Mounting his strongest case yet for the National party's election prospects, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has defended a preference deal with One Nation and dismissed the rise of independent challengers in this election as fallout from drought.
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Many Nationals MPs face challenges from prominent independent candidates and Mr McCormack was asked to explain why the voters are looking for alternatives, given his promise that "no one in regional Australia should feel left behind".
"Yes sometimes there is a protest vote, and I understand there is a clamour that's heightened particularly in a prolonged dry spell," Mr McCormack said.
"But what will an independent do? They might be able to pick up a phone up, they might be able to send an email, or they might be able to send a tweet... but they won't be around the table when decisions are being made."
The Nats in Coalition are the only party that can impose a regional agenda on parliamentary decision making, Mr McCormack said.
He cited the party's current list of portfolios such as Infrastructure, Water, resources, Agriculture, Rural Telecommunications, Aboriginal Affairs, Regional Development and the assistant ministry for trade.
Mr McCormack said the ends justify the means of the Nats' preference deals with Pauline Hanson's One Nation party, arguing preference deals were of more concern to the media than voters.
In Queensland the Liberal National Party will list One Nation above Labor and the Greens, and Senator Hanson said she would preference some Nats MPs on her how to vote cards.
"It's all well and good to be and altruistic after May 18 (election day)," Mr McCormack said.
"You have to do what it takes to get votes and win and election, and the fact is the Nats policies are probably more closely aligned with One Nation than they ever will be with the Greens', or Labor's.
"I appreciate some member of One Nation have done some rather interesting things and said some things that are unpalatable, and I understand that. But we are not One Nation, we are the Nationals.
Mr McCormack also hit back at Labor's criticism of former Water Minister Barnaby Joyce's $80m water buyback deal with Eastern Australia Agriculture, which has made national headlines over questions of probity.
He pointed out that while Opposition Water spokesman Tony Burke had called for an inquiry targeted solely at this deal, he was unwilling to support a wider examination of similar deals conducted by the former Labor government.
Mr McCormack also said that Mr Burke position was conflicted. He was critical of the Eastern Ag buyback deal on the one hand, but proposing new laws to enable the conduct to expand its buyback program.
"I crossed the floor to oppose buybacks, they're bad policy," he said.
"I'm not in favour of more buybacks, that's the Tony Burke way.
"He wants to buy more water out of the system and that sets communities against one another, it sets farmers against one another.
"That farmer then takes their child out school, they don't spend at the hairdresser or the local cafes, they move to the Gold Coast. Take their money and run."
Calls for a Royal Commission in the Murray Darling Basin Plan aren't just coming from environment groups. Irrigation communities say the adverse impacts of water recovery from farming for the environment have so heavily impacted them the Basin Plan should be paused
"I would not stand for that," Mr McCormack said, warning that any parliamentary process that revisits the plan would likely swing the balance towards the environment further hurt regional communities.
He said water would always be contentious "as Mark Twain said scotch if for drinking and water is for fighting over, and he's right" and to help resolve the conflict, the Nationals are promising more dam building under a re-elected Coalition government, pledging $100 million to establish a statutory authority to oversee new water infrastructure projects.
Mr McCormack said despite six years of Coalition government he was "disappointed we haven't built more dams", and argued a central agency was needed to coordinate and prioritise between the states and the Commonwealth
"If that's a failure of everyone in government, that's a shame. But we are stymied by state governments,' Mr McCormack said.
"Dams are the one thing people in regional Australia want, expect and demand.
"But we are being bold and building big and that's why we will establish the National Water Grid and its first order of business will be to look at how large scale water diversion projects could be established to deliver reliable and cost effective water to farmers and regional communities."
