High Steaks: Federal deputy opposition leader Ted O'Brien
Ted O’Brien firmly believes nuclear, despite being politically difficult, is worth fighting for. WELCOME TO HIGH STEAKS
We’re leaving the restaurant on a busy Friday when six older gents bail up Ted O’Brien.
Steaks devoured and red wine glasses filled, they’re in jolly spirits, and one has a burning question for the federal Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Treasurer.
“What’s your position on energy because I don’t know if you’re Left or Right?” he says.
O’Brien is quick off the mark.
“Let me tell you,” he replies, moving to stand by their table.
He explains it’s a mix of gas, coal and nuclear, the mention of the latter causing one man to punch the air with a double thumbs up.
These blokes are friendlies – one is the son of a former prominent National Party ¬politician – so it is telling that Coalition messaging appears to be failing to cut-through with the faithful.
It’s been nearly three weeks since the Coalition announced it would dump the net zero by 2050 target backed by Labor, so maybe these guys haven’t been paying attention. Nonetheless, they are seeking clarity.
O’Brien and I meet on December 5 at Black Hide in Petrie Terrace and begin by talking about the May 2025 election, which was catastrophic for the Coalition and its then leader Peter Dutton.
Polling results suggest another drubbing come 2028, particularly under Opposition Leader Sussan Ley – which begs the question: would her deputy to a better job?
O’Brien, a 51-year-old father of three who lives in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, where he’s Member for Fairfax, concedes the party’s optics aren’t great.
“I’m philosophical in that we are going through a stage we just have to see through,” he says.
“The temptation for some is to pin things on Peter Dutton. But I make no criticism. He provided us with extraordinary leadership. I think he’s a man of great honour and duty, and would have made a great prime minister.”
O’Brien describes the past seven months as “challenging” and a time to “be humble and really debate some serious issues”.
“So much as it has looked messy at times, give me the Liberal Party any day because we at least have these debates,” he says.
He says Labor ministers are not allowed to speak their mind.
“Everything has to go through the Prime Minister and to me, that’s just despicable.
“Debate is exactly what’s needed and the biggest one so far has been energy. It’s complex, and Labor is botching it. We’re getting poorer and weaker as a country.”
It was clear from this year’s campaign that nuclear was on the nose with many Australians – perhaps the policy was poorly communicated, I suggest – but O’Brien is resolute.
“Hand on heart, I still believe nuclear is in our national interest, even though it is difficult politically,” he says.
“You’re right, we didn’t sell it well enough, and I certainly learned lessons from that.
“There were some aspects of the policy itself which are now under review, including the proposal for government ownership, and I think we allowed Labor to get away with defining our policy.
“Labor told a blatant lie about the cost of our program, and the lesson for us is to not allow them to do that.
“Our figure was $110-120bn; ironically, Labor’s cost $640bn, it’s in their spreadsheets.”
O’Brien, also deputy leader of the Liberal Party, frames the nuclear debate as a necessity.
“The motion for nuclear came from my branch; it was fought and carried at convention in Queensland,” he says.
“I was the one who went and saw Scott Morrison and said, we need to do an inquiry on nuclear. He allowed me then to chair that, and nuclear was the first conversation I had with Peter Dutton.
“We must be prepared to fight for it.”
Even when that fighting plays out in public.
“I get that some people say there has been some division, some different views. Of course there are different views. Thank God for that!,” he says.
“The alternative is that one person decides the policy and when that happens, you are inevitably too poll driven – and your job as a politician is to have the courage to move the dial of the polls, not follow the polls.”
When asked about the perception Sussan Ley is just keeping the seat warm, with Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor touted as successors, O’Brien says: “I don’t believe there is anybody in waiting.
“Any number of my colleagues have the capacity to lead the party, but that time is not now or any time soon. We have a leader and we need to back her all the way.”
As for O’Brien’s own future: “You’ve always got to focus on the job you have, and my ambition is to be Australia’s next treasurer.”
The youngest of nine children, O’Brien started his working life as a trainee baker in the Wooloowin test-kitchen of Defiance Mills – a company started by his Irish immigrant great-grandparents Patrick and Ellen O’Brien in Toowoomba in 1898.
“I was so little I had to stand on a chair to reach the bench, but I did OK at making bread (for the company’s then brand, Cobbity Farm),” he says.
From age 13, O’Brien boarded at St Joseph’s Nudgee College in Boondall – 15 minutes from his family home – and went on to become school captain.
“I wanted to board,” he says. “Because I had so many older brothers and sisters, and they’d have mates over, I was constantly surrounded by people from the moment I woke up.
“So when they left home or were out doing things I began feeling like an only child, so for me boarding school was great.”
O’Brien lived on campus again while studying economics and politics at The University of Queensland, becoming president of Leo’s College.
He also holds a Master of Economics from the London School of Economics, an MBA from University of Melbourne, and studied Mandarin Chinese at the National Taiwan Normal University.
Having spent more than two decades in the corporate world – including living in Asia for Defiance – O’Brien says he’s a better politician for it.
And he has his late father Tom to thank.
“I remember telling Dad I wanted to go into politics after finishing my undergrad and he said, ‘If you do, you have our support … and you’ll probably win, but if you lose your seat after maybe 10 years, you’ll be in your early 30s so what do you do then? The only thing you’ve got behind you is being a politician’.
“That was great advice. A lot of politicians have no world experience. My dad has passed away but to this day he is in my ear. You know, I still carry his funeral card in my wallet.”
As well as his parents – mum Bernice is 88 – O’Brien credits his wife Sophia for backing his political journey.
“Sophia, well, she’s just unbelievable. I don’t know how anyone does politics without an amazing partner,” he says.
“There are a lot of easier jobs that have a lot more money, candidly. So if you’re not in public office to genuinely drive change to improve Australia, find something else to do.
“Very rarely do I have a week when I’m not travelling but I try to be home by Friday because that’s pizza night so my kids know, Dad’s home.”
O’Brien and Sophia, who has a PhD in international law and lectures at the University of the Sunshine Coast, have children Alexandra, 13, Henry, seven, and Edwina, two.
“Our little darling was in bed with us last night and just kept kicking me in the face so I’ve been awake since 2am,” he smiles.
“And you thought politics was brutal?” I say, and O’Brien laughs big.
He and Sophia met at the Story Bridge Hotel in Kangaroo Point on a Saturday night out, and wed in 2006.
They spent their first year of married life door knocking in the federal seat of Brisbane, claimed by Labor incumbent Arch Bevis.
Five years later, having already moved to the Sunny Coast, O’Brien won LNP preselection for Fairfax, but lost by 53 votes to Clive Palmer in 2013.
He tried again in 2016 and won convincingly.
In 2019 O’Brien was appointed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to lead the Commonwealth in promoting Brisbane’s pitch for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
No secret in political circles is that then-Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk initially was dead against the bid.
“The state government took a lot of coaxing to get over the line, but once it was won, they were happy to take all the credit,” O’Brien says.
“I didn’t care about that because we got the job done. And why did we do it? Because it was the means by which we can get more infrastructure for southeast Queensland, not just a few weeks of sport.”
Right now, O’Brien has two key priorities: “Stop Labor’s spending frenzy, and start growing the economy.
“Jim Chalmers is the first treasurer since Peter Costello (1996–2007) to have no budgetary rules containing his spending; it’s out of control,” he says.
“Debt is going to hit $1 trillion this financial year, and because he wants the top job (of prime minister) he wants to make himself popular with colleagues so doesn’t like saying no.
“As a result, spending’s the highest it’s been in 40 years, inflation is high, tax is high and interest rates won’t come down – yet people still can’t find homes.”
O’Brien says Chalmers is “pitting Australians against each other” by insisting older generations ease the financial burdens of younger people.
“We need to reposition the debate about intergenerational wealth,” he says.
“Australia’s going in the wrong direction – and the stakes are too high not to take these guys on because otherwise our kids and their kids will be living in a very different Australia.”
RATING
Stanbroke wagyu 200g eye fillet with chips and salad: 9/10.
Black Hide on Caxton Street, Petrie Terrace
