Michael McCormack, who rose this week to the second most powerful job in Australia, sat down privately in his office on Tuesday morning with the man who lost the same job in inglorious fashion.
After a sweat-drenched Barnaby Joyce told reporters outside the parliament that his successor had “a big job in front of him”, and he couldn’t entirely rule out his own resurrection in time, because he didn’t intend to be a “hypocrite” in the event that rising from the political dead suddenly became possible – backbench Barnaby sat down with McCormack for a 30-minute handover.
The new Nationals leader told Guardian Australia in an interview late on Tuesday that he wanted to maintain a dialogue with a politician he readily conceded achieved “celebrity” status with the public. He says he will need to call on Joyce’s “expertise”.
But while proper dignity is being extended to Joyce, there’s also a clearly defined set of terms; a bit of steel in the voice. “I want, expect and know that he will get in behind me and support me as leader – but more than that, I know he will support the National party.”
Having prevailed in Monday’s leadership ballot, McCormack will shuffle the Nationals frontbench positions this week, probably on Thursday. Internally, bad blood persists after the torrid period the Nationals have just endured, and the remnant Joyce clique is keeping a close eye on the new leader’s first big decision.
There is some speculation around that Matt Canavan, the resources minister who used to work for Joyce before he entered the Senate, may not survive the looming deck shuffle, but McCormack is telling colleagues he’s not made any final decisions. He won’t comment at all ahead of the announcement.
McCormack insists he did no deals to secure the party leadership, but internally, the acid test of that will be whether he rewards one of the key insurgents who helped blast out Joyce over the past fortnight. So that means internal eyes on Darren Chester, Andrew Broad and Keith Pitt.
The new leader was shadowed relentlessly in the build-up to Monday’s ballot by a younger up-and-comer from Queensland. McCormack says he has already given a personal assurance to the member for Maranoa, David Littleproud – a key Joyce backer who was rewarded by the former deputy prime minister in a poisonous reshuffle last year – that he will retain the prized agriculture portfolio.
Littleproud was the last to withdraw his candidacy from Monday’s leadership ballot, and was supported by several colleagues, partly because he’s a more punchy character than McCormack, who is viewed in some quarters of the National party as being too recessed, and too close to the Liberals.
Littleproud’s a man on the move, in other words – not someone to make an enemy of in challenging times. “He will remain as the agriculture minister going forward,” McCormack says. “I’ve given him that reassurance. I want the best people in the best jobs and the best people around me”.
But with due credit given, the new boss also makes it clear that it’s also OK for the relative newcomer to take a deep breath and cool his jets for a moment or two. “David Littleproud is 41 years old,” he notes.
“There will be many more rodeos for David Littleproud. He has been a cabinet minister for all of a couple of months. He is going to do some remarkable things in agriculture, some great work.”
McCormack plays down the obvious instability within the junior Coalition partner, and he says it is the culture of the National party to “get in there, in football terminology, ruck behind the new leader. That’s what we’ve always done.”
He insists the National party won’t fall into the pattern of leadership instability that has plagued both the Liberal and Labor parties for more than a decade, and poisoned the atmosphere around the parliament. “I still believe we are above that, I really do.”
The new leader declares, slightly defensively, but without apology, that he will not be like the last one, the one who just burst into flames. “I’m my own person.”
He notes Joyce leveraged his Senate position when he first entered parliament in order to build a national profile, crossing the floor, and burnishing his “maverick” credentials. “He drew the media’s attention.”
McCormack says he doesn’t start with that kind of wind in his sails by way of profile. He says Joyce had a talent for the cut-through one-liner. “I’ve had a few zingers myself from time to time,” he notes in self-deprecating fashion.
“The way I’m going to approach it will be to get out there at town hall meetings, get out there and shake people’s hands and be there amongst the grassroots people. I like that.”
He acknowledges the Nationals are now in a very competitive environment in the regions, but he says the shooters party, One Nation and regional independents, “deliver nothing”. “They can throw stones ... but they are not inside the ministerial tent when decisions are being made.”
He says in the contemporary era, Nationals leaders shouldn’t be on message, they should be “authentic”.
So early in his tenure, the new leader steps carefully through policy areas which are difficult for the Nationals.
Asked whether there is too much foreign investment in the bush given he once railed publicly against an American firm taking over GrainCorp, he notes diplomatically that “foreign investment has made this country what it is”.
“Foreign ownership is good within the parameters we have set,” he says.
Then there’s climate change. Asked whether the science of climate change is settled, McCormack says: “Well you’ve got to give the planet the benefit of the doubt.”
He then resorts to talking about weather. “Seasons come and seasons go. I do believe the weather goes in cycles. My father believed that and he was always generally right about these sorts of things. There are no better environmentalists than farmers.”
Pressed again whether he thinks the planet is warming and humans are making a contribution, McCormack steps around the expression of a direct personal view. “I’ll let the scientists determine that, I’m not a scientist, I’m a politician and a former newspaper editor and a former small business owner.
“We have to the respect the science but we also have to make sure we don’t introduce policies which are going to make people not want to turn on their air conditioner in summer and their heater in winter, and we need to make sure we preserve our economy and people have jobs,” he says.
“We can’t put all our stocks into wind turbines that aren’t going to blow and those sorts of things.”
McCormack has stood up for the rights of irrigators in the Murray Darling. Asked whether he is concerned by evidence of poor governance and allegations of water theft, the Nationals leader says “the proper authorities” will investigate and make recommendations “in due course”.
