The leadership positions spill after every election.
Australia’s political landscape experienced a major shift over the weekend as a swathe of independents were elected, but the Nationals hung on in Nicholls.
Like in many metropolitan seats, led by the success of the so-called teal independents, there was a major shift towards an independent candidate, Rob Priestly, who also campaigned on strong action on climate change.
Mr Birrell was successful in his bid to replace retiring Nationals member Damian Drum, but Mr Drum’s 20 per cent margin was cut to 4.7 per cent.
Speaking after conceding defeat, Mr Priestly said despite the loss, his campaign had brought change.
“Nicholls is not going to be taken for granted in the near future, I think that's a really good outcome and all of our campaign team and our community can be really proud of that change,” he said.
Water security was also central to the Nicholls election.
Mr Birrell will enter Parliament to sit on the opposition benches, and will have to deal with an unknown quantity after Labor’s shadow water minister Terri Butler lost her seat to a Greens candidate.
Climate change was a major driver of the success of independents in metropolitan areas, and even in the neighbouring seat of Indi, which was retained by independent Helen Haines with a seven per cent swing.
Current Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce is on the record, however, as saying his party has got the balance right.
He told the Australian Financial Review: “The fact is, the Nationals held up all their seats and added a senator.
“The Nationals grew as a party from the election, which is a credit to all who were part of the campaign.”
When asked by the ABC, Mr Joyce also left open the possibility of the Nationals scrapping the net zero emissions by 2050 target the Coalition took to the election.
The man he replaced as leader, and Member for Riverina just a few hours up the road from Nicholls, Michael McCormack, backed the net zero policy and has hinted that Mr Joyce’s leadership contributed to the Coalition’s loss of government.
“The leadership change last year shouldn’t have happened,” he told Guardian Australia.
“Whether that influenced the inner-city seats, where I was very popular, and provided a lot of infrastructure as minister, and spent a lot of time in, will be for others to decide.”
Mr Joyce and Mr McCormack are likely to be contenders for the Nationals leadership when the party’s members meet in Canberra, and others may yet emerge.
But it’s not so much which leader Mr Birrell will back in a leadership contest, as the philosophies he’s seen to support.
“I was on the record as one of the Nationals that supported our position on net zero and I’ve been strong on that, and I’m also open to an integrity commission, so as a candidate, I don’t think I was against those things,” Mr Birrell said on Monday.
“The National party I ran as a candidate for had a party room position of net zero, so that’s where I’m at.”
Asked if he’d been approached to support anyone in particular for the Nationals leadership, he said: “Not as yet.”
Mr Joyce was a frequent visitor to Nicholls in recent months to campaign with Mr Birrell.
