The Nationals is the party that believes the future of regional Australia is critical to the future of Australia. It says it's dedicated to building stronger regional economies and secure communities to deliver opportunity and prosperity for all regional Australians.
Together with the Liberal party, the Nationals form what's known as the Coalition. It's been an enduring relationship although the competing priorities between the two parties can create tension. The Liberal party has always supported free markets while the Nationals have traditionally sought to protect the economic interests of those in regional and rural Australia.
Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sydney Dr Stewart Jackson says with much of eastern Australia in drought, the party's work in shaping water management policies will be one of the top issues at the forthcoming election.
The National Party has not been managing the issue at all well while in government and when they've had the capacity to perhaps also pursue a better management of the whole Riverina system. But it's not just about the rivers, of course, this goes back over the last 30 or 40 years for people in rural areas saying 'well where's my bank, where's my railway, you know where's my post office. Where's all these services that I should be getting?
Barnaby Joyce stepped down last year after the revelations his marriage had ended and he was in a relationship with a former staffer - a point Michael McCormack emphasised when asked about Mr Joyce's intervention in March.
