leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply spill) is a colloquialism referring to a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (l ...

for the federal leadership of the

National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia, also known as The Nationals or The Nats, is an List of political parties in Australia, Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and regional voters generally, it began as the Au ...

was held on 4 February 2020, and was called by the Member for Wide Bay,

Llew O'Brien Llewellyn Stephen O'Brien (born 26 June 1972) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election, representing the Division of Wide Bay. He was deputy speaker of the House from Feb ...

. The spill was called amid reports that former

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

and Nationals leader

Barnaby Joyce Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who served as the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia under Malcolm Turnbull from 2016 to 2018 and under Scott Morrison from 2021 to 2022. He was the leader of the ...

was considering a challenge against the incumbent, Michael McCormack. Following the spill in the regularly scheduled party room meeting, McCormack retained his position as leader. Some National MPs claimed the vote was as close as 11 to 10, however others say it was closer to 16-5. A ballot for the deputy leadership was also held following

Bridget McKenzie Bridget McKenzie (born 27 December 1969) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the National Party and has been a Senator for Victoria since 2011. She has held ministerial office in the Turnbull and Morrison governments, also servin ...

's resignation following the 2018–20 "Sports rorts" affair. It was won by

David Littleproud David Kelly Littleproud (born 4 September 1976) is an Australian politician who has been the leader of the National Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Maranoa since the 2016 federal election and was a cabinet mini ...

Candidates

Declared

;Leader * Michael McCormack, incumbent leader *

, MP for

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

;Deputy Leader *

David Gillespie David "Cement" Gillespie (born 22 March 1964) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and forward in the 1980s and 1990s. Gillespie played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Western Suburbs Magpies, ...

, MP for Lyne *

Keith Pitt Keith John Pitt (born 31 August 1969) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the National Party and has represented the Division of Hinkler in Queensland since the 2013 federal election. He was a member of cabinet in the Morrison Gov ...

, MP for Hinkler and Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister *

, MP for Maranoa and Minister for Water Resources

Declined

;Deputy Leader *

Matt Canavan Matthew James Canavan (born 17 December 1980) is an Australian politician. He was elected to the Australian Senate representing the state of Queensland at the 2013 federal election for the term beginning 1 July 2014. He won re-election at the ...

, Senator for Queensland, Minister for Resources and

Northern Australia The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Queensland that lie p ...

Darren Chester Darren Jeffrey Chester (born 13 September 1967) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the House of Representatives for Gippsland in Victoria, representing the Nationals since 2008. Chester had served as the Minister for Veterans ...

, MP for

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers ...

Aftermath

resigned the day before the spill to support Joyce in the leadership spill, Canavan joined McKenzie in the backbenches. However, they remained deputy and leader of the Nationals in the Senate, despite losing their ministerial portfolios, as the other three Nationals senators were first-termers and thus considered ill-equipped to assume the leadership positions. On 10 February 2020, O'Brien quit the Nationals party room and sat with neither Nationals nor the Liberals, but remained a member of the Liberal National Party and sat with the

Morrison Government The Morrison government was the federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison government commenced on 24 August 2018, when it was sworn ...

in parliament. The following day he was elected the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, having been nominated by the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

to the position made vacant by the resignation of

Kevin Hogan Kevin Michael Hogan (born October 20, 1992) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football for Stanford University and was their starting quarterback from 2012 to 2015. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chie ...

, who had recently been elevated to the

Ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

. O'Brien was elected over the Government's nominated choice, Nationals MP

Damian Drum Damian Kevin Drum (born 28 July 1960) is an Australian politician who has represented Murray and Nicholls in the Australian House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election as a member of The Nationals. Drum served as the Assistant Mi ...

. O'Brien returned to sit in the Nationals party room in December 2020.

Notes

References

{{Leadership spills and motions in Australia National Party of Australia February 2020 events in Australia Australian leadership spills National Party of Australia leadership spill