Ex-editor Michael McCormack leads Nationals leadership field

Michael McCormack describes himself as a ‘fighter’ who will help develop local economies and create jobs.

Michael McCormack leads the field to replace Barnaby Joyce as Nationals leader. Picture: AAP

Michael McCormack describes himself as a “fighter” who will help develop local economies and ­create jobs if he claims the deputy prime minister’s job at the Nationals party­room meeting on ­Monday.

The Riverina MP, based in Wagga Wagga in NSW, is considered the frontrunner to replace Barnaby Joyce after winning the support of key MPs, led by Queensland senator Matthew Canavan.

The other declared candidate, the member for Lyne on NSW’s north coast, David Gillespie, declared himself a “safe pair of hands” who would focus on fixing the federation and overhauling the GST carve-up among the states.

Nationals insiders pointed to Mr McCormack’s showing in ­December’s deputy leadership ballot, triggered by the departure of Fiona Nash in the citizenship scandal, where he claimed 10 votes in the 21-member partyroom.

“If he keeps his 10 mates and gets another one, he’s home,” a Nationals source said.

An awkward interview on Sky News this week — when he dodged more than 10 questions about Mr Joyce’s leadership — did not improve Mr McCormack’s standing with colleagues, but the lack of a clear successor to Mr Joyce had elevated his prospects, a source said.

A supporter of Mr Joyce suggested having Mr McCormack in the job could improve the former leader’s chances of returning to the leadership in future.

The 53-year-old former regional newspaperman won Riverina at the 2010 election.

He was the editor of The Daily Advertiser in Wagga Wagga from 1992 to 2002, and was forced to ­apologise during the same-sex marriage debate for an article he penned in 1993 lamenting the ­“sordid behaviour” of homo­sexuals.

“A week never goes by any more that homosexuals and their sordid behaviour don’t become further entrenched in society,” he wrote in a newspaper column.

Mr McCormack, a former small business minister, was named Veterans’ Affairs and ­Defence Personnel Minister in December’s reshuffle.

Yesterday, he told colleagues he had the “drive to deliver” for rural constituents. “Together we can work to grow local economies, increase local opportunities and create local jobs. We can do this together as a united team,” he said.

Dr Gillespie, the Assistant Minister for Children and Families, was a gastroenterologist for 20 years before entering parliament in 2013.

He was appointed assistant minister for rural health in 2016, before becoming assistant minister for health.

“I’ve had ministerial responsibilities for the last two years ... I think I’m a safe pair of hands and can mend and unify parts of our party that have been under strain with these recent events,” he said.

Dr Gillespie said people were sick of the “blame game” between the states, and he would dedicate himself to fixing the “dysfunctional federation”.