Matt Canavan took control of the National Party Wednesday morning after a party room vote. He beat Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie to fill the seat left empty by the shifting loyalties of the bush. Canavan’s first job is to hunt down his former teacher, Barnaby Joyce, who left the party in December to join One Nation. The two men shared rooms and secrets for fifteen years; now they are the main friction point in regional politics.
"We need to manifest a hyper-Australia," Canavan told reporters after the 10:30 am vote.
| Actor | Former Role | Current Stance |
|---|---|---|
| Matt Canavan | Joyce’s loyal staffer/Minister | National Party Leader; tasked with destroying One Nation's gains. |
| Barnaby Joyce | National Party Leader | One Nation Defector; shadow cabinet hopeful after Net Zero was dumped. |
| Pauline Hanson | One Nation Figurehead | Described by anonymous Liberals as "more moderate" than Canavan. |
The Mechanics of the Split
The relationship broke in December when Barnaby Joyce crossed to One Nation. This ended a decade-and-a-half of political co-dependency. Canavan was once the man who threw away his own career for Joyce, resigning from the cabinet in 2020 just to back a Joyce leadership bid.
City Liberals remain twitchy about the brand. They fear Canavan’s jagged rhetoric will further rot the coalition's appeal in the suburbs.
Canavan has already pivoted to energy policy, using it as a hammer against Labor and a shield against Joyce’s new party.
The core fight is over who owns the 'authentic' voice of the regional working class.
The Long Decay of Loyalty
Canavan’s rise is built on the ruins of old alliances. In 2020, he was Joyce’s primary enforcer. He even admitted to the oddity of his own record, once failing to mention he was a regional supporter of the North Queensland Cowboys while resigning his ministry to support a Joyce comeback. Now, the intimacy of their past is being weaponized. Canavan knows Joyce’s rhythms, his weaknesses, and his rural playbook.
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The transition is not clean. Joyce had already skipped the Nationals' Christmas party before his defection, signaling a slow-motion exit that Canavan tried—and failed—to stop.
Background: Survival and Citizenship
The new leader is no stranger to the messy reality of the law. In 2017, Canavan nearly lost his career over an Italian citizenship scandal. His mother had registered him as an "Italian resident abroad" without his explicit action.
The High Court eventually ruled that because he hadn't "activated" the citizenship, he could stay.
This history of surviving clerical and personal errors has left Canavan with a thick skin and a disregard for the polite "newsspeak" of the city. He views the current battle as a reckoning for the soul of the regions, even as his former mentor attempts to burn the house down from the outside.
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