National Party leader Matt Canavan has predicted a swing towards his party in the Farrer byelection, as it makes its first appearance on a Farrer ballot since 2001.
“Our brand hasn’t been on billboards and the like. So it’s been a superhuman effort from our campaign to reintroduce ourselves to this part of the world,” Canavan told the ABC shortly after polls closed.
Nationals leader Matt Canavan and candidate Brad Robertson in Albury yesterday. Janie Barrett
“Many people here do fondly remember Tim Fisher, who was the member 25 years ago, a great leader of the Nationals Party. So we have had a pretty welcoming reception.”
Canavan said voters were “disillusioned with politics and the political class” and claimed responsibility for that phenomenon.
“As a new leader of the Nationals Party, I thought it was very important that I come here and hear directly from the people, take it on the chin, and, yes, certainly I’ve got that feedback about how things haven’t been going the way people want,” he said.
“It’s been even more important to hear that directly from so many voters,” he said.