Bad blood as backroom brawl splits Nationals

An internal brawl has erupted within the ranks of the Nationals.

Deputy Prime Minister and parliamentary leader of the Nationals Warren Truss, left, with Nationals MP George Christensen.

An internal brawl has erupted within the ranks of the Nationals over the looming election of a ­former West Aus­tralian state MP as the party’s federal president.

One-term MP and now Barnett government political staffer Dexter Davies is tipped to take over the Nationals’ organisational arm in a backroom deal that has angered Queensland’s Liberal National Party.

The NSW, Victorian and West Australian divisions are backing Mr Dexter in a move Queensland counterparts believe is part of a strategy to block LNP candidates from federal party ­positions after the 2008 state merger.

The LNP, formed with the amalgamation of state National and Liberal parties, is formally a division of the federal Liberal Party and an affiliate of the Nationals­­, with eight of its federal­ MPs and senators in the 21-strong Nationals partyroom.

Despite Queensland MP and Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss leading the Nationals’ parliamentary team in Canberra, there are suspicions about LNP party officials heading the organisation of the rural-based party and pushing for a nationwide merger of the parties.

Howard government minister Larry Anthony and former Queensland Liberal president Gary Spence abandoned bids for the national presidency as LNP candidates in the face of overwhelming interstate opposition.

Mr Dexter is the only person running ahead of nominations closing this week, with the LNP so far refusing to put up a candidate because of the support for the West Australian political staffer.

The new president, replacing outgoing NSW veteran official Christine Ferguson, will be endorsed­ at the Nationals’ September 11-13 federal conference.

Senior LNP insiders said the conference could be “explosive’’ in the face of the successive internal snubs and lingering anger about a lack of campaign funding from the national secretariat during the 2013 federal election.

“This has been going on ever since we merged,’’ an LNP insider told The Australian. “The other states are doing the numbers and blocking our people, even though the LNP ­remains a powerhouse for the Nat­ionals federally in terms of money and parliamentary ­representation. If it continues like this, it puts the LNP’s affilia­tion with the Nat­ionals at risk.”

David Russell QC was the last federal president of the Nationals, in 2006.

LNP MP George Christensen, who sits as a Nationals MP, said it was time an LNP candidate took the leadership of the party.

“There is a lot of angst within our friends interstate about us being an amalgamated party, but they have to remember we are an affiliate of the Nationals, just like any other state. If it wasn’t for the Queensland division, the Nationals would be a small political force in Canberra indeed,’’ he said.

Mr Dexter could not be contacted yesterday but West Australian Nationals leader Terry Redman said his principal policy adviser was an excellent candid­ate for federal president.