Newest National Steve Martin wooed over Thai tucker

A pitch to recruit Tasmanian independent senator Steve Martin was made by two Nationals at a Canberra Thai restaurant.

Team spirit: Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie, senator Steve Martin and leader Michael McCormack at Devonport. Picture: Chris Kidd

A pitch to recruit Tasmanian independent senator Steve Martin was made by two Nationals colleagues at a Canberra Thai restaurant after several weeks of private negoti­ations led by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.

The defection of Senator Martin means the Nationals gain their first Tasmanian upper-house representative and swells their federal ranks to 22 members, with Mr ­McCormack hinting that further discussions could take place to ­recruit other MPs.

The Australian has confirmed Mr McCormack was approached by Senator Martin several weeks ago and used a series of private discussions to persuade him to join the party, re-establishing a foothold for the Nationals in ­Tasmania.

“I had a couple of meetings with Steve,” Mr McCormack said. “It took some negotiation to work through … He probably came to see me about six weeks ago.”

The Australian has also confirmed that on May 20, NSW ­Nationals senator John “Wacka” Williams and Queensland colleague Barry O’Sullivan made a separate pitch to Senator Martin over a Thai dinner.

“We put it to him (Senator Martin) to join the Nationals,” Senator Williams said.

“The reason I put it to him was that he’s a good bloke. He comes from small business.

“He’s been through some dry gullies, some tough times … ­Michael (McCormack) knew we had dinner with him.”

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Former senator Jacqui Lambie — who kicked Senator Martin out of her party because he would not make way for her return to the upper house after she had resigned because of being exposed as a dual citizen — said the move looked like a “marriage of convenience for two increasingly desperate ­parties”.

Ms Lambie confirmed she would run against Senator Martin at the next election, posting on Twitter that she was “looking forward to taking the Nats out!”

Mr McCormack told The Australian that after succeeding Barnaby Joyce as leader, his key objective was to expand the party.

“To grow the party is something that I, as the new leader, ­always wanted to do,” he said.

“You always want to lead a ­bigger party.”

He played down Mr Joyce’s ­decision to sign up to a $150,000 tell-all TV deal with the Seven Network’s Sunday Night program after the birth of his son, Sebastian, to former staffer Vikki Campion.

The affair with Ms Campion triggered a political crisis that contributed to Mr Joyce’s decision to stand down as deputy prime minister this year.

After his first Nationals partyroom meeting yesterday, Senator Martin said: “With Tasmania being a rural and regional state, it’s important we have a voice not only in local government, at state government, but at federal government level.

“I hope that I can actually shine a light on Tasmania … We’ll show you blokes how it’s done.”

The last time there was a Country or National Party MP from Tasmania in federal parliament was in 1927.

William McWilliams, who represented the seat of Franklin in Tasmania, was the Country Party’s inaugural leader from 1920 to 1927.