Matt Canavan once believed the Nationals should not be led by a senator
AARON PATRICK The first senator to lead the country-based party once dismissed the suggestion the leader could come from the upper house.
Four years ago I asked Matt Canavan a simple question: was he interested in running for leader of the Nationals following the 2022 election?
The Queensland senator came back with what seemed like definitive answer. “Seriously I am not interested and I don’t think realistic from the Senate,” he said in a text message.
I asked if he might support deputy leader Bridget McKenzie, a senator from Victoria.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“I don’t think it should be a senator,” he replied.
Senator Canavan has obviously changed his mind about the challenges of leading the junior Coalition partner from the upper house.
There are no legal or constitutional impediments, according to legal academic Anne Twomey. The main difficulty is practical: in the theatre of politics, the House of Representatives is the main show.
Senator Canavan will never be able to ask Anthony Albanese or Treasurer Jim Chalmers a question during question time. He will not be able to confer with Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor at the dispatch box over parliamentary tactics. He will never be present on the chamber floor for a budget speech.
Lower house switch?
Such practical problems are why One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce predicts the senator will run in the lower house seat of Capricornia at the election. The seat is held by the 63-year-old Michelle Landry, the Nationals’ chief whip.
That could be two years away. In the meantime, Senator Canavan’s election on Wednesday as the party’s 17th leader will elevate the profile of the Senate, which he will share with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
Senator Canavan is the answer to the question posed by the rise of One Nation: what does the Coalition partner stand for? His response on Wednesday was clear. As a believer in “hyper Australia”, he wants more of everything Australian, from babies to factories.
He supports coal power, nuclear energy, and drilling for gas. When Western Australia was criticised for receiving a bigger share of GST taxes, he questioned why the resource-friendly state should be penalised because NSW and Victoria refused to approve fracking, which cost them billions in revenue.
“Everything we need to make Australia the country it was in our past is here,” he said on Wednesday.
One Nation
His nationalism is a potent threat to One Nation, which has surged in popularity with the defection of former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, who used to be Senator Canavan’s boss.
Senator Canavan is offering One Nation supporters most of what they seek, with one big exception. He rejects Senator Hanson’s rejection of Australian Muslims, who comprise about 3 per cent of the population.
After the One Nation leader said there were no good Muslims last month, a comment she issued a qualified apology for, Senator Canavan said her comments were “clearly inflammatory and wrong”.
“We’re all Australians ,” he said on Wednesday. “What unites us as a country is more than what divides us, even when we have robust debates.”
Of course, Senator Canavan will be too right wing for many people, including many in the Liberal Party trying to win back voters in the inner cities, where coal is like kryptonite.
He lacks the patrician demeanour of predecessor Michael McCormack, the mad intensity of Barnaby Joyce or the folksy charm of Tim Fischer.
The senator is a new kind of political leader; one that might be fit for the new age.
Part-professor (he was a senior government economist), retro-radical (his screen saver used to say: “Bring back coal”) and ideologically stubborn (he refused to accept the Coalition’s net zero climate policy, keeping him off the front bench), Senator Canavan has risen to the top of his party through the force of his beliefs and willingness to prosecute them.
The Coalition needs him, research suggests. On Wednesday morning Sky News published an opinion poll that found working class support is greater for One Nation than the Coalition.
In what Sky said was a unique result, One Nation led the government 51 to 49 per cent among working class voters, according to polling by YouGov over the past week.
That doesn’t mean One Nation is the alternate government. The Labor Party remains well ahead. But it is more proof of the Coalition haemorrhaging support on its right, which Senator Canavan and Mr Taylor will now focus on winning back.
As for the centre, it will have to wait.
