NATIONALS leader Barnaby Joyce has begun an unofficial federal election campaign with a whirlwind regional tour, and hinted in Mildura on Friday that Australia would go to the polls in May.
Making no policy or funding announcements on a whistle-stop visit to Sunraysia, the Deputy Prime Minister did not hide the fact he was on the road to boost his party’s stocks in its rural heartland.
An election must be held by the end of May and April is considered unlikely because of school holidays, Easter, the Anzac Day weekend and the beginning of both the AFL and NRL football seasons. No federal election has been held in February.
Asked if he had spoken to Prime Minister Scott Morrison about a poll date, Mr Joyce said that decision was “exclusively the remit” of the PM, but that the prospect of a March poll was “disappearing”.
“Really, we had two months, March and May, and obviously March is disappearing off the agenda … so it looks like May. I think you’ve got to be straight with the Australian people,” Mr Joyce said while flanked by Nationals Member for Mallee Anne Webster at Mildura Riverfront.
He had just been visiting various seats in Queensland and country Victoria and “we don’t take any seat for granted, not one”.
“We’ll be making sure we show the people of Mallee the proper respect, the proper attention, that they absolutely deserve.
“We develop the whole of Australia, not just corners of Australia.”
Mr Joyce said that in Mallee he would “make sure we work with Anne to get the best outcome for everyone” and that all regional seats and communities were important.
“There’s no favourite children in this. They’re all children of God and we’re going to fight for them as best we can,” he said.
Asked if the Morrison government’s handling of the pandemic, which has been blamed for the Coalition’s increasingly poor performance in electoral polling, could damage the prospects of Nationals MPs and candidates, Mr Joyce said “no one has a manual on pandemics”.
“What I’ll stand behind is that we’ve had one of the lowest fatality rates on the globe. I know people will look for flaws, but the biggest KPI is that people are alive,” he said.
“As far as elections go, I’ve seen polling that says people are going to blitz it, and then they lose it. I’ve seen polling that said people were going to lose it, and then they win it.
“You just worry about your town, your village, your community, your city, and the election will look after itself.”
Mr Joyce’s visit also included a tour of the new Mildura Sporting Precinct, which was partly funded by the Federal Government, and a private meeting with stakeholders in the stalled Murray Basin Rail Project. He said a lack of commitment from the Victorian Labor Government was holding back the rail freight network and that Victorian Premier Dan Andrews had to “step up”.
It is understood Mr Joyce was also to take part in a private dinner meeting while in Mildura. Names of the other attendees have not been made public.
