Nationals deputy Bridget McKenzie moves on Cathy McGowan’s turf in Indi

Nationals deputy Bridget McKenzie will shift her electoral office to the seat of Indi which could further inflame tensions.

Barnaby Joyce with Cathy McGowan in parliament yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith

Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie will shift her electoral office into the federal seat of Indi, setting up a bid for independent Cathy McGowan’s seat and a potential tilt at the party leadership.

Senator McKenzie’s move comes at a crucial time for the government as it battles to retain Ms McGowan’s backing in preparation for a hung parliament in the wake of the disastrous Liberal Party result in the Wentworth ­­by-election. Ms McGowan has not opposed Senator McKenzie’s ­office shift but has put the Coalition on notice that she could withdraw support for the government if it dumped the Nationals’ current leader Michael McCormack.

Bridget McKenzie.

Senator McKenzie’s move almost 300km from Bendigo in central Victoria to Wodonga in Indi will spark inevitable speculation about the future of her party’s leadership amid uncertainty about the future of Mr McCormack. Senator McKenzie last night refused to explain her move. If Senator McKenzie wishes to contest the party leadership she needs to be in the lower house.

Ms McGowan has benefited greatly from the backing of some rebel Nationals in Indi and yesterday welcomed Senator McKenzie’s incursion.

Senior Liberals said privately they would go to war with their Coalition partner over the seat if Ms McGowan quits.

The Liberal Party is desperate to regain the seat after former Tony Abbott ally Sophie Mirabella lost it in 2013 to Ms McGowan, who turns 65 next month.

Ms Mirabella and Ms McGowan have a rich history of brawling, with the former Liberal MP awarded $175,000 in damages this year from a country newspaper over a defamatory article that falsely claimed she had pushed Ms McGowan out of a photo opportunity at a nursing home during the 2016 federal campaign.

Ms McGowan has recently been battling former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce; the pair conversed in the parliament yesterday, with one observer stating that the former Nationals leader had walked back to his seat looking ‘‘rather unsatisfied’’.

Ms McGowan has reportedly warned she could withdraw her support for the now minority Morrison government if Mr McCormack is replaced.

At the height of Mr Joyce’s political woes over his baby with staff member Vikki Campion, Senator McKenzie suggested a ban on sex between politicians and their staff.

Senator McKenzie has based herself in the provincial Victorian city of Bendigo but has decided to shift her political base nearly 300km to the northeast Victorian river city of Wodonga, moving in January next year.

The Local Government and Decentralisation Minister has previously been linked to running for Indi, which is prized territory for the Nationals and locals believe will be vacated by Ms McGowan before next year’s federal election.

Basing herself in Wodonga, which is on Indi’s northern border, would enable Senator McKenzie easy access to the seat’s three biggest population centres and comes after Greg Mirabella, husband of Sophie Mirabella, ruled out running for the Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party has not yet preselected a candidate for Indi.

Indi has a margin, versus the Liberals, of 4.1 per cent, but Senator McKenzie, a shooting enthusiast, is considered a strong performer in the area, which includes vast tracts of national park and grazing country punctuated by the large regional centres of Wodonga, Wangaratta and Benalla. Wodonga is 320km northeast of Melbourne and is where Ms McGowan also has an office.

On the transfer of Senator McKenzie’s office, Ms McGowan said: “I opened (my) Wodonga office in 2014, shortly after being elected. Since then, thousands of people have made contact about issues ranging from cross-border anomalies, rural telecommunications, climate action and moving kids off Nauru with help from me and from electorate officers.”

Ms McGowan said independent, effective representation was her priority.

“My focus is putting Indi first. My job is to represent Indi and to keep Indi independent and orange,” Ms McGowan said.

“Indi communities have achieved great results in the past five years; 48 new mobile phone towers have been installed under state and federal mobile black-spot programs and we have a $235 million funding commitment to upgrade the north east rail line, with works to begin early next year.

“More than $9 million in funding for programs, infrastructure and local sporting champions grants have come into Wodonga in the last 12 months.”

Senator McKenzie, 48, is a former teacher and university lecturer who opposed gay marriage and has happily been photographed with a shotgun. She was also Mr Joyce’s deputy leader. She declined to comment yesterday when asked about the move.

Ms McGowan was reported as saying this week that her support of the minority government was conditional.