Election 2022: Barnaby Joyce returns to Nicholls to support Nationals candidate Sam Birrell

The Coalition is under attack from independents all over the country, including a one-time Nationals stronghold in regional Victoria.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has returned to the hotly contested regional seat of Nicholls for the second time since the federal election was called to double down on his fears about the Coalition stronghold falling to an independent.

Mr Joyce was in Shepparton early Tuesday for the announcement of a $19.5 million pledge from a re-elected Coalition government towards building a clinical health school in the Goulburn Valley capital.

He was joined by Victorian Senator and Regional Education Minister Bridget McKenzie and the two Coalition candidates in Nicholls, the Nationals’ Sam Birrell and Liberal Stephen Brooks, who are both standing following the retirement of Damian Drum.

Mr Drum holds the seat with a margin of 20 per cent, but a big threat is being posed by independent candidate Robert Priestly.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie and Nationals' candidate in Nicholls, Sam Birrell in Shepparton on Tuesday. Picture: Supplied

Asked how concerned he was about the Coalition losing Nicholls, Mr Joyce said: “I don’t take any seat for granted.

“Every person you meet, you take them deadly seriously and you understand one of the greatest honours you will ever have in your life is to represent this nation.

“That means you’ve got to make the hard decisions and the first hard decision you have to make is who are you actually going to be on in regards to the political process in Canberra, which is not multi.

“You have a government and you have an opposition and the government runs the country.”

A staggering 29 per cent of Australians will support a minor party or independent at the federal election, according to the latest polls.https://t.co/DdEBHR69ax

— 3AW Melbourne (@3AW693) April 26, 2022

Mr Joyce said incumbent independent MPs and those seeking to join them in Canberra were being hypocritical when they wouldn’t publicly declare whether they would back the Coalition or Labor in the event of a hung parliament when continually seeking transparency from the government.

The Nationals leader attempted to hammer home his point with an AFL analogy.

“The thing you’ve got to be straightest about is which side you actually back,” he said.

“You can either be playing for St Kilda or Collingwood, you can’t be playing for both in the same game.

“What (independents) say is ‘no, we are sort of in a third side’ and sometimes run in either direction.

“Any person who understands politics or AFL says ‘that is garbage’.”

Mr Joyce was previously in Nicholls for the opening of the Echuca-Moama bridge and to announce funding for a sports stadium in Yarrawonga soon after the May 21 election was called.

Mr Priestly said the federal government had finally discovered Nicholls existed.

Independent candidate in Nicholls, Rob Priestly, has welcomed the extra focus on the electorate. Picture: Zoe Phillips

“The whole point of me running as an independent is to end the years of neglect,” he said.

“We want our community to have a strong voice in Canberra and competition is going to help create that.”

On whether he would back the Coalition or Labor in a hung parliament, Mr Priestly said: “This community already knows pledging support doesn’t get rewarded.

“I will be a hard-nosed negotiator on behalf of my community.

“I respect this is a conservative community and I come from a conservative, farming and business background.

“But I’m not going to give the Coalition a blank cheque.”

Mr Joyce later travelled to Mildura to pledge $13.5 million towards a continuous, 36km riverside path from Red Cliffs to Yelta in the Mallee electorate held by fellow Nationals’ MP Anne Webster.

Also, the Coalition has also committed $845,000 towards building a long care daycare centre in Murtoa which will provide 30 places for the combined communities of Minyip, Murtoa and Rupanyup.