Extract from The Guardian
Former Howard minister Larry Anthony, son of
previous Nationals leader Doug Anthony, voted in despite lobbying for
the $1.2bn Watermark coalmine
Larry Anthony has been elected leader of the
National party despite still being listed as a lobbyist in NSW for
Shenhua, among other clients. Photograph: Patrick Hamilton/AAP
Sunday 13 September 2015 16.11 AEST
Former Howard minister, Larry Anthony, who lobbied
for the $1.2bn Shenhua Watermark coalmine, has just been voted in as
president of the National party and remains on the NSW
lobbyist register in spite of claims he has removed himself.
Farmers – the Nationals’ constituency – are
vehemently opposed to the mine and have vowed to campaign against
National
party member and agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce at the next
election.
The presidency goes to the heart of the issue of
land usage which is threatening to split the party over the fate of
prized agricultural land on Liverpool Plains and elsewhere.
It is understood that Anthony’s candidacy was
supported by the deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, and Nationals
director Scott Mitchell but opposed by supporters of Joyce.
On Friday, Truss said Anthony had “taken himself
off the lobbyist list” and his relationship with Shenhua was
“severed some time ago.”
“That is a genuine break from the lobbyist
register, and both the Liberal party and ourselves and the LNP in
particular in Queensland have taken a view that registered lobbyists
should not hold office, senior office positions within the party, and
Larry Anthony is respecting that view,” he told
Fairfax.
But Anthony is still listed as a co-owner of the
firm SAS Consulting Group, which counts the Chinese state-owned
Shenhua group among its client list.
National party director Scott Mitchell announced
the news via Twitter that Anthony – son of former Nationals leader
Doug Anthony – was elected
unopposed at the party’s national conference.
After the decision was announced, Joyce said he
supported Anthony as president although he would not go into the
private vote.“Absolutely important that we have a person of
competency, I don’t want to go into what is a private vote, private
votes remain private,” he said.
“I support absolutely Larry being the president.
It is now absolutely implicit on all of us to work together as a
group because it’s only as a team we have a chance of winning the
election.”
The conference was shocked over the weekend when
the NSW chairman Bede Burke, who nominated Anthony for the position,
withdrew the nomination.
But Mitchell pressed ahead with the nomination and
obtained legal advice on the party rules and the appointment went
ahead.
The outgoing federal Nationals president,
Christine Ferguson, said she was not sure what effect Anthony’s
presidency would have on the outcome in Joyce’s seat of New
England, where the former independent Tony Windsor was threatening to
run against the agriculture minister.
“Who knows? Anthony’s the new president and we
all have to work together to make sure we retain our seats,” she
said.
Ferguson confirmed legal advice was sought to
ensure the constitutional requirements were met.
“We needed to make sure we interpreted the
constitution correctly and we are quite satisfied that process
proceeded properly”.
One of Anthony’s potential competitors, National
party senior vice president Dexter Davies, was forced to withdraw
from the race due to a conflict of interest, given his employment
with the Western Australian government.
National party sources said the decision would
cause ordinary members to leave the party.
“They will be asking themselves, what is the
point of being a member if 200 can turn up to the national conference
and then be locked out of the vote for president,” said one source.
“People will be unhappy. Some could leave the
party. Who knows what’s next for the National party? We could go
the way of the Democrats.”
Tony Windsor, who has not ruled out running for
New England, said Anthony’s appointment demonstrated the “shambles”
of the National party.
“The whole process demonstrates what a shambles
they are,” Windsor said.
“Some of the reports say the Nationals are
worrying that it might favour Windsor. It just demonstrates they
don’t look at the real issues. It’s not Windsor or what it looks
like, it’s about who they are meant to be representing.”
He said if the chair of the state national party
couldn’t comprehend what he was doing, “it shows him up as being
completely ineffective”.
“And this bloke [national director] Scott
Mitchell can virtually overrule the state chairman who nominated
Anthony. Where was the deputy leader? Where was Joyce?”
Liverpool Plains farmer Tim Duddy, who represents
Caroona Coal
Action Group, said it would be the death knell of the National party.
“Finally the Nationals have looked in the mirror
and seen what they want to be,” Duddy said.
“They want to be the mining party, rural
Australia will deal with it and it won’t be too long before they go
the way of the dodo which is where they deserve to be.”
Anthony’s candidacy was also supported by
previous Nationals leader John Anderson, who was chairman
of Eastern Star Gas.
Two weeks ago, Young Nationals delegates supported
a motion that opposed the Shenhua mine on the Liverpool Plains.
But Warren Truss has said Anthony was “entitled
to make a new beginning” and should be “taken in good faith”.
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