{"id":534016,"date":"2026-03-11T20:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T20:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534016\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T20:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T20:22:20","slug":"matt-canavan-is-national-partys-unusual-leader-with-dreams-of-fossil-fuel-powered-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534016\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Canavan is National Party’s unusual leader with dreams of fossil-fuel powered future"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man who once described himself as not “your typical National Party senator” is now the party’s leader.<\/p>\n

“I am not a farmer, and I am not a small businessman,” he said after he was elected to parliament in 2013.<\/p>\n

“I am an economist who has spent most of his time working for the Productivity Commission.”<\/p>\n

New Nationals leader vows to ‘fight back’ for Australians<\/a><\/p>\n

With a populist economic message, the new Nationals leader said local manufacturing and higher birth rates were key as he rejected the labels of “left” and “right” politics.<\/p>\n

He will be an unusual party chief, leading the party from the Senate.<\/p>\n

“It’s not been our tradition, but it’s certainly not unprecedented for a leader to come from the Senate,” he said after his ascension on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Senator Canavan has repeatedly maintained his opposition to interventions or tax increases that would negatively impact extractive industries and household bottom lines.<\/p>\n

At times, his strong stances on topics put him at odds with his colleagues in the Coalition.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Littleproud resigned from the leadership a day before Matt Canavan took the reins. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

After being voted by his peers to lead the party, he has pointed to the need to protect the Australian way of life by leveraging local resources and skills.<\/p>\n

“We have the resources, we have the people, we have the land,” he said, standing in the Nationals party room on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got everything we need here in this country.”<\/p>\n

Success follows failed leadership bid<\/p>\n

It is the second time in the space of 12 months that Senator Canavan has faced off against David Littleproud for the leadership of the Nationals.<\/p>\n

In May last year, Mr Littleproud, who announced his resignation from the role on Tuesday, managed to fend off a challenge from the Queenslander.<\/p>\n

At that time, the senator was campaigning to scrap the party’s support for emissions commitments.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The new Nationals leader has been a strong defender of regional industry and the fossil fuel sectors. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

Senator Canavan has been the former deputy leader of the Nationals in the Senate and has long been outspoken in his opposition to a 2050 net zero target.<\/p>\n

“People are losing their standard of living,” he said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“I will now not rest. I will fight for our nation to get back, to use our resources.”<\/p>\n

Senator Canavan has previously said it was clear the lived reality of net zero would not work for the Australian people.<\/p>\n

The Nationals formally abandoned the commitment to reach net zero in November, with the Liberal Party following weeks later.<\/p>\n

Canavan backs ‘lifesaver’ power stations<\/p>\n

Senator Canavan has also been vocal in his support for the construction of new coal-fired power plants and the retention of existing ones.<\/p>\n

“A modern coal-fired power station can be a lifesaver,” he said last year.<\/p>\n

“Australian coal has helped billions emerge from poverty.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Matt Canavan has been a consistent supporter of the Australian coal sector. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

He told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing in September that focusing on emission reduction should not be a priority.<\/p>\n

“Our primary objective of our energy policy should be to reduce power prices for Australians, not reduce emissions,” he said.<\/p>\n

Pathway paved by Barnaby Joyce<\/p>\n

The conservative from Queensland was elected in 2013 after working as chief of staff for Barnaby Joyce during the 2010 election.<\/p>\n

He became the minister for resources and northern Australia in 2016 and also served as the Nationals whip in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Former leader Barnaby Joyce shared a close relationship with Matt Canavan. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

Before moving into politics, the senator worked for the Productivity Commission and as an executive at KPMG.<\/p>\n

In his second term in parliament, he was embroiled in the citizenship saga<\/a> and was forced to quit cabinet after discovering what he thought was Italian citizenship.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the High Court found his citizenship was “potential” only and he was spared from being disqualified as a parliamentarian.<\/p>\n

Senator Canavan has unashamedly supported issues he sees as impacting regional communities and has butted heads with scientists more than once in his career.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Matt Canavan with his new leadership team, Bridget McKenzie and Darren Chester. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

On climate change, he has argued there is “no credible evidence that droughts or floods are getting worse in this country”.<\/p>\n

The comments prompted a fact check from experts, including a vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.<\/p>\n

“We have a good scientific basis to actually say that extreme events are increasing as a function of human activity,” Emeritus Professor Mark Howden said in response to the comments.<\/p>\n

“The relationship between accumulated greenhouse gas emissions and temperature is very well established; the relationship between temperature increase and extreme events is well established.”<\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Canavan was staunchly opposed to vaccine mandates, arguing for them to be scrapped as late as mid-2022.<\/p>\n

“The mandates were never justified, but they are especially not now, given that we have the real evidence that they do not stop transmission,” he argued at the time.<\/p>\n

He has also been outspoken about his conservative social views, including abortion.<\/p>\n

In 2022, he co-sponsored a private member’s bill that would have required health workers to give medical care to babies born alive as a result of a pregnancy termination.<\/p>\n

At the time, medical groups criticised the move as unnecessary and warned it could be emotionally manipulative.<\/p>\n

Senator Canavan said on Wednesday that his bill “would not have changed anything to do with abortion”.<\/p>\n

“All it would have done is, if a baby’s born alive, it would provide them care,” he said.<\/p>\n

Vow to ‘fight back for Australians’<\/p>\n

Senator Canavan has indicated he will use his leadership to improve the lives of Australians.<\/p>\n

“People are losing their standard of living. They’re losing their confidence,” he said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“We’re losing our relaxed and larrikin nature, and we have to fight back for Australians.<\/p>\n

“Everything I do in the parliament, here in the party room, out fighting on the ground, will be to get a better standard of living for the Australian people.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man who once described himself as not “your typical National Party senator” is now the party’s leader.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,236401,264985,66974,62999,264989,264986,44,264988,264987],"class_list":["post-534016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bridget-mckenzie","tag-darren-chester","tag-david-littleproud","tag-matt-canavan","tag-matt-canavan-profile","tag-national-party-leadership","tag-news","tag-what-is-matt-canavans-bbackground","tag-who-is-the-new-nationals-leader"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}