{"id":554356,"date":"2026-03-21T06:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554356\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T06:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:11:13","slug":"nationals-going-hyper-to-bring-back-carefree-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554356\/","title":{"rendered":"Nationals going hyper to bring back carefree Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Restoring carefree Sunday afternoons across Australia will be new Nationals leader Matt Canavan’s defining challenge.<\/p>\n

Addressing the party’s faithful at the NSW branch of its central council in Sydney on Saturday, Senator Canavan doubled down on his pitch to supercharge “hyper Australia”.<\/p>\n

And the liquid help he’s using to get there.<\/p>\n

“I like those white Monsters (energy drinks),” he conceded wryly.<\/p>\n

“I drink way too many but I am just a bundle of energy because I love my country.”<\/p>\n

\"Nationals<\/p>\n

Matt Canavan says becoming leader of the Nationals was unexpected but it has energised him. (Mick Tsikas\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

While he might have seized on the idea of “hyper Australia” to define his leadership, Senator Canavan confessed he did not really know what it meant at first.<\/p>\n

But after a period of reflection, leaning somewhat curiously on the notion of cult hero love children, he believes he’s found the perfect explanation.<\/p>\n

“Let’s say David Boon and Elle MacPherson have a baby … that’s hyper Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Just Australia on steroids.”<\/p>\n

Senator Canavan’s first speech to Nationals insiders since taking the leadership a fortnight ago was light on some of the issues he’s previously railed against.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

Test cricketer David Boon and supermodel Elle MacPherson: potential hyper parents? (Joel Carrett, Daniel Pockett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

There was very little mention of immigration or any of the culture war topics that are often the domain of right-flank challenger One Nation.<\/p>\n

But fuel, energy and the environment were ever-present throughout his address, with the Queensland senator saying Australia under his stewardship would “drill baby, drill” for oil.<\/p>\n

“The Australian people are running out of patience with a government that is focused on net zero by 2050 as petrol prices soar above $2.50,” Senator Canavan said.<\/p>\n

By addressing fuel shocks and rising prices for families, he said he wanted more people to return to his Australian dream: a lazy weekend.<\/p>\n

“Most Australian families tomorrow afternoon will not be relaxing watching the footy,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Nationals<\/p>\n

Matt Canavan insists Australians are out of patience with the government’s net-zero focus. (Mick Tsikas\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“They will be worrying about bills, worrying about the mortgage, worrying about whether they can fill up their car.<\/p>\n

“I will use every bit of energy I have to restore the carefree Sunday afternoons that Australians used to enjoy.”<\/p>\n

With the Nationals having a very minor presence in the South Australian election, Senator Canavan is one of the few Canberra politicians without too much of an eye on Saturday’s results.<\/p>\n

But he will be hoping his new alliance with Liberal leader Angus Taylor can prove to the electorate that the coalition still has the answers for Australians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Restoring carefree Sunday afternoons across Australia will be new Nationals leader Matt Canavan’s defining challenge. Addressing the party’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,167161,273929,62999,40589,44,273930],"class_list":{"0":"post-554356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-david-boon","11":"tag-leader-of-the-nationals","12":"tag-matt-canavan","13":"tag-nationals","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-senator-canavan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554356","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=554356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}