Nationals leadership: Peter Walsh to re-stand as Vic Nationals leader

Victorian Nationals will vote on who leads their party on Wednesday, with Peter Walsh re-standing.

Victorian Nationals MP Peter Walsh (right) wants to stay in Coalition with the Liberals, despsite Matt Guy’s urban losses.

The Victorian Nationals strong performance has all but guaranteed Peter Walsh will be re-elected as leader on Wednesday and the party will remain in Coalition with the Liberals.

“I will be nominating for the leadership again given the result we’ve had,” Mr Walsh said. “I want to assist and mentor our new group of MPs.”

Mr Walsh dismissed comments from the party’s Gippsland South MP Danny O’Brien that the Nationals should consider splitting from the Liberals as out of line.

“If we are going to present as a strong alternative government we have to work together,” Mr Walsh said.

Mr O’Brien said “I’m not pushing for a split, simply that after an election we should be reviewing our path forward”.

Nationals MP for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien says he is not pushing for a split from the Liberals, but that it should be on the table for discussion.

Ultimately the Nationals final position may be determined by who the Liberals elect as their leader, given strong opposition from country MPs to potential Liberal candidate and member for Warrandyte, Ryan Smith.

Mr O’Brien is widely regarded as a contender for the Nationals leadership, but the numbers are stacked against him, given the party’s strong performance across the state’s north, where Mr Walsh dominates.

The party is on track to win nine Lower House seats, three more than they held during the last term.

“As far as most new members, it’s the best result we’ve had since 1943,” Mr Walsh said, which he attributed to strong grassroots campaigns and local candidates.

“The reason for our success was (selecting) local champions that lived in those areas, who as MPs would go into fight for them.”

Two of the stand out results were in Mildura and Shepparton, where the Nationals knocked out independent MPs.

Shepparton independent Suzanna Sheed and her Mildura counterpart Ali Cupper have relied heavily on Labor Party preferences in the past to get ahead of Liberal-Nationals candidates.

But Mr Walsh said Labor selected candidates for the independent-held seats “with just a few weeks to go” until the election.

The impact was a major slump in the Labor vote, which in Shepparton went from 11.56 per cent in 2018 to just 7.51 per cent, cutting the preference flow to Ms Sheed.

In Mildura Labor’s vote went from 17.21 per cent to just 6 per cent, gutting the preference flow to Ms Cupper.

While Mr Walsh has committed to stay on as the Nationals member for Murray Plains until the next election in 2026, it is likely to be his last term, after entering parliament in 2003.