AFTER the federal budget, most regional Australians would have seen Barnaby Joyce, Fiona Nash and other Nationals out blazing a trail in farming and rural settings, facing the media and beaming with pride like they’d just won the Grand Prix or taxpayer lottery, spruiking funding victories for the $8.4 billion inland rail and other country projects, big and small.
But what they won’t have seen headlining television or newspaper reports is steam slowly rising slowly from deep within Coalition ranks, courtesy of seething rural Liberals who are becoming increasingly agitated by the National party’s blatant dominance of the government’s agricultural and rural agenda, especially stealing their thunder, in the public spotlight.
And like one of the faster, heavy-loaded freight trains scheduled to ride from Brisbane to Melbourne along the inland rail at some point in future, which could even be named the ‘Barnaby Express’, an inevitable political derailment is just around the bend, unless balance can be restored and maintained amongst rural government members, of differing political colours.
Arriving safely at that strategic destination will also ultimately boil down to the soft diplomacy skills and political vision, of those in command – which is even more critical in a government determined by only a one seat majority.
Largely, the Liberals only have themselves to blame for missing out on entry tickets to join in the big bush budget cash-splash and regional road-show after PM Malcolm Turnbull failed to appoint any genuine rural representatives to federal cabinet, in the reshuffle following Sussan Ley’s departure earlier this year.
Health and Sports Minister Greg Hunt has some country claims given his semi-rural Victorian electorate of Flinders.
But his political back-yard leans more towards suburban development on the Mornington Peninsula than genuine farming communities with voters who prefer wearing RM Williams boots to patterned moccasins.
Rural Liberals were also relegated to ride in cabin class when the new Regional Ministerial Taskforce was first revealed in March with Senator Nash taking premier status.
She rightly claimed the high-level Taskforce as a major milestone of her 12-year political career, to achieve long-term strategic change and outcomes for rural and farming communities, starting with bold, high level agendas like decentralisation.
With Mr Turnbull spearheading Liberal representation on the Regional Taskforce, and others like Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Arthur Sinodinos and Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, moccasins are more likely to be found parked under that side of the table, with little sign of any fresh dirt having gathered on their soles.
Currently, some standout rural Liberals from a rural policy point of view, with grounded agricultural experience and sensible economic rationalism, like Victorian Dan Tehan and NSW MP Angus Taylor, have been left stranded at the station by Mr Turnbull.
“They should be in the federal cabinet every day of the week,” one frustrated government MP said.
WA Durack MP Melissa Price is another who is starting to be mentioned more and more in inner circles as winning a likely ticket for future ministerial promotion.
But the Liberals lack of bush fire-power also comes on the back of farm stalwart Andrew Robb and firebrand NSW Senator and farmer Bill Heffernan - who could telegraph an agricultural issue brewing in the distance with the instincts of a beagle on sniffer patrol at an international airport - disembarking at the last election.
That’s not to underestimate the subtle policy work and influence of Assistant Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Anne Ruston.
But the SA Liberal Senator isn’t sitting in the federal cabinet or on the new Regional Ministerial Taskforce co-chaired by Senator Nash.
Uneasy times
Tensions and jealousies have been slowly building in the background between the Coalition’s traditional political partners on several fronts, in terms of regional policy matters.
Highest on the complaint list is the Nationals’ capacity to capture the spotlight on big funding announcements, like the inland rail, stamped by their party’s brand, in the absence of Liberals.
The Nationals’ message of being the party for the regions with grass roots appeal is being driven home and sold harder under the renewed leadership of Mr Joyce and Senator Nash who has added strength and a new fresh dimension to the task of selling the party’s core purpose, through her strong personality and presence.
“We want to help build the kinds of rural, regional and remote communities that our children and our grandchildren either want to stay in, or come back to,” she has repeated regularly in recent times, almost like an endless loop.
Post-budget, Senator Nash has also talked up the nearly $500 million that’s now going through to the Building Better Regions Fund for rural and regional infrastructure and community investments.
She’s also been out spruiking her party’s role in delivering millions of dollars for the Mobile Black Spots Program while pointing out Labor’s failure to allocate funds to help resolve that communications headache and leading other reforms to try and resolve telecommunications’ policy dilemmas in the bush.
“If the Liberals are so upset about our success, why don’t they just join the Nats?” said one MP.
But the lopsided journey can’t go on forever, especially with the next election always being a constant destination to stop and assess the political cargo.
Don’t forget the Liberals
Sources say Senator Nash has been gently reminded of the need to offer more meal tickets, through projects and funding, to serve the political needs of rural Liberals keen to survive and last the journey, in their electorates.
“The route to return to government looks tenuous but it won’t be helped by public infighting,” said one MP in regards to the Nationals’ funding fiesta.
“They can’t take all of the slush fund programs and only allocate money for projects in east coast seats.
“Having a rural Liberal in cabinet alone won’t solve the problem – we need to see better behaviour and more good-will.
“There also needs to be a change in the language they use, with more ‘we’ and less about them, forgetting the Liberals are also in government.”
For the Nationals, those in the driver’s seat may also need to remain on track in terms of balancing and delivering on various state priorities.
“Pork barrelling NSW is how it all seems to work apparently,” said one MP.
Asked whether the rural Liberals were getting jealous or concerned about the Nationals’ seeming policy dominance, Senator Nash said, “That’s not something that has occurred to me or has been raised to me”.
“The regional Liberals and Nats have good relationships - I get along really well with all of my regional Libs,” she said.
But Senator Nash said because Barnaby Joyce was the Agriculture Minister and she was in charge of areas like Regional Development they were both responsible for making announcements which naturally attracted media attention.
“But we do it very much on behalf of the regional contingent across government,” she said.
“I think it’s just the by-product of the fact that we’re the ministers.
“Barnaby has Agriculture but he’s also the Deputy PM so of course he’s going to get a whole stack of media.
“Having regional development and local government and territories and regional communications means there’s a whole swag of issues as the minister responsible that I’m going to be talking about.
“But I talk all the time to my regional backbenchers and go and visit them and am out with them all of the time so it’s a good relationship.”