The Nationals threaten to go it alone in NSW Senate race

The Nationals are threatening to run against the Liberal Party in the NSW Senate race at the next federal election.

Michael McCormack campaigning with Liberal candidate Julian Ham in Wagga Wagga at the weekend. Picture: Dylan Robinson

The Nationals are threatening to run against the Liberal Party in the NSW Senate race at the next federal election amid concerns they will lose an upper house seat, ­exposing growing turmoil within the Coalition.

There is also a sense of heightened frustration among federal Nationals MPs at Liberal infighting before and after the knifing of Malcolm Turnbull that has triggered a public backlash, with the government on track to lose up to 30 seats in an electoral wipe-out.

Both Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and NSW Nationals state director Ross ­Cadell held out the prospect of running a separate NSW Senate campaign unless the Nationals were lifted from third to second spot on the joint ticket with the Liberals.

Senior Nationals sources told The Australian the third spot on a NSW joint ticket appeared unwinnable, with the government sitting on 33 or 34 per cent in primary support.

They also pointed to the 30 per cent primary vote swing against the Liberals in the Wagga Wagga state by-election at the weekend.

Concern is mounting at a ­federal level that the Nationals could be left with no upper-house representation in NSW — a major point of contention given former deputy leader Fiona Nash won a six-year Senate term for NSW at the double-dissolution election in 2016, but lost her spot to a Liberal after she was disqualified for being a dual citizen.

Mr McCormack, the Wagga- based Nationals leader who holds the NSW seat of Riverina, said yesterday the party was keen to “maximise” its chances and had preselected four NSW Senate candidates to “keep our options open”.

Mr McCormack said it was important for the issue of a separate Nationals Senate ticket to be discussed by Mr ­Cadell and NSW Liberal Party state director Chris Stone.

“I’d like the No 2 spot (on a joint ticket). But I’m open — if we ­decide at the time — to go it alone, then that’s what we decide,” he said. “We’ll weigh up our ­options at the time.”

Mr Cadell said he was prepared to run a separate NSW ticket if it would hand the Nationals a better chance of winning a NSW Senate seat. “My job as state director is to put the best options for our party on the table, which in this case could include running our own separate ticket to get a senator up,” he said. “It’s always good governance to be prepared and have options, and that’s all we are doing by having these preselections.”

The NSW Nationals preselected four upper-house candidates on Friday to replace outgoing senator John Williams, who was elected in 2007.

Perin Davey, a water policy specialist from Conargo in the Riverina, emerged as the lead candidate.

The move to preselect four candidates — including Ms Davey, small business owner Sam Farraway, Gunnedah Mayor Jamie Chaffey and Wagga-based farmer Paul Cocking — will allow the party the chance to “go it alone” and run against the Liberals in NSW if it chooses to do so.

The push to run a separate ticket is seen by some Nationals figures as evidence of an increasingly fractured relationship with the Liberal Party, with a minority of Nationals MPs questioning the value of continuing with the formal Coalition arrangement.

Some MPs have also questioned Mr McCormack’s credentials as a champion for the Nationals brand, given his decision to campaign for state Liberal candidate Julia Ham at the Wagga Wagga by-election in the absence of a Nationals candidate.

“As the Nationals Party leader federally, I’m backing her all the way,” Mr McCormack said at the weekend.