Nationals leader and acting PM says issue ‘important for those people that it affects’ but people are more focused on cost of living in his community

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The acting prime minister, Michael McCormack, has said he has no view “one way or another” on gay conversion therapy in his first major speech as Nationals leader.

Speaking to the National Press Club on Thursday, McCormack outlined a vision for attracting doctors and teachers to the bush but appeared stumped when asked about an issue that has distracted the Coalition this week after it was proposed by some Victorian Liberals.

“I will be perfectly honest ... I have not really looked into it enough to really make a view on it one way or the other,” he said.

Who is Michael McCormack? The life and controversies of Australia's new deputy PM Read more

“I certainly will, but it’s not something that I have really explored.”

The Victorian Liberals’ state council was to debate a motion to allow doctors to “offer counselling out of same-sex attraction or gender transitioning” before president Michael Kroger intervened to shut the issue down.

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On Tuesday the health minister, Greg Hunt, said he and the government do not support gay conversion therapy but refused to condemn Liberal members for proposing the motion, defending them in a bizarre interview by repeatedly asking ABC broadcaster Patricia Karvelas to support “freedom of speech”.

Play Video 1:44 Greg Hunt interrogates Patricia Karvelas over 'free speech' – audio

McCormack acknowledged the issue is “important for those people that it affects” but said that the people in his community are “more interested in making sure there are jobs there, making sure there’s downward pressure on the cost of living”.

The Nationals leader cited the fact he had only been in the job for “a little over six weeks” and he had been undertaking consultations in his new portfolio of infrastructure so had not had time to examine the issue.

McCormack, who took over when Barnaby Joyce resigned in February, has throughout his political career repeatedly renounced homophobic views he expressed in 1993 in an editorial while editor of Wagga Wagga’s Daily Advertiser.

McCormack’s speech echoed many of the themes of Joyce’s leadership, particularly the economic importance of infrastructure projects, including the inland rail and the Rookwood weir.

He acknowledged that the relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Armidale was “not without controversy”, but defended it as “ultimately ... the right thing to do”.

Asked about Joyce’s outspoken comments from the backbench and whether he should return to the frontbench, McCormack said that Nationals are not “frightened to speak their mind”.

Greg Hunt interview goes off rails over 'free speech' and gay conversion therapy Read more

“We are in a country where free speech is exercised, and Barnaby, yes, he’s on the backbench, yes, he will contribute to our party mightily in the future, I have every faith that will happen.”

Asked about Joyce’s calls for the government to build a new coal-fired power station, McCormack replied that the Coalition’s national energy guarantee is “technology-neutral and so it provides incentives and encouragement for investment in all types of energy production”.

He argued that airline Qantas had been struggling in 2013 but recovered without government assistance after being told “that’s not the government priority or prerogative to do”.

“I hope that there is investment in future coalmining [and] coal-fired power-stations,” he said, suggesting that the coal industry, like the airline, should be commercially viable on its own.