Paul Toole favoured to get NSW Nationals leadership

The NSW Nationals will hold a leadership ballot on Wednesday to elect the state’s incoming deputy premier following the resignation of John Barilaro.

Regional Transport Minister Paul Toole. Picture: Joel Carrett

The NSW Nationals will hold a leadership ballot on Wednesday to elect the state’s incoming deputy premier following the resignation of John Barilaro, in a contest expected to see two candidates vie for the role in the new Perrottet government.

Regional Transport Minister Paul Toole is favoured to succeed Mr Barilaro with what supporters say is the majority of the partyroom’s 19 available votes; backers of rival candidate Melinda Pavey, the state’s Water Minister, believe the contest is competitive.

Mr Toole and Ms Pavey previously contested the party’s deputy leadership in 2019, in a ballot that saw Mr Toole emerge successful and Ms Pavey, the party’s longest-serving MP, ­secure four votes.

In a statement, Mr Toole confirmed his candidacy: “No matter the outcome of tomorrow, my focus remains very much on delivering the road map, getting kids back to school, businesses back open and people back to work.”

Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor said on Tuesday she would contest the deputy leadership of the party, with Education Minister Sarah Mitchell understood to be considering her position on Tuesday.

Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall has also sounded out colleagues for support.

Ms Pavey told The Australian she had put herself forward as leader of the party on account of her lengthy experience in parliament – almost 20 years – and because there was an opportunity for the Nationals to make history on Wednesday morning.

“I really like Paul Toole, he’s a great bloke, but wouldn’t it be amazing if we walked out tomorrow and had three female leaders of the Nationals party in NSW – myself, Bronnie Taylor (as deputy) and Sarah Mitchell as Legislative Council leader,” she said.

“John (Barilaro) gave me an opportunity to be a minister and from that opportunity I believe I have the experience to be a good leader of the party – my work ethic and commitment to the party is well known.”

Supporters of Mr Toole said he appeared to have the minimum of 10 votes required to secure the party’s leadership role, although Ms Pavey’s tilt has attracted high-profile backers, including broadcaster Alan Jones.

Jones spoke with at least one Nationals MP about the prospect of Mr Toole’s leadership and criticised the MP’s implementation of forced council amalgamations during his years as local government minister, a position he held between 2014 and 2017.

“No issue could be more damaging to regional NSW,” Jones said on Sky News on Tuesday. “The bloke who advocated no forced amalgamation in government presided over the very opposite and dudded his electorate.”

Unlike the NSW Liberal Party, the Nationals are not formally divided into factions and do not hold weekly meetings or vote together as blocs, as is the case with their Coalition partners.

Informally, they are subdivided into groups of likeminded or geo­graphically based cliques, party officials and some MPs ­confirmed.

Mr Marshall, Ms Mitchell, Cootamundra MP Steph Cooke, and two upper house MPs – Ben Franklin and Trevor Khan – are known as the “pizza” faction because of a gathering at an Italian restaurant by some MPs in the early days of the Delta outbreak.

Mr Marshall subsequently contracted Covid-19 and caused the shutdown of NSW parliament. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Remaining MPs are notionally divided into “saltwater” and “freshwater” factions, as Mr Barilaro dubbed them on Monday, with the former being MPs located in coastal seats and the latter comprising inland-based MPs aligned to the outgoing leader.

One Nationals MP criticised Ms Pavey for announcing her candidacy – publicly – so soon after Mr Barilaro announced his exit from politics. Ms Pavey said she did so because she felt it important to engage quickly with the partyroom and community.