Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh elected as a new Nationals Leader

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The New South Wales opposition is also under pressure. The state Liberal Party is discussing their position on net zero amid reports Mark Speakman faces an imminent leadership challenge. Meanwhile The Nationals have elected Gurmesh Singh as the party's new leader, after yesterday's surprise resignation by leader Dugald Saunders.

Transcript

00:00Gurmesh Singh is a Coffs Harbour MP.

00:04He's been in Parliament for about six years now.

00:07He's a former blueberry farmer turned politician.

00:12And he's a bit of a unity candidate, really.

00:14He was ultimately elected unopposed in the Nationals party room less than an hour ago.

00:21And his deputy will be Kevin Anderson.

00:23So this has been a pretty swift change for the Nationals

00:27because it was only about lunchtime yesterday

00:30that the former leader, Dougal Saunders, stepped down.

00:35Since then, people were certainly hitting the phones pretty frantically to test their support.

00:41Some of the other names that were mentioned were the former police minister, Paul Toole,

00:45and the Cootamundra MP, Steph Cook,

00:48who's a former minister in the former coalition government.

00:51But ultimately, it was Gurmesh Singh who has emerged victorious

00:55with Kevin Anderson as his deputy.

00:57And, Nick, that was quite a surprise yesterday, wasn't it?

01:02It sure was.

01:04Very few of Dougal Saunders' colleagues saw this coming.

01:10He was only really able to inform even the Liberal Party

01:15just minutes before he put that statement out.

01:18And just last week, Dougal Saunders said that he was committed

01:22to leading the National Party back into government.

01:27So he cited mainly personal reasons, really.

01:31He said he wanted to focus on his family and himself.

01:34But he also said that it was time for fresh leadership

01:38and to give whoever...

01:39Well, now, Gurmeet Singh, we know, is the new leader.

01:43He'll have less than 18 months now to prepare for the next election.

01:48He will confront, though, some of the same issues that Dougal Saunders did,

01:52one of them being where the New South Wales coalition goes with net zero,

01:57because the New South Wales Nats say that they agree with the federal position.

02:02They have got big problems with that net zero target,

02:05but the Liberal Party here in New South Wales is still on board,

02:10at least for now.

02:12On that, Nick, what about these reports

02:13that a challenge against Mark Speakman is imminent?

02:16What can you tell us?

02:19Look, Mark Speakman's leadership of the New South Wales Liberal Party

02:23is certainly in a perilous position this week,

02:26but it's been in this position before.

02:28Currently, Liberal MPs are inside their party room

02:32for what is a regular meeting

02:35at the beginning of the parliamentary week.

02:37We've had no indication at the moment

02:39that the Liberal leadership has been discussed,

02:42but certainly behind the scenes, people are talking.

02:45Now, what has, I guess, been a bit of a booster for Mark Speakman

02:50in previous months,

02:52when various leadership speculation has emerged,

02:55is that there hasn't been a clear challenger.

02:59Now, Kelly Sloan is the member for Vaucluse.

03:02She's an opposition frontbencher.

03:04She's been seen as the most likely candidate for a very long time,

03:08but certainly up until now,

03:11she's been saying that she's loyal to Mark Speakman

03:14and that she has no desire to challenge him.

03:17I guess what could change the situation

03:20is whether someone else puts up their hands.

03:22Now, Alistair Henskins, a right faction MP,

03:27is said to be making calls and testing support.

03:31While it's unlikely that he would emerge as the leader,

03:36it's possible that Kelly Sloan could then use that opportunity

03:41without directly having challenged Mark Speakman

03:44if there is a spill called to put up her own hands.

03:47Certainly, there are members of her own faction in the moderates

03:50who are urging her to do that.

03:53We spoke to a whole range of MPs

03:55as they were coming through the gates of Parliament today.

03:58Some said they were behind Mark Speakman,

04:00said they were convinced that there would be no spill this week at all

04:04and that he would continue to be the Liberal leader

04:07going through Christmas and into next year

04:08and lead them to the next election.

04:11Others declined to answer, really.

04:14Some said, oh, look, I'm running late, I can't answer.

04:16Some said that they would support

04:19whoever best supported their electorate.

04:22So not exactly full support for Mark Speakman today,

04:27but all of the indications are

04:30that he'll at least survive the day, the week.

04:32That could be another story.

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