A former teacher will replace John Barilaro as NSW Deputy Premier and Nationals leader after yet another party room vote marked the biggest political shake-up outside an election in 13 years.
Regional Roads Minister Paul Toole defeated Water Minister Melinda Pavey, a mother-of-two who grew up on a dairy farm, in a ballot on Wednesday morning, 15 votes to three.
Mr Barilaro resigned on Sunday, two days after Gladys Berejiklian quit as Liberal premier over a corruption investigation.
The larrikin MP joked that he was having a ‘mid-life crisis’ and wanted a new career outside of politics.
For the first time since 2008, NSW has a new premier and deputy premier almost on the same day without an election, with the Coalition’s revolving door of leaders resembling Labor in its troubled final years.
The New South Wales Nationals, like their senior Coalition partner, are now on their fourth leader in seven years, as they struggle to hold traditional regional seats.
Regional Roads Minister Paul Toole defeated Water Minister Melinda Pavey in a party room ballot on Wednesday morning, 15 votes to three
New Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet, a 39-year-old devout Catholic father-of-six from Sydney’s north-west, congratulated Mr Toole for winning a party room ballot a day after him.
The leaders of both Coalition parties were first elected to Parliament in March 2011.
‘I have worked closely together for many years with Paul, and I know he will bring a steady hand to our efforts to get NSW safely back open and on the path to recovery,’ Mr Perrottet said.
‘As a loyal deputy in the NSW Nationals to departing Deputy Premier John Barilaro, Paul knows what it takes to lead, and I want to again thank John for his service to the people of NSW.’
Under Mr Barilaro, the Nationals at the 2019 election lost vast seats in the state’s far west to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party as Lismore in the state’s far north coast fell to Labor for the first time since 1965.
The party of the bush has now chosen a leader from west of the Great Dividing Range from the central west city of Bathurst, better known as the home Mount Panorama and V8 Supercar racing.
Mr Toole is taking over as Deputy Premier as Sydney prepares to emerge from lockdown on October 11.
‘I tell you what, I’m looking forward to getting back to work,’ Mr Toole said after the vote on Wednesday.
The Nationals are now on their fourth leader since 2014 after Melinda Pavey lost her bid to become the state party’s first female leader
For the first time since 2008, NSW has a new premier and deputy premier almost on the same day without an election, with the Coalition’s revolving door of leaders resembling Labor in its troubled final years (pictured is new Premier Dominic Perrottet in March when he was treasurer with outgoing deputy premier John Barilaro)
The new Nationals leader began teaching at Assumption Primary School in Bathurst in 1995 before joining the Evans Shire Council and becoming mayor in 2007.
The married father-of-three won the seat of Bathurst off Labor in the 2011 landslide that brought the Coalition to power.
Three years later, he became the minister for local government.
He moved to the race and lands and forestry portfolios in 2017.
After the 2019 election, with the Coalition winning a third term, he became the Minister for Regional Transport and Roads.
Announcing his run for the top job on Tuesday, Mr Toole said: ‘This is a time where we need a strong and stable leadership (as) we are coming out of a pandemic.’
He talked up his credentials as deputy party leader, and pointed to his record of working with the incoming premier in crisis cabinet and other committees.
Under the Liberal-National Coalition arrangement in NSW, the Liberal Party leader in government is the premier and the National Party provides the deputy.
For the first time since 2014, both conservative parties are changing leader in the same calendar year.
Andrew Stoner had quit as Nationals leader in October, six months after Barry O’Farrell resigned as Liberal premier for failing to declare a $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage bottled in 1959, the year he was born, following an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry.
But NSW hasn’t had a new premier and deputy premier within days of each other since September 2008 when Nathan Rees and Carmel Tebbutt, now the former partner of federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, replaced Morris Iemma and John Watkins as Labor’s most senior leaders after the party was bitterly divided over electricity privatisation.
John Barilaro resigned on Sunday, two days after Gladys Berejiklian resigned as Liberal premier over a corruption investigation
When announcing his surprise decision to step down, Mr Barilaro said NSW would be best served by someone who had the passion and fight to forge on.
‘I just don’t have the energy anymore,’ Mr Barilaro told reporters on Monday.
The Nationals leader said he had been ‘thinking about this for a while’, and ruled out running for federal parliament, despite last year being touted as a candidate for in the by-election for the marginal Labor seat of Eden-Monaro.
His state seat of Monaro, taking in Queanbeyan near Canberra, overlaps.
‘I’m looking for a new career. I turn 50 in November, maybe a bit of a midlife crisis, but definitely thinking about what happens next. I will take some time out, but I genuinely won’t be running for federal politics,’ he said.
Mr Barilaro is also suing YouTube entertainer and former model Jordan Shanks, better known as Friendlyjordies.
Mr Barilaro is also suing YouTube entertainer and former model Jordan Shanks (pictured), better known as Friendlyjordies