Anthony to take Nationals' reins

Mr Anthony is expected to be elected unopposed, when the National party’s federal council meets in Canberra this weekend.

But he will attend the council meeting after achieving the required conference delegate status through a vacancy with the South Australian National party branch.

Mr Anthony was forced to move onto the South Australian division after other options were shut down to pursue his presidency nomination, with conference delegate nominations already decided for the NSW and Queensland branches.

WA National Party life member and former State politician Dexter Davies has served as the party’s federal Senior Vice President for the past three years and is expected to re-nominate for that post.

But Mr Davies had also nominated for the national president’s role and was subsequently ruled out after being told he had a conflict of interest by the WA Department of Premier and Cabinet.

The Department’s ruling last week was based on Mr Davies’ current employment as a senior policy adviser in the office of WA National Party leader and Regional Development Minister Terry Redman.

Mr Anthony will be replacing Christine Ferguson who lives on a sheep and cattle farming property in Gundagai and has been federal president since 2012.

Speculation had suggested east coast Nationals resisted having a WA president who was employed by a WA government minister and was too far removed from the east coast where most federal members served in either NSW or Queensland.

They were also concerned about Mr Anthony’s potential conflicts of interest while working as a mining lobbyist, and had subsequently pushed for retiring LNP president Bruce McIver to take on the role.

Sources close to the issue said they believed Mr Mclver would also help stimulate the fundraising needed to try and run stronger election campaigns in marginal electorates and expand the party’s political footprint federally.

He was also seen as a driving force behind the LNP’s formation in Queensland through the merger of the Liberal and National parties in 2008.

But Mr Anthony told Fairfax Media that, as it stands, he will become the next federal president of the National party at the weekend’s council meeting - a position he was “honoured” to serve in.

He said he wanted to build harmony within the federal party’s administration and provide strong administrative support.

Mr Anthony said he wanted the Nationals to be a strong independent party and strong Coalition partner, to maximise chances of re-election at the next federal poll.

“I also want to help provide a strong voice for people in the regions, which is what the National Party is all about,” he said.

“I’m honoured to have the opportunity to provide strong administrative support to the party’s parliamentary wing.

”This is about providing hope and opportunity for people living in the regions who we’ve represented for decades.”

Mr Anthony said he had also moved to resolve any potential conflict of interests associated with his role as a registered lobbyist, which would have provided a headache for the party.

The former stockbroker said he had a number of business interests but had now sought to remove his name from the lobby register, which he expected to occur by the weekend.

Set to turn 54 in December, Mr Anthony represented Richmond from 1996 to 2004 and was the third generation of his family to serve in parliament, behind his father Doug Anthony and grandfather.

One party source who asked not to be named said the process to elect a new president had been a “balls up” but was now resolved, ahead of the weekend’s conference.

Mr Davies is also the father of current WA Central Wheatbelt MP Mia Davies who is also the Minister for Sport and Recreation, Water and Forestry.