Opinion: Doug Anthony was an all star but his successors need to lift their game

Doug Anthony was Australia’s longest-serving deputy prime minister and a household name to boot. Can the same be said about the current National Party leader, Michael McCormack?

Doug Anthony and Malcolm Fraser at the Casino Show, 1976.

ON the day the National Party celebrated its centennial in January this year, leader Michael McCormack and his deputy Bridget McKenzie took part in a tree planting ceremony at the National Arboretum.

Hours later, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed he had referred Senator McKenzie to Cabinet Secretary Phil Gaetjens over a possible breach of ministerial standards.

Dubbed the “sports rorts affair,” it was quite the birthday present.

A farcical fortnight ensued, capped off by Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien triggering a leadership spill.

McCormack fended off Barnaby Joyce’s attempted comeback in February. By how many votes? We’ll never know. Some say it was a narrow 11-10 victory.

Others claimed Joyce only secured six votes, with McCormack securing a solid 15.

O’Brien then left the National Party caucus to sit on the crossbench.

Back in February, the deep division within Australia’s second-oldest political party made many doubt about its capacity to govern.

The political centenarian was showing his age.

A global pandemic has changed much in Canberra and attention, quite rightly, has turned elsewhere. Australia slipping into recession, coronavirus flare-ups and strained relations with China put the McCormack-Joyce brouhaha into perspective.

But with the recent death of Doug Anthony, there’s plenty to contemplate for the National Party as it heads towards its 101st anniversary.

What has it achieved for regional Australia during its term in office?

Does it have a forceful role within a federal Coalition government?

Do the Nats have the right leader?

When Doug Anthony was leader, few in what was then the Country Party had to ask such existential questions. The Man from Murwillumbah didn’t chase the limelight like Joyce, nor shy away from it, like McCormack.

His major achievement was negotiating the trans-Tasman Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement. Anthony also acknowledged the growing economic powers of the Middle East.

“I don’t see the purpose in people remembering me much,” he said in 2014.

Despite his unassuming persona, Doug Anthony became a household name.

A comedy trio even appropriated his name, a move Doug himself turned from bemusement to amusement.

Heading into 2021, the National Party has to shape up its act to make sure the joke is not on them.

MORE:

MAJOR AUSTRALIAN FARM SALES IN 2020

AGRICULTURE ON A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE IN 2020

HARVEST WORKER SHORTAGE LAID BARE