Only days after the leadership contest that removed Michael McCormack from the National Party's leadership and reinstalled Barnaby Joyce, the Coalition's junior partner is wielding its influence in volatile ways. So far, it's by no means clear that it's to either the government's or nation's benefit.

In the space of a few days, the Nationals have cast doubt over some of the most delicately balanced policies, programs and public debates in Australia.

Climate policy appears to hang on the caprice of National Party MPs, who have no unified stance on net-zero emissions. Despite wanting to "square the ledger" with regional Australia before agreeing to a 2050 carbon-neutral target, the Nationals cannot articulate their demands other than what's already been put on the table.

It would have been arguably more effective for the Nationals to exert their pressure on the government at a time they had drawn up their own log of claims, after settling internally on a position. Instead, they seem to dislike the direction the Coalition's climate policy appears headed after the G7 summit in Cornwall, without knowing exactly why or how to fix it. It's no way to advocate for the interests of regional Australians.

The party's attempt to dramatically change the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, reportedly without warning its Liberal partner, also threw the government into disarray, and aggravated the fraught politics of water in regional NSW and South Australia. It's not clear what the Nationals were really trying to achieve. If it was to rock the boat and wake the Liberals up to their demands on water policy, it probably worked.

But surely their goal should be to manage a sensitive issue carefully and balance the competing interests of different states and communities - as governments are meant to. The National Party's antics on water policy on Wednesday cannot be described in that way.

They most of all succeeded in making the government look chaotic. The often vaudevillian Barnaby Joyce has returned to the Nationals' leadership, and suddenly the government appears less responsible and less adult.

Much of this could settle in coming days as the party decides on its ministries and the dust settles. It would help, too, if the Nationals had a better understanding of the reasons they changed leaders at this stage, in a pandemic, and at a time the government's position remains relatively strong.

Despite their attempts, Nationals MPs this week have not really explained why they made the decision.

In the vacuum created by this confusion, all sorts of controversial policy ideas have been unleashed. There are media reports that the Nationals want nuclear power to be seriously considered in setting Australia's energy policy. It's also said they want to push the case for decentralisation harder.

There's nothing wrong with debate, and putting forward policy ideas, but if the Nationals want to advocate nuclear power they should be upfront with Australians - including those in the regions - about whether they would put reactors in their own electorates.

If they want to push for decentralisation, they should demonstrate the policy has broad benefits for the nation, and that these outweigh the costs.

Covid has evaporated what remaining patience Australians had for political farce.

The Nationals have the Coalition's, and the nation's, attention. They had better not waste anyone's time in saying what they want.