LNP senator says members have ‘a healthy disrespect of authority’ as drought crisis causes tensions to boil over

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Matt Canavan claims the past month has seen the “National party at its finest”, despite the public airing of leadership tensions and ongoing resentment at minor parties taking credit for the Nationals’ work.

The National party’s drought plan was leaked to the media on Thursday ahead of the government’s own drought strategy response later this week, as the Coalition partners tussle over who has leadership on the issue.

A party room meeting of National MPs last Monday saw tensions boil over, with discussion of a spill against deputy leader Bridget McKenzie, after Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party was able to claim credit for a dairy farmer code of conduct that National MPs had been working towards for more than a year.

Deputy Nationals leader rejected more than 600 grants recommended by Sport Australia Read more

But the Queensland senator Matt Canavan said his party had been at “its finest” in recent weeks.

“This is what our members do,” he told the ABC Insiders program.

“They have a healthy disrespect of authority and a healthy respect of their constituents. They come to Canberra to fight for them. That’s what my colleagues have been doing for the past two weeks. And I’m confident that very soon the government will do more to help drought-affected farmers, help our dairy industry.

“When we do so, a lot of the claim and credit can go to those members who come to Canberra and do their jobs.”

The drought response has been a source of tension for many National MPs, who remain concerned it will start to impact their standing in their electorates.

The Morrison government is expected to release its long-awaited response to drought coordinator general Stephen Day’s report following a cabinet meeting this week. The Nationals have called for another $1.3bn in funding, in a report put together by National backbenchers and spearheaded by former deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce.

But it is not just the drought that has National MPs worried.

High energy costs continue to impact the resources sector, with mining giant Rio Tinto the latest to sound the alarm over the cost of running its Australian aluminium smelters.

The Australian Financial Review reported last month that Rio chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques had warned the long-term viability of smelters in Queensland, Tasmania and New South Wales were on “very thin ice” due to the running costs of coal-fired power.

Increasing the amount of renewable energy into the grid has been one suggestion to lowering costs, but Canavan, who also serves as the resources minister, said the future was still very coal-focused.

Nationals push for $1.3bn in drought relief to help party keep seats in next election Read more

“I think we absolutely must maintain our competitiveness in energy and in particular the use of coal-fired power because that’s what supports so much manufacturing jobs in our country,” he said.

“The future health of coalmining isn’t about the use of coal here, we export more than 90% of it.

“But I do support a strong manufacturing industry, we need to make things to add value to our minerals and agricultural resources and to do that we must use our energy resources too. If those that want to shut down our coal-fired power are saying ‘let’s shut down our aluminium industry and put thousands of people out of a job’, I don’t want to be a country that doesn’t have a strong manufacturing sector.”

Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) "If those that want to shut down our coal-fired power are also saying let's shut down our aluminium industry & put thousands of people in manufacturing out of a job. I don't want to be a country that doesn’t have a strong manufacturing sector,” Resources Min. @mattjcan#Insiders pic.twitter.com/bGeW1g8aSx

Bloomberg commodities columnist David Fickling highlighted the issues in Canavan’s argument in a series of tweets, pointing out Australia lost its competitive edge with Gulf states-built gas-powered smelter plants, which undercut the cost of doing business in Australia.

David Fickling (@davidfickling) Could this be the same coal-fired aluminium industry that Rio Tinto has been wanting to get rid of for a decade because it consistently loses money? https://t.co/Y5UauCZ9Ft

Fickling said Australia, as the world’s third-biggest energy exporter, maintained a comparative advantage in commodity energy, rather than industrialisation, something he said became apparent when the car manufacturing industry was closed under the Abbott government, of which Canavan was a part.