Top contenders not interested in Nats’ leadership

Nationals MPs, left to right, Luke Hartsuyker, David Gillespie, Bridget McKenzie, Barnaby Joyce, David Littleproud, Michael McCormack and Damian Drum.

When Barnaby Joyce finally announced his resignation, he could look back on the havoc he wreaked on his party and his government and no doubt pardon himself utterly and instantly.

His political passing, however, has exposed another huge problem for the Nationals. The talent cupboard is bare. The talent pool has a shallow end only. Contenders are pedestrian at best and the three best Nationals performers will not be at the barrier.

Two of those top three are in the wrong house. Matt Canavan has proven himself to be a very competent minister. Resources is a big portfolio and so far he is without blemish as a performer. He did stand down voluntarily over the citizenship saga, unlike Barnaby Joyce who gave us an early demonstration of how much remaining in his job really meant to him.

The only negative about Canavan is he created a job for Vikki Campion to help Barnaby. Given how messy the Nationals look at the moment, there is no way a senator could be elected leader.

If either Canavan or Bridget McKenzie became leader, someone would have to resign from a lower house seat and a couple of months would go by before a by-election. Too long and too messy for a party and a government under pressure.

Deputy leader McKenzie is one of a rare breed.

She surprised many by being elected to the job. The last 2½ weeks have been the worst in the history of her party. Yet this relative newcomer handled herself with dignity. She faced unprecedented pressure and came up trumps. She is not a candidate.

Then there is Darren Chester, a very good minister and a handy attack dog in question time. He fell foul of Joyce because he had the guts to stand up to a leader acting erratically as his personal crisis deepened. He was repaid by Joyce for daring to suggest he get ahead of the story and not wait till it inevitably surfaced, by being dumped to the backbench. Had he listened, Joyce would have survived, as would his best-performing minister. Now it would appear Chester has little support among colleagues.

Michael McCormack. Picture: Sean Davey.

Apparently the unbackable favourite is Michael McCormack. It is hard to think of a more unworthy winner. He has achieved nothing as a minister and is a question time non-event. David Littleproud, the dope who bagged Bill Shorten for not mentioning agriculture in Batman, was in the running until he pulled out late last night. I wonder how many times he mentions the problem of inner-city traffic when addressing country crowds.

The only other candidate was David Gillespie, who in his former life was a gastroenterologist. At least we can be certain he would pass an IQ test. So, while I have hardly heard his name and he has made no impact thus far, he would have got my vote above the aforementioned pair.

Yesterday, Gillespie announced he would not run for the leadership of the party. Only the hopeless will face the starter’s gun.

For the Nationals, the future is looking bleak.