The Nationals ’scare voters away’ with water talk
The Nationals leader has placed the Coalition’s chances of winning the election on par with champion race horce Winx, but farmers disagree.
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If The Nationals want to “scare voters away” they should keep talking about water, say the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party.
The Nationals believe they can avoid a repeat of the bush seat wipe-out the party suffered at the NSW state election but their opponents aren’t convinced the party has learned its lesson.
Shooters MP Roy Butler, who recently ended The National’s 68-year-long hold on the state seat of Barwon, said as long as the Murray Darling water problems were blamed on the drought and not management, voters would punish the party.
He said the federal seat of Parkes was “very much in play” as a result.
“I think the right candidate for any party other than a major one stands a good chance of resting it from The Nationals,” he said.
Farmers are anxiously waiting to see which candidates step forward to challenge Parkes MP Mark Coulton as anger against the once hugely popular bush party remains high.
Coonamble grazier Simon Fagan is a support of third party political group Anyone But Nats, which campaigned to remove Nationals MPs from NSW seats.
“The Nationals have this philosophy of it will all be fixed when it rains,” Mr Fagan said.
“But we know as farmers hoping it’s going to rain is the worst possible plan.”
Mr Fagan said The Nationals’ unwavering support of coal seam gas (CSG) was a major sticking point for farmers.
The Nationals currently hold six seats in NSW, including leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack in the southern agricultural seat of Riverina.
Speaking to media on Wednesday Mr McCormack sensationally likened the Coalition’s chances of being returned to government as the same as Winx winning her final race.
“If Winx doesn’t win on Saturday it will be a real tragedy for racing but I’m not expecting her to lose either,” he said.
Sportsbet has Winx odds of winning at $1.06, while the Coalition’s odds of winning the election are at $4.85.
Mr McCormack said he was proud of The Nationals record and was not worried if the Shooters run candidates against them.
“We’ve delivered in spades for country NSW, regional Australia in general and will continue to do that,” he said.
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