thatcher revolution. Like aging hippies, they desperately want to return to their youth by doing one more Woodstock economic job.
“Milton Friedman with a microwave will not solve our economic problems”.
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Paul Sakkal is a Senior Political Writer. He previously covered Victorian politics and won the Walkley Award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him safely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect through X or email address.
