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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