Matt Canavan has declared “we need more all-Australian” during his first press conference after being elected the new leader of the Nationals in a vote on the party floor on Wednesday.
The Queensland right-winger defeated Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie in a three-way race to replace David Littleproud, who took colleagues by surprise on Tuesday by announcing he was stepping down as leader.
At a press conference immediately after the vote, Canavan said Australians risked “losing our country” under the government of Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party.
“People are losing their standard of living, they are losing their confidence,” he said.
“We are losing our laid-back, larakin nature, and we have to fight for all Australians.”
But the former management consultant and Productivity Commission staffer said all the solutions to the country’s problems were present in Australia.
“We need to have more Australian agriculture, more Australian manufacturing, more Australian jobs.
“We need to be more all-Australian. We need to manifest a hyper-Australia.
“We need more Australian babies. We need more Australian humour, more Australian jokes, more Australian barbecues, sometimes fueled by fossil fuels. We need more everything Australian. We don’t need to look overseas for our solutions.”
Victorian Darren Chester was elected deputy leader, replacing Hogan. McKenzie will remain the party’s leader in the Senate.
Canavan said he did not expect any major changes in the relationship between the Nationals and the Liberal Party, after a difficult nine months since the last election, which saw the Coalition split twice under Littleproud.
Asked about rumors he could seek a move to the lower house, Canavan did not rule out a tilt but said his main priority was leading the party. He has been publicly linked to the seat of Capricornia, which is currently held by National MP Michelle Landry.
The new leadership team will be tasked with helping rebuild the Coalition’s dire position in the polls and fending off One Nation’s attempt to gain ground in regional Australia.
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The first test will come in the presidential election on May 9, triggered by the withdrawal from parliament of former Liberal leader Sussan Ley.
Canavan said identity politics was spreading across the political divide, suggesting One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was trying to pit Australians against each other.
“Pauline has been in politics more than twice as long as I have and I struggle to point out a single dam, a single road, a single hospital that Pauline has provided in Australia.
“I can point to a lot of those things in the work I’ve done with Michelle Landy, Colin Boyce and others in central Queensland.”
Elected in 2013 after serving as chief of staff to Nationals defector Barnaby Joyce, Canavan has become the National party’s most influential and hardline right-wing voice.
He led the campaign to eliminate net zero by 2050, advocated for the construction of new coal-fired power plants and opposed Covid-19 vaccine mandates.
Asked about his positions on top-level policy issues, Canavan confirmed Guardian Australia reports this week that he had agreed to a federal government rebate scheme to install solar power, despite claiming the subsidies were a “green energy scam”.
“Everything I stood for, everything I have stood for, which, what we are all doing now as a National and Liberal team, is for us to use all the resources that God has given us for the benefit of the Australian people,” he said.
