Long-time Nationals MP says party must stay focused

Nationals veteran Warren Truss has urged parliamentary colleagues to get behind their leader and stay united.

Warren Truss: ‘The country communities in particular are drifting away.’ Picture: Glenn Hunt

Nationals veteran Warren Truss has urged parliamentary colleagues to get behind their leader and stay united ahead of the looming election, as he receives one of Australia’s highest honours for his service to federal parliament.

Truss, a Nationals leader for more than eight years and a member of the party for nearly five ­decades, acknowledged the ­Coalition was going through a tough time after another prime minister change and a year book-ended by sex scandals.

Australia Day Honours

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But the former member for the Queensland seat of Wide Bay, which he represented for 26 years, said his party’s future had been questioned in 2007 — at a time when he did not even want to take over the leadership — and it had bounced back two terms later “better than I think we had expected”.

“The party’s obviously going through a tough time, as the government is going through a tough time,” Truss told The Weekend Australian.

“They’ve got to be united and every single person has a role in making the party united.”

Truss is a recipient of the Companion of the Order of Australia in today’s Australia Day honours, with particular recognition for his work in trade, transport, agriculture and rural and regional development.

AUSTRALIA DAY HONOURS

How the system works

Nominations

Anyone can nominate an Australian citizen for an award in the Order of Australia.

Confidentiality

All nominations are confidential. The person being nominated should not be advised of their nomination or approached for information at any stage.

Referees

Following receipt, each nomination is thoroughly researched and referees are contacted. As a general guide, about four referees are required for each nomination.

Time

When all relevant information has been obtained, the nomination is submitted to the Council for consideration. This process can take 18 months to 2 years.

Successful nominees

Successful nominees receive a written offer of an award in the Order of Australia. Nominators are notified of the outcome of their nomination approximately one week prior to the official publication of the Honours List for which the nomination was considered.

Posthumous awards

Appointments in the Order of Australia are not made posthumously. However, a nomination will be considered if the person is alive when the nomination form is received.

Military Division

The Governor-General makes appointments to the Military Division of the Order of Australia on the recommendation of the Minister for Defence.

Non-Australian citizens

Honorary appointments in the Order of Australia may be made to people who are not Australian citizens where they have given extraordinary service to Australia or humanity at large.

He was dismissive of the government’s idea to apply geographic conditions on skilled migrants under a population ­policy that could force them to ­settle in regions or cities outside of Melbourne and Sydney for a minimum of five years.

“It’s an interesting concept and I don’t know how the migrant program can be micromanaged to that effect,” Truss said.

“If people are not happy in the country or they’ve been brought from a densely populated city area overseas, they may do their ‘sentence’, if you like, in the country areas. If they take that attitude, they’re only filling in time there until they get somewhere else — that will be counter-productive.”

He said it was very important for the Nationals to have a strong presence in Canberra because the regional voice was being splintered with the arrival of “all sorts of alternative parties”.

“The country communities in particular are drifting away and these communities still produce a lot of our nation’s wealth,” he said.