One Nation and Shooters take aim at Nats in NSW poll pact
The two minor parties are co-ordinating their campaigns to dislodge as many Nationals MPs as possible in the NSW election.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has struck up a NSW state election pact with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, with the two minor parties co-ordinating their campaigns to dislodge as many Nationals MPs as possible in the state election.
The catalyst for the agreement is the Upper Hunter by-election last year in which the Nationals retained the seat after One Nation fielded a candidate for the first time, splitting the right-leaning vote.
One Nation and the Shooters have agreed on what seats are their best chances respectively, and the parties will avoid running candidates against each other where they can.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers leader Robert Borsak told The Australian that his party and One Nation must work together at the March poll to ensure they do not “cancel each other out”.
“What we saw in the Upper Hunter by-election was an almost equal split of the primary vote with One Nation, with us moving ahead after preferences, but not enough to defeat the Nationals,” he said. “If we want to have any long-term position that counters the Greens and deals with the entrenched position of the National Party, what we have to do is to make sure we don’t cancel each other out.”
The Nationals have lost six NSW state seats since 2016; three in western NSW (Orange, Barwon and Murray to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers) and three on the north coast (Ballina to the Greens, Lismore to Labor and Port Macquarie to the Liberals after Leslie Williams defected), with the election a crucial test of their long-term viability in the bush.
The Shooters and Fishers will focus on retaining Barwon and Orange and winning back Murray (seen as a three-way contest with the Nationals) after Helen Dalton resigned from the party over water management. But Upper Hunter and Dubbo remain firmly in sight as possible gains.
One Nation NSW leader Mark Latham said the parties would “stay out of each other’s hair” and One Nation would not run a candidate in Upper Hunter, but zero in on Illawarra, Western Sydney and other Hunter seats such as Cessnock.
The Nationals are also particularly vulnerable on the north coast from leftwing parties. An influx of treechangers from Sydney and Melbourne have changed demographics.
Labor leader Chris Minns declined to name target seats but said regional communities deserved better than a “12-year-old government and a party who takes for granted that they will be receiving their vote”. “NSW Labor understands these seats will be a challenge to win, but we are determined to provide these communities with a voice and to shine a light on the issues that are important to them,” he said.
NSW Nationals leader Paul Toole said he was “confident” NSW voters would back National MPs. “In the past 18 months, the Nationals have fought two state by-elections (Upper Hunter and Monaro) and been backed by the community at both,” he said. “At the federal election we saw the same thing.”
A Nationals source said there were concerns the Barilaro trade saga could open the door for a. narrative around integrity, which featured heavily in the campaigns of Teal independents at the federal election.
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