John Anderson was a strange choice to review the structure and operations of the National Party following its disastrous Federal Election performance, considering he was an architect of the party’s demise.
The Nationals were indistinguishable from the Liberals under his leadership. It’s difficult to pinpoint any National Party legacy from the former Coalition Government.
The National Party (formerly the Country Party) has existed for 90 years as a collective of state-based organisations. Each state party has a unique history.
In Victoria, the Country Party became strong through the support of soldier settlers and small-scale dairyfarmers. The party governed with Labor support for many years.
In New South Wales (and I assume Western Australia) the party represented graziers and broadacre farmers.
In Queensland it has always represented everyone outside Brisbane, hence its strength.
It’s not rocket science to observe the National Party has lost seats because of changing demographics, the end to country electoral weightings and subservience to the Liberals.
The only state where this trend has been reversed, albeit slightly, is in Victoria, and surely that’s the role model for federal navel gazers.
In Victoria, leader Peter Ryan quit the Coalition in Opposition and set about restoring the National Party brand. He defied doomsday predictions to win two lower house seats at the last election, including my former home area of Morwell for the first time.
Under Coalition agreements, the parties never stand against each other unless a sitting member retires or boundaries change. It inevitably happens that when a National Party MP retires the seat goes to the Liberal Party for reasons mentioned above.
The certain outcome of a potential merger between the Liberal and National Parties, or the creation of a new party, is that a country rump will splinter and challenge.
Some might say good riddance to the current Federal Nationals and welcome to a new country party. The danger though is that no single country voice will form out of the split.
Another danger is that right-wing nutters will become the country voice or win seats as independents.
I think Australia and the states are better off having a strong independent National Party to represent country people in the various parliaments. That party should lean to the left on economic issues and to the right on social issues.
The party should form coalitions on their merits and never while in opposition. The party should be prepared to deal with Labor if the outcome is positive for country people.
