The new leader of the New South Wales Nationals, Dugald Saunders, will seek to shift the party’s brand away from “sucking on straw in a paddock” to regain young professional voters, after his predecessor was ousted in a party room meeting.
Paul Toole was axed as the party’s leader on Monday, leaving the Nationals with less than 24 hours to redraw its Coalition agreement before parliament sits for the first time since the state election that saw Labor installed in minority government in March.
The Liberals also met on Monday and voted to change party rules to allow upper house member and former minister Natalie Ward to become its new deputy leader.
Saunders said the National party had not performed strongly at the election and it needed to evolve to remind voters what it stands for.
“We’re kidding ourselves if we think it’s the same old, same old,” the Dubbo MP said.
“I’m not the same person as Paul Toole and I do things differently and I’m hoping that will bring different people with me on the journey.”
Saunders will have to reunite the party that had been damaged by the decision of former arts minister Ben Franklin to run for upper house president, with the backing of the premier, Chris Minns.
Franklin’s decision has been publicly criticised by Coalition MPs, including Toole, who said it was “distressing” and a betrayal of the party. The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, described it as “treacherous”,
However on Monday, Franklin contradicted Toole’s public version of events, insisting the now-former leader knew he was going for the position and had encouraged him to do so.
“At one point he said if the Liberals don’t want you to do it, I think you should do it anyway because this is really good for us,” Franklin told the Sydney Morning Herald.
The revelation left several Nationals indignant and brought on the leadership ballot .
Saunders has spoken with Franklin and will “wait and see if he’s elected first” before committing to move to expel him from the parliamentary party.
The position will go to a vote on Tuesday, as will the lower house speaker position to which independent Greg Piper is expected to be comfortably elected.
Speakman said Franklin’s decision was a “a very clear case of someone taking the money and running” and acting in self-interest.
“The biggest sanction for someone like that is not the threat of expulsion, not the threat of someone referring them to Icac but the trashing of their own reputation and their conscience for the rest of their lives,” he said.
Under the draft Coalition agreement, Toole had claimed the police portfolio but that is expected to change – possibly switching to a Liberal – under the redrafted agreement hoped to be finalised before the 58th parliament kicks off on Tuesday.
Saunders met again with the party room late on Monday afternoon to discuss the final details before meeting again with Speakman.
The Nationals drama overshadowed what should have been a big success story for the Liberals, with the party overwhelmingly voting to change the rules to allow a member of the upper house to run for deputy and installing Ward in the role.
The most senior NSW Liberal woman has long been touted as the future of the party despite multiple attempts to see her rise through the ranks being blocked internally.
Labor plans to use the first week of parliament to introduce legislation to protect Sydney Water from privatisation and reform rental laws.
