Liberal takes top spot on Senate ticket over Nationals leader

Liberal moderate James McGrath has secured the top position on the Queensland LNP’s Senate ticket, above federal Nationals leader Matt Canavan.

The result, announced at the State Council meeting in Brisbane on Saturday afternoon, puts Canavan in second position on the ticket, leaving him vulnerable if the LNP vote collapses amid the rise of One Nation.

Nationals and Liberals contest elections in Queensland as candidates for the LNP, and therefore run on a single ticket, even though they sit in different federal party rooms.

McGrath was first elected to the Senate in 2013 and currently serves as opposition spokesman for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, urban infrastructure and cities, and special minister of state.

He said it was a privilege to have been preselected as the LNP’s lead Senate candidate, pledging to get “to work straight away … in close partnership with both Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan”.

Canavan, who recently defeated Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie to replace David Littleproud as the new Nationals leader, thanked the party for choosing him as a candidate.

“The next federal election is vital to our country’s future with Australia at a crossroads. We must show all of Australia’s forgotten people that with enough guts and courage we can turn things around,” he said.

Brisbane-based lawyer Adam Stoker and Toowoomba mayoral advisor Michael Duff followed McGrath and Canavan in third and fourth position.

Against the rise of One Nation’s popularity, however, he said endorsing Canavan as the top candidate may have been more savvy.

“If anyone can bring back the One Nation vote, it’s Canavan. So much of what he believes in and says overlaps with One Nation anyway, he just says it better,” Williams said.

“They need big guns to combat [One Nation leader Pauline Hanson].”

Before the last federal election, One Nation’s popularity was polling about 6 per cent. Current national polls have them between 23 and 28 per cent.

“If they can poll at 22 per cent in South Australia, they can poll much higher in regional Queensland,” Williams said.

“That would not only guarantee them one seat in the Senate but they could get two.”

In his keynote speech at the state council conference on Sunday, Premier David Crisafulli said he was filled with hope for the party’s future.

“I’m filled with hope, having seen one of our own [Canavan] rise from the Upper House to lead the National Party,” Crisafulli said.

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