David Littleproud holds onto Nationals’ leadership after Matt Canavan challenge

The Nationals have elected a leader in a secret ballot between David Littleproud and Matt Canavan. Follow the updates.

David Littleproud has held on as leader of the Nationals Party after a challenge mounted by Queensland Senator Matt Canavan was unsuccessful.

The Nationals met for less than an hour on Monday afternoon as they heard pitches from the two candidates, with Mr Littleproud emerging victorious.

Kevin Hogan, who holds the NSW regional electorate of Page, was elected deputy leader of the party, replacing Senator Perin Davey who lost her seat at the federal election amid a drop in support for the Coalition.

Mr Littleproud reiterated the Nationals achievements during the last term including opposing the Voice referendum, pushing for nuclear energy and divestiture powers for supermarkets found guilty of anti-competitive behaviour.

But he refused to say if the party’s support for net zero would continue without nuclear, saying he wasn’t “getting into hypotheticals”.

Nationals leader David Littleproud is expected to hold onto his position. Picture: Gera Kazakov

“What we’ll do is calmly and methodically work through our policy settings,” Mr Littleproud said, adding their position would address the cost of living crisis.

“The policies of our party room isn’t determined by the leader. It’s determined by the collective.”

Asked what changes he would like to see in an agreement with the Liberals, Mr Littleproud said:

“I don’t intend to telecast the discussions I intend to have with the new Liberal Party leadership, whatever that may be tomorrow”.

He said he hadn’t had any further discussions with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price since she defected to the Liberal Party.

“The National Party has been nothing but supportive, so I wish her well. But her ambition exceeds what the National Party can offer,” Mr Littleproud said.

“I want a strong opposition to hold Anthony Albanese to account.”

Queensland Senator Matt Canavan challenged for the Nationals’ leadership. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

In the lead up to the challenge, Nationals MPs were spammed by “pro-lifers” urging them to support Mr Canavan saying he showed “unwavering commitment” to “pro-family and pro-Australian values”.

But some Littleproud backers said they expected a “solid result” in favour of his re-election, with the party holding their seats at the election under his leadership.

Kevin Hogan and Susan McDonald were both expected to put their hand up for the role as deputy leader.

The party’s current deputy Senator Perin Davey is set to lose her seat in July after she was put third on their Senate ticket under the deal with the Liberals.

Senator Davey said there was now a strong argument to renegotiate the deal and she would be pushing the party to do so.

“We currently hold six lower house seats in NSW and the Liberals only hold seven,” she told Sky News.

“The fact that they have three senators across NSW and the Nationals will be relegated to only one, you would say, is not proportionally fair.”