Ambitious David Littleproud is big on small government

New Nats deputy leader David Littleproud has acknowledged that he has ambitions for the top job.

David Littleproud outside Parliament House in Canberra after his election as the new Nationals deputy leader. Picture: Sean Davey

New Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud has acknowledged that he has ambitions for the party’s top job and called on all his colleagues to be clearer in ­delivering the key messages in ­regional Australia.

The former rural bank manager and member for the Queensland seat of Maranoa said he wanted to try to “harness all the ­diversity” among his 20 colleagues after his promotion on Tuesday, and ­declared he would be a fighter for the bush.

“I can get nasty,” Mr Littleproud told The Australian.

“(Punters) want government out of their lives. They just want to know they can get on and do the things they want to do to be able to get up in the morning and make a quid.

“That’s what we should aspire to do when we get up in the morning — to get the hell out of their lives, but also put the environment and infrastructure around them to do it.

“If you’ve got to go and break a few noses along the way, we do.”

Mr Littleproud has had a ­meteoric rise since being elected to parliament in 2016, entering cabinet just 16 months later and becoming Nationals deputy leader within four years.

Considered part of a new generation of Nationals MPs, he said any politician who claimed they did not have leadership ambitions was being dishonest.

“All 226 politicians that come into this place all have ambition. Anyone who says they don’t are lying. You’ve got to put that in ­perspective.

“Your first goal here is to get outcomes for the people you represent, and if that’s broader — and in my role now it’s a national role — it’s to make sure you deliver for them,” Mr Littleproud said.

“I remember when Barnaby (Joyce) resigned (as leader) and there was pressure on me to stand and one of my good friends said ‘you’ve got to be able to reconcile in your head it might never happen again’.

“I can tell you, I’ve been able to sleep every night since, reconciled in the view that it may never be that I become National Party leader, and I can live with that.

“While I’ve got the opportunity to contribute at a leadership level, I’ll make sure I do my darnedest to get regional and rural Australia up there in front of those at the cabinet table.”

Mr Littleproud agreed the party had to articulate its message more clearly following warnings from Queensland senator Matt Canavan that the Nationals were not cutting through in regional Australia under Michael McCormack’s leadership.

He singled out $8bn in drought support and a $2bn bushfire recovery package as initiatives rural and regional Australians should know had been secured by a “National Party Coalition government”.

“Every time we articulate what we’ve done, it’s important that we keep it as simple as we can and clearly annunciate what we’ve been able to achieve. Sometimes we’re a little shy on that and we’re not as showy as the other parties, but we get stuff done,” Mr Littleproud said.

Asked what electoral success would look like at the next polling day, the Queenslander said it was simply to “preserve the members we’ve got here”.

“That’s the first step and that’s going to be a challenge. Make no mistake, we had to fight damn hard to hold on to the positions we’ve got.”