Matt Canavan is on a crusade to save Australia (and the Nats)

by · Australian Financial Review

Greg BearupSenior writer
May 1, 2026 – 5.00am

The bustling NSW Riverina town of Griffith should be rock solid Nationals’ territory. It’s an agricultural titan surrounded by vast irrigated cotton fields and almond plantations. A quarter of the nation’s wine is harvested and bottled here. The chicken you slide into your oven tonight is likely to have been raised in one of many hundreds of poultry sheds plonked on farms throughout the district. As a marker of its agricultural might, this town of 27,000 boasts three forklift dealerships, needed to load the enormous tonnages from the paddocks.

And what should be the cherry on top for the Nats – the party spawned from the old Country Party – is that its leader, Matt Canavan, is of Italian stock. The mallee scrub that once surrounded Griffith was cleared and tilled and turned into orchards and vineyards by hardworking Italian migrants, just like his nonna and nonno. As Canavan wanders down the main drag, Banna Avenue, old men with thick accents shake his hand and chew his ear. “I love this place,” says Canavan. “I feel at home.”

Loading...

Save
Log in or Subscribe to save article
Share

Copy link

Copied

EmailLinkedInTwitterFacebook

Copy link

Copied

Share via...
Gift this article

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber? Login

License article

Introducing your Newsfeed

Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.

Find out more

Read More

Greg BearupSenior writerGreg Bearup is a senior writer for The Australian Financial Review. Send encrypted tips to gregbearup_1234.09 on messaging platform Signal. Email Greg at greg.bearup@afr.com

Latest In Federal

Fetching latest articles