The face at the top may have changed, but the new leader of the Victorian National Party says the party’s priorities will not.
Visiting Greater Shepparton on Tuesday, Danny O’Brien said the interests of regional Victorians remained top of mind.
“Our role won’t change at all in terms of being absolutely focused on rural and regional Victoria,” Mr O’Brien said.
“There’ll be a change in figurehead, and maybe a change in style, but certainly not a change in attitude.”
Mr O’Brien, 50, replaces Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh as party leader.
He’s been an MP for about a decade and is the member for Gippsland South, as well as holding the roles of shadow minister for casino, gaming and liquor regulation, and shadow minister for roads and road safety.
It’s not only in his role as shadow minister that Mr O’Brien thinks about roads; he said it was something he heard about all over regional Victoria.
Fixing the state’s roads is one of the priorities he has as leader of his party.
“They’re bad now, but they’re on the verge of breaking up even further and that’s a concern that I get right across the state,” he said.
“I often say, the easiest way to start a fight in country Victoria is claim that your roads are worse than someone else’s. And sadly, that’s something that we’re often having to put up with.”
Mr O’Brien acknowledged there was only so much his party could do while in opposition.
But he said raising issues repeatedly could help.
“I think on roads we saw a response. Last year’s roads budget was the lowest in 10 years, this year there was a big increase,” he said.
Mr O’Brien credits both his party and the voice of regional Victorians with influencing that change.
The Victorian Government has earmarked $964 million to maintain the state’s road network.
Mr O’Brien said other priorities included shoring up the state’s health system, the rising cost of living and issues with housing affordability and availability.
“That’s common to everywhere, but I think particularly an issue within the Goulburn Valley,” Mr O’Brien said of the housing crisis.
Born and raised in Gippsland as the youngest of seven, Mr O’Brien began his working career as a journalist.
He said that foundation had prepared him well for his time in politics where he sometimes had to be a “Jack of all trades”.
Mr O’Brien said he also tried to see both sides of an issue.
As he settles into his new role as leader, he said finding his own leadership style was a work in progress.
“I will absolutely hold the government to account with relish, but I also want to do it in a respectful way,” he said.
“I think I’d hate to see our politics go down the sort of partisan divide that America has gone down. I think, at the end of the day, we all want good things for Victoria.”
While respect is top of mind, Mr O’Brien said he and his fellow Nationals would still disagree with the government vehemently on many occasions.
For the next two years, Mr O’Brien said his party had two main jobs.
“Hold the government to account and present a viable alternative, and I think we can do that working with our Liberal colleagues in the coalition to come up with policy,” he said.
Following a disappointing showing from the Liberal Party in 2022 elections, Mr O’Brien broached the subject of re-evaluating the coalition agreement.
Today, he has a different outlook and said things had turned around in the past two years.
“I’m very comfortable with the coalition arrangements at the moment,” he said.
“We’re not only happy to be in coalition, we need to be in coalition to get rid of this Labor government.”
Mr O’Brien is married with two children.
He lives near Sale but said he expected to spend time in various areas across the state in his new role, getting out to meet people and hear their concerns.