David Littleproud survives as Nats leader

A contest between David Littleproud and Matt Canavan for the National Party leadership has seen the former leader come out on top.

The Nationals Party has voted to keep David Littleproud as its leader, with Kevin Hogan filling the void left by Perin Davey as his deputy.

Nicholls MP and acting party whip Sam Birrell revealed on Tuesday that Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie would continue as leader of the party in the Senate.

Queensland Senator Matt Canavan revealed on Friday that he would contest Mr Littleproud for leadership of the party, saying a vote for him would be endorsing a departure away from the party’s net-zero commitments.

His election would have added tension to the Liberals’ leadership vote scheduled for Tuesday, which will reveal whether the Liberals have decided to veer to the right and elect Victorian MP Angus Taylor and Nationals defector Jacinta Price as deputy, or the more moderate Sussan Ley, who is running on an open ticket.

The Coalition’s reduced Senate allocation saw Ms Davey lose her Senate seat.

Re-elected leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud, new deputy Kevin Hogan and the party’s leader in the Senate, Bridget McKenzie, leave The Nationals' party room after winning the leadership vote. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Littleproud said it was a great honour to lead the party, which has often set the Coalition’s policy agenda.

“We were the first ones to make a principled position on the voice. We didn’t do that in a rushed way. We listened to both sides … We’ve had the courage on nuclear energy, something that our party room has believed in for a very long time,” he said.

Mr Littleproud, who has been unusually quiet since the Coalition’s election loss, said he acknowledged a lost opportunity to form government, but he was proud of the Nationals’ result.

“Now there’s lessons to be learnt, but I’m proud of the Nationals and what we’ve been able to achieve because we’ve done it as a team and there’ll be some big questions that we’ll have to move forward on, but we’ll do that in a calm, methodical way,” Mr Littleproud said.

Mr Hogan said he was humbled to be named deputy leader, and stressed the importance of the party in Canberra, “and we will continue to put regional Australians before everyone else”.

All Nationals policies will now be reviewed, Mr Littleproud said, but he would not be drawn on whether its nuclear ambitions would be dropped and net zero reaffirmed.

He did confirm the party would push for more power within the Coalition, given its numbers remained firm while the Liberals lost seven Lower House seats.