NATIONALS leader Barnaby Joyce says an attempt by the rural and regional Liberals to imitate his party’s brand by erecting new corflutes in their parliament office windows - to present a united front and push harder to influence Malcolm Turnbull into appointing a cabinet member from within their country ranks - is backhanded flattery.
“I’ve seen it and all I can say is mimicry is the greatest compliment,” he said.
“It’s exactly our corflute (but) coloured blue.
“It’s a question for them (why they’re doing it) but all I take that as is a sign that we’re doing a good job.”
Rural Liberals have upped the ante in urging Mr Turnbull to appoint a cabinet member with genuine rural ties; an issue that’s caused tensions, due to feeling they’re underrepresented at the top end of decision-making, since NSW MP Sussan Ley resigned as Health Minister earlier this year.
They’ve also become increasingly agitated at the Nationals’ increased prominence with five cabinet members while stamping their political brand, as the party for regional Australia, on major budget announcements like the $8.4 billion to the inland rail.
But Mr Joyce said it was “ridiculous” for Liberal rural Senators and MPs to say the Nationals were dominating the political policy agenda in Canberra, within the Coalition’s ranks.
“When people say you’re dominating the show, you say ‘hang on, you’ve got the Prime Ministership, you’ve got the Treasury, you’ve got the Finance Minister and Trade, the Foreign Affairs Minister, the President of the Senate and Speaker of House,” he said.
“We have our roles too – there’s give and take in all of this – but what I do know is, if it all fell apart, nobody has any more jobs.”
Mr Joyce conceded his words were also aimed at a call for unity within the Coalition and “it’s exactly the same deal” in regards to recent outspoken comments from former Prime Minister Tony Abbott that are undermining the government’s policy agenda and Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership.
“What I firmly believe is we have an incredibly important job to do in government and the only way you can do that job in government is to be in government,” the Agriculture and Water Resources Minister and Deputy Prime Minister said.
“If you want to see the inland rail built, stay in government.
“If you want to see the dams built, stay in government.
“If you want to see the Regional Investment Corporation set up, stay in government.
“If you want to see a decentralisation program rolled out, stay in government.
“If they want to see Badgery's Creek (second Sydney airport) built, stay in government.”
Mr Joyce said none of these government tasks would ever be done from opposition.
“The Labor party has basically said they’re not going to build the inland rail; they’re going to take money out of the water portfolio to stop dams; and I haven’t heard of what they’re going to actually do in agriculture except comment on our policies,” he said.
“They’re not in favour of dams; they’re not in favour of the Regional Investment Corporation; and they’ve allocated no money to the inland rail.
“And they don’t believe in the decentralisation agenda so for regional people I don’t think it’d be a good idea to be in opposition.
“And they do believe in more caveats on how you run your place, including more stringent tree clearing guidelines.
“I’ve got no intention to go the opposition and I don’t think that’s going to be helping any of the people in regional Australia.
“If you split from the Coalition we’re out of government.
“We just want things to settle down and get back to work.”
Liberals say it’s just a reminder
NSW rural Liberal MP Angus Taylor is a member of the Turnbull ministry but the bloc of rural Liberals would like to see him, or Victorian MP Dan Tehan, elevated to cabinet to bridge the gap in country representation, amid ongoing talk of a looming reshuffle.
Mr Taylor said the new corflutes were a reminder that “a large number” of regional Liberals were also in the parliament.
“And like the Nats, we’re hard fighting every day for regional Australia and we’ll continue to do that and for agriculture,” he said.
“I’ve been a strong advocate in parliament for agriculture and even before I went into parliament.
“We get great strength in the government by having a large number of rural and regional Liberals as well as Nats.”
Mr Taylor denied the new corflutes were born out of frustration due to the Nationals seeming dominance of the regional agenda, within the Coalition.
“There’s always been a consciousness that there’s a large number of rural and regional Libs and we fight for the issues in regional and rural Australia that count – that’s nothing new – we’ve always been vigorous and we’ll continue to be,” he said.
He also downplayed talk the Nationals may be looking to target Liberal held rural seats at the next election, like his electorate of Hume, amid Liberal infighting.
“I think the Coalition is strong; we’re working well together; but it’s important to remember there’s just as strong a voice of rural and regional Liberals just as there is from the Nationals,” he said.
Mr Taylor also declined to comment specifically on the leadership tensions between Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull that have flared-up in recent days.
“I’m interested in policies and not personalities,” he said.
“We’re focussed on the issues that count, getting the infrastructure investment happening and focussing on these free trade agreements – that’s what matters.”
Queensland Nationals MP Keith Pitt acknowledged tensions existed within the Coalition’s ranks among rural members but he said he was focussed on achieving outcomes the Australian public also wanted.
“I didn’t jump into the political pool to splash the other kids in the face,” he said.
“Our team, their team, it doesn’t matter.
“We’re all here to deliver and that’s all the Australian public care about.
“They want us to deliver and that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Liberals a ‘broad church’ including for the regions
SA Liberal rural MP Tony Pasin said the rural Liberal caucus met regularly and at a recent meeting Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch “thought it would be useful if we identified ourselves via these corflutes”.
“He came to a meeting with the corflutes, encouraging country members to put them in their office windows and it’s just a subtle reminder that that particular member represents a rural, regional or remote constituency and is a member of the Liberal party,” he said.
“It’s well understood, certainly amongst those members, that the Liberal party has a proud history and tradition of representing rural, regional and remote Australians and it’s useful that from time to time we remind the broader membership of the parliament and the Coalition that there is a strong group of Liberals who represent country constituents.
“The meeting is available to any member who represents a rural, regional or remote constituency so it’s quite easy to work out who the members are.
“This is about ensuring that the views of rural and regional Australia are reflected in the Liberal party room and the views of country Liberals are voiced loud and clear in the Coalition party room.”
Mr Pasin said the branding was also born out of a desire to remind people the Liberal party, “which is both a broad church ideologically, but certainly also geographically” and has a proud tradition of representing regional areas.
“It’s also a tradition that’s carried forward in the current generation,” he said.
“This is about ensuring the Liberal party brand does not become synonymous with metropolitan or suburban representation but has always had and continues to have a very broad constituency which includes, in a very significant part, rural communities.”
Mr Pasin said the Nationals had corflutes which indicated ‘The National Party for regional Australia’ and Mr Entch’s intervention meant rural Liberals had one that said ‘The Liberal party for regional Australia’.
“But from my perspective, I’d much prefer all of them to say, ‘The Coalition for regional Australia’ and it’s a pity we’re not in that position,” he said.
“I came to the parliament as someone who didn’t describe himself as a Coalitionist but I quickly became one because I saw that only as a Coalition can we govern with any authority, if at all.
“It’s a shame that there seems to be a trend away from those Coalition principles.
“But I’d like to think this is an opportunity to acknowledge, that whilst we come from different parties, we’re at our strongest when we come together under the Coalition banner.”
Be careful about giving government to Labor
Mr Pasin said he also understood the frustrations of Nationals’ members who fear losing government due to Tony Abbott’s undermining of Mr Turnbull and the Coalition’s policy agenda.
“I can understand the frustration that’s been expressed on behalf of the junior Coalition partner – I share that frustration,” he said.
“I think almost every member of the Liberal party I speak to understands that disunity and division will only lead into tears and like them, I and every colleague I speak to, is asking members to come together in a unified approach, to ensure the re-election of Malcolm Turnbull.
“Because the alternative, from my perspective and my electorate’s perspective, is just not tenable and if we don’t come together we will deliver the keys to the lodge to Bill Shorten and I expect his first dinner guest at the lodge will be John Setka of the CFMEU.”
Mr Pasin said he was unconcerned about the Nationals targeting his seat of Barker. As there was no Coalition agreement in SA – unlike NSW and Victoria or in Queensland where the two parties are merged, so the Nationals were “at liberty” to run in every seat in his state, as they are in WA.
“But what I’d hope the Coalition is focussed on is maximising the potential for seats to be won from Labor to ensure that a slim majority in the House of Representatives can be built upon, in the 46th parliament,” he said.
The rise of One Nation in regional Australia at recent polls - with four crossbench Senators in Canberra and three elected to the WA parliament at the recent eleciton - is also causing anxiety within Coalition ranks.
The Liberals country representation has also suffered major setbacks at the last election with the retirement of long-serving NSW Senator and farmer Bill Heffernan and loss of former Assistant Agriculture Minister Richard Colbeck.
The retirement of former Trade Minister Andrew Robb who was also a former Executive Director of the National Farmers’ Federation has also been a blow along with the recent retirement of WA Senator Chris Back who was a strong advocate for rural issues and the livestock sector.
An MP who asked not to be named said Liberal members were “filthy” with Tony Abbott’s recent public comments.