00:01Well, we've seen a refreshed Nationals leadership team announced after this morning's vote.
00:08As you mentioned there, Queensland Senator Matt Canavan becoming the party's new leader
00:13and Victorian MP Darren Chester has replaced Kevin Hogan as the Deputy Nationals leader.
00:22Now this was all triggered after that shock resignation from David Littleproud yesterday
00:28where he announced that he'll be stepping down after four years in the role.
00:32In his words, saying that he was buggered and that last year's election loss had taken
00:39a toll on him.
00:40So that triggered today's vote where Matt Canavan was eventually successful.
00:46Now the Nationals don't reveal the results or the numbers from the vote, so we don't
00:51know how much he won by.
00:53But the Nationals party whip Michelle Landry in announcing this result said that the party
00:59has a mighty battle coming up ahead of it and has two years to get back up in the polls
01:05ahead
01:06of the next election and is facing fights against Labor, the Teals and One Nation.
01:12Now, importantly there, her mentioning One Nation, that really, that fringe party really is the
01:20single biggest threat to the Nationals at the moment and it will be a key test for the
01:26party's new leadership at the upcoming by-election in Farah, which was triggered by the resignation
01:32of the former opposition leader Susan Lee from Parliament.
01:35So that's going to be a major test for this new look at Nationals leadership team going
01:42forward.
01:43Matt Canavan, he spoke earlier to the media after this result was announced and he was
01:48flanked by Nationals colleagues and he really spoke extensively during that press conference
01:54about the need to strengthen Australia's sovereignty and to bring things like manufacturing and farming
02:01back on shore rather than looking to overseas. Let's take a listen to what he had to say.
02:07We need to have more Australian farming, more Australian manufacturing, more Australian jobs.
02:13We need to have more Australian everything. We need to manifest a hyper-Australia here.
02:17We need to go hyper-Australia for our country. We need more Australian babies. We need more Australian
02:24humour, more Australian jokes. We need more Australian barbecues, sometimes often fuelled by fossil
02:29fuels. We need more Australian everything.
02:32The new Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, speaking there and outlining some of the things that
02:38he wants to prioritise going forward. But he's really got a big battle ahead of him, just
02:45given that the Coalition has seen itself hemorrhaging votes to One Nation in the most recent poll results.
02:54Now, Matt Canavan, he is a Queensland Senator. Now, it's a bit unusual to have a Senator elected
03:02as the leader, but it's not unheard of. And given that Darren Chester, the new deputy, is
03:09within the House of Representatives, that will be seen as a reason that a Senator can be a leader
03:14of the party. But Matt Canavan really might be seen as the person who can take this fight up to
03:22One Nation
03:23going forward. He's been a forceful mover of the party's position in recent times. We saw him as one of
03:29the
03:29main people seeking to ensure that the party dumped its commitment to net zero last year. That ended up
03:38happening. And then we also saw the Coalition as a whole announce that dumping of net zero. He's a strong
03:46backer of the coal industry as well. And he was also seen as the leading national to oppose the federal
03:54government's hate laws, which ultimately passed Parliament earlier this year, but did precipitate
04:00the Coalition's second split in less than 12 months. So just goes to show a bit of the influence that
04:08he
04:08has over the party's position there. He's seen as...can be seen as more of a populist right leader. So definitely
04:16a change of direction from the party here. We also heard from the Bridget McKenzie, who remains the
04:25leader of the Nationals in the Senate at that press conference earlier. Here's what she had to say.
04:30The depth of experience, of commitment, dedication to our party room and talent that we've got here at the
04:38front, but also behind us, I think will mean we won't just be taking it up to Labor. Watch out
04:43One Nation.
04:45Now, a key task for this New Look Nationals leadership team in Matt Canavan and Darren Chester will be to
04:52develop a solid relationship with the new Liberal leaders, Angus Taylor, and the Deputy Liberal leader,
04:59Jane Hume. Just given that since the last election, there's been several coalition splits, there's been a
05:07significant amount of infighting, and those poll results have been worsening. So a big test ahead.
05:14It would be nice to have never been président for the new leadership team.
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