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Nationals senator Matt Canavan has blamed record-low polling for the Coalition on”disillusionment” in the voting public and a failure of policy within the opposition, as he dismissed suggestions there could be a challenge to party leader David Littleproud this year.
“I’m not surprised by the movements in the polls. The answer to them, for us, though, is to deal with those underlying issues that people have. To put forward proper plans and policies that are going to make people’s lives better. It’s as simple as that. So that’s what I’ve been focused the whole time, whole time I’ve been in Parliament, but particularly since the election,” Canavan told Sky News this morning.
“I mean, we’ve dropped this net zero madness now, giving us hope for a future that we can lower energy prices and bring manufacturing jobs back to Australia. The next thing we’ve got to do, obviously, is take up the charge on the Labor Party’s ridiculous open borders migration policy and end the student visa scam,” he said.
The Coalition has been rocked by the most recent Newspoll from The Australian which put their primary vote at 18 per cent, with only 3 per cent of that vote going to the National Party. The polling has fuelled a potential leadership challenge in the Liberal Party this week, from defence spokesperson Angus Taylor, but similar moves in the Nationals have not been mooted.
Canavan, who unsuccessfully challenged David Littleproud for the Nationals’ leadership after last year’s election, said there would not be another leadership spill in the junior Coalition partner this year.
“I don’t think we should fall into the One Nation trap of being obsessed over personnel and not over policy. They’ve seemed to have spent more time in the last few months, One Nation, focusing on the latest defection, rather than focusing on drafting amendments,” Canavan said.
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