THE Nationals’ revenge mission to unseat Mildura independent MP Ali Cupper is gathering force.
Ms Cupper rocked the Nats at the 2018 state poll by overcoming the 8.4 per cent margin held by their incumbent MP, Peter Crisp.
Ms Cupper, a former Mildura deputy mayor who won by just 237 votes, will go to the November 2022 poll with a wafer-thin margin of 0.3 per cent.
The Nats’ preparations to win back the seat are ramping up for a preselection vote early next year.
State leader Peter Walsh revealed during a sit-down interview with Sunraysia Daily this week that several “high-profile” locals had approached the party to take on Ms Cupper at the next poll.
“We’ve actually got people approaching us to run, which I think is a positive,” Mr Walsh said, before declining to name names.
“Local people will know who they are.
“The best candidate will be someone who already has a track record of advocacy and involvement in the community.
“There are people like that who have joined our party recently with a direct view to running for preselection (in Mildura).”
The Barnaby effect
Mr Walsh expressed his disappointment at Michael McCormack losing the leadership of the federal National Party to the polarising Barnaby Joyce.
“We felt Michael was doing a good job for Victoria and we were happy with the projects he was championing and funding,” Mr Walsh said.
“The choice of federal leader is a matter for their party room, and the ball’s now in Barnaby’s court to prove that he reflected (on his failings) during his time on the backbench and is coming back to do the job properly.”
Mr Joyce stood down as federal leader three years ago following revelations of an affair with his media adviser and allegations of sexual harassment of a female rural advocate that he has strongly denied.
Asked how he thinks Mr Joyce’s rise back up the party’s ranks will affect the women’s vote, Mr Walsh said: “Barnaby has said he’s come back a different person – and it’s now up to him to prove it to his detractors.”
Climate change
One of the biggest issues at the next state and federal polls is likely to be climate change.
Member for Mallee Anne Webster recently steered clear of backing a net-zero emissions target for Australia by 2050.
“Look, I think it is more important that we are putting in place the objective – but we are not going to put a signature on a piece of paper and then not achieve it,” the Nationals MP said.
“What I prefer is that we’re not effectively virtue-signalling, we’re actually doing something about it.”
Sunraysia Daily this week asked Mr Walsh his position in relation to a zero emissions target.
“Well, I think the National Party has got to be part of that debate about framing it so the regions benefit from it as part of the renewable energy mix,” he said.
“The challenge we’ve got is people are basing decisions for the future on the technology of today without taking into account the changes in technology.
“The peak agriculture bodies have actually signed up themselves to do things, but there is no government framework for them to do it.
“And the big corporates are also making decisions on this. They’ve got ahead of government policy and I don’t think that’s good for the economy.”
Border closures
The Victorian Nationals leader has again called on the Andrews Government to make pandemic-enforced lockdowns “more proportional” in the future.
Lockdown 5.0 is groundhog day for regional communities such as Mildura, where there hasn’t been a COVID case for more than a year.
“Our argument all through this pandemic is that the response should be more proportional,” Mr Walsh said.
“It should be lockdown by postcode or local government area – not locking down the entire state.”
Premier Daniel Andrews and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have been at each other’s throats this week as the lockdown blame game fires back up.
“We’ve got this bloody finger-pointing again,” Mr Walsh said.
“People are just sick of the politics around these lockdowns and border closures.
“In any crisis, the premiers should rise above just blaming the Commonwealth for everything.
“They need to take some responsibility themselves for what they are supposed to do.
“We have to get to a COVID normal where the economy and the community can keep functioning.”
