Alive and kicking

The question for the Nationals should not be one of whether or not it accepts the overwhelming intellectual case for economic reform; rather it is how the Nationals can chart a course for stronger regional communities. The crass populism underlining protectionism might derive short-term electoral gains but a failure to participate in the economic debate would only leave regional communities grossly short-changed.

Many have suggested that the loss of seats in the House of Representatives is attributable to a failure to oppose economic reform, but in reality the opposite is true. The Nationals may have first entered politics as the Farmers and Settlers Union, but today the natural Nationals constituency encompasses coastal, rural and regional communities, and consequentially, small-to-medium enterprises and social conservatives.

Agriculture remains a vital industry and an innate part of the National Party identity, but it is no longer sufficient to alone sustain a strong regional conservative party. To win “rural” and “provincial” seats it is essential that the Nationals propound their credentials as a party of free enterprise that supports small business - that is the key to securing the votes of those who live in regional centres for whom farming is not the core enterprise.

Victory in Gippsland was built around a credible candidate, professional campaign operation and a vigorous effort to defend traditional primary industries and reach out to the town traders in places such as Traralgon, Sale, Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance.

It was a campaign that clearly distinguished itself from a Labor Party addicted to taxation, regulation and religious environmentalism as part of Labor’s ongoing appeasement of the lunatic fringe Greens party. The embroilment of Labor’s candidate in a moral scandal involving a certain arts festival, in the context of a state Labor Government set to decriminalise abortion and the prominent Bill Henson scandal also influenced voters in abandoning Labor for the family values espoused by the National Party.

Importantly, this set of principles allows the National Party to differentiate itself from the Liberal Party. Advocating for the decentralisation of population and economic development, along with being a genuine voice for small business, contrasts with a Liberal Party that is city-dominated and often struggling to reconcile the potentially varying interests of large and small-to-medium enterprises.

Additionally, a culturally conservative focus provides a strong contrast with the permissive liberalism that characterises the Liberals, allows the National Party to continue to fill the void in the mainstream political debate for a party that is pro-life, pro-family, monarchist and integrationist on immigration.

This by-election result is more than a resounding rejection of Rudd Labor by regional Australia and some of Labor’s most rusted-on supporters. It is an emphatic endorsement of the record and values of the National Party and signals that, after 86 years in the Federal Parliament, country people want it to remain their representative for the next 86 years and beyond.