Nationals MPs rebel on ‘second-rate’ ministry roles

Nationals MPs have revived internal divisions by calling on leader Michael McCormack to secure more ‘substantial’ ministry portfolios.

Barnaby Joyce at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Gary Ramage

Nationals MPs have revived internal divisions by calling on leader Michael McCormack to secure more “substantial” ministry portfolios, as former leader Barnaby Joyce warns the Coalition has ­become a “marriage of convenience” that is now hurting the junior partner’s election chances.

Muscling up ahead of a federal poll being held as early as August, half a dozen Nationals MPs The Australian spoke to on Tuesday believed the party did not have a fair share of portfolio responsibilities and should be angling for ministries such as trade, defence, finance, treasury and even home affairs.

“It would be very welcome among the Nats if our leadership took that argument up; they’d be supported by the backbench,” NSW Nationals MP David Gillespie said.

Mr Joyce also writes in Wednesday’s The Australian that issues central to the Nationals’ base — such as coal-fired power stations, manufacturing, mining and decentralisation — are being “muffled or muted” because they are at odds with Liberal policy.

He says the time for polite conversations behind closed doors is over because the Nationals’ lack of visibility in key cabinet positions means voters do not recognise the party in the regions.

In comments directed at Mr McCormack, Mr Joyce writes: “I am kicking up the dust now because currently the Coalition has devolved into a marriage of convenience that diminishes the ­Coalition’s electoral prospects.

“The Liberals allocate the substantial portfolios and (parliamentary committee) chairs exclusively to themselves. Would the Nationals’ doyen John ‘Black Jack’ McEwen have accepted this? This needs to be corrected prior to an election, which I presume will be at the end of this year.

“A Coalition has to be in fact and form to authentically live up to its name.”

Parliamentary library research commissioned for Mr Joyce, who has been one of the most vocal critics of Mr McCormack’s leadership and unsuccessfully challenged him last year, shows Nationals cabinet ministers hold portfolios that receive 3.25 per cent of the total federal budget and chair only two of the 21 joint committees.

There are 92 Liberal MPs and 21 Nationals MPs in federal parliament, meaning the junior Coalition partner is entitled to four cabinet positions. It holds infrastructure, transport and regional development; agriculture, drought and emergency management; resources, water and Northern Australia; and veterans affairs and defence personnel

While Nationals MPs expect Mr McCormack will lead the party to the next election, largely because the electorate would vilify them during a pandemic for focusing on themselves and because there is no clear alternative, there are growing concerns there hasn’t been enough cut-through in the regions.

One MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an unfair balance of portfolio responsibilities between the Liberals and Nationals was a “deficiency of the leadership”.

“If we haven’t got our full representation when we are the party of regional Australia, then where does the buck stop?” they said.

Another MP said they shared concerns about the party’s lack of representation in “serious” portfolios but the focus should be on creating jobs in regional Australia.

Their colleague added: “In the lead-up to the next election, it’s all of our responsibility to concentrate on what we are doing and where we’re doing it, because we’re doing a lot. Enough with the constant introspection.”

Resources, Water and Northern Australia Minister Keith Pitt, who was promoted to cabinet last year, hit back at the naysayers and said the portfolios the Nationals held would deliver for regional Australia. “We’ll be measured based on our delivery, not talking about delivery,” he said.

Mr McCormack, who will have been Deputy Prime Minister for three years next month, said: “The Nationals kept all its lower house seats at the last election with improved margins and similar ministerial portfolio arrangements.

“While I appreciate there are ambitious members of the Nationals’ partyroom who might wish to serve in the ministry, we are provided eight positions and we have 21 members; it is not possible for everyone to have a role.

“We have portfolio positions that are important, indeed crucial, to regional people.”