Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has dismissed the possibility of a Nationals and One Nation coalition as the fallout with the LNP continues. Photo: Michael McCormack Facebook.
Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has expressed his desire for the National Party to reunite with the Liberals, while dismissing talk of forming a new coalition with One Nation.
The Federal Opposition is in disarray after three Nationals senators resigned from the Coalition after crossing the floor and voting against the government’s recent hate speech laws.
This has led to speculation about whether Pauline Hanson’s populist One Nation party, which is soaring in the polls, will join the Nationals to become an alternative opposition. But Mr McCormack is not keen on the idea.
“One Nation has been polling well, but polls don’t necessarily count for votes,” he said.
“They don’t necessarily transition into votes on election day, and they don’t count for the work that local members do on the ground each and every day.
“It doesn’t account for members such as myself, who do the work, who turn up and who genuinely care about people and aren’t keyboard warriors spreading AI content.
The veteran MP said One Nation didn’t have experience in governing and making policies.
“There aren’t a lot of people with One Nation who know what it’s like to serve at the business end of things,” he said.
“I think when it comes to the time where people need to vote again, they will judge me on my record and other MPs on theirs. They will. They’ll judge me on how I’ve turned up and how I’ve served.”
Mr McCormack accepted that the fallout of the senators’ resignations and the split of the LNP wasn’t in the best interests of politics, admitting he would like to see the two traditional conservative parties get back together sooner rather than later.
“We need to be mindful of the fact that there is a disaffected element. Of course there is,” he said.
“What’s happened over the last week, I don’t think, has served the Parliament. I don’t think it served outside of politics very well, with splitting with the Liberal Party.
“I don’t agree with that decision, but I’m only one person. I can only work hard for the people of the Riverina, do what I do when I go to Canberra.
“I hope that cool heads prevail and that we can get back together with the Liberal Party, and reasonably soon. It’s a very fluid thing at the moment, and we will have to see how things pan out.”
