Matt Canavan elected new Nationals leader and calls for ‘more Australian babies, more Australian everything’

Matt Canavan elected new Nationals leader and calls for ‘more Australian babies, more Australian everything’ The Queensland senator replaces David Littleproud, who announced his shock resignation from the National party on Tuesday Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Matt Canavan has declared “we need more Australian everything” – including babies, farming and fossil-fuel powered barbecues – after being elected Nationals leader in a party room vote on Wednesday. The Queensland rightwinger defeated Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie in a three-cornered contest to replace David Littleproud, who blind-sided colleagues on Tuesday by announcing he was stepping down as leader. In a press conference immediately after the ballot, Canavan said Australians were at risk of “losing our country” under the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and Labor. “People are losing their standard of living, they’re losing their confidence,” he said. “We’re losing our relaxed and larrikin nature, and we have to fight back for all Australians.” But the former management consultant and Productivity Commission staffer said the solutions to the country’s problems were all present in Australia. “We need to have more Australian farming, more Australian manufacturing, more Australian jobs. “We need to have more Australian everything. We need to manifest a hyper-Australia. Sign up: AU Breaking News email “We need more Australian babies. We need more Australian humour, more Australian jokes, more Australian barbecues, sometimes often fuelled by fossil fuels. We need more Australian everything. We don’t need to look overseas for our solutions.” Victorian Darren Chester was elected deputy leader, replacing Hogan. McKenzie will remain the party’s Senate leader. Canavan said he did not expect any major shift in the relationship between the Nationals and the Liberal party, after a rocky nine months since the last election, in which...