There has been a lack of connection with the community, with campaigns appearing to be run from city offices by people with little knowledge of what is happening on the ground.
As a result, Austin Evans lost the seat to Helen Dalton, who subsequently had a convincing win over former Edward River Mayor Peta Betts.
Now, we have a federal by-election in the seat of Farrer, and there is nothing thus far to suggest The Nationals have learnt any lessons from their errors at state level.
Comments this week from their Senate leader Bridget McKenzie have not got their campaign off to a good start.
Candidate Brad Robertson is already on the back foot in this region, and it didn’t help his cause when Senator McKenzie incorrectly claimed in a press conference “we know that there are incredible fuel shortages. Jerilderie and Deniliquin have run out of fuel.”
The managing director of Purtill Group, Neville Purtill, was quick to correct the situation, stating Ampol “have not run out, and are not likely to run out”.
The impact Senator McKenzie’s false statement will have on anyone planning a trip to Deniliquin is unclear, but it certainly would not help.
Yet again, this appears to be a case of a political leader making false or exaggerated claims to score political points, but at our expense.
We have had more than enough of this false rhetoric in water policy, and do not need it flowing over into other areas.
Perhaps the only hope for The Nationals is a boost in popularity under this week’s new leader, Matt Canavan.
Certainly, his predecessor David Littleproud was never popular in this region, from the day he became Water Minister under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and boldly (or foolishly) declared he would deliver the Basin Plan in full and on time, despite having limited understanding of the plan or its economic and social impact on regions, like ours, where The Nationals previously had a political stronghold.
Littleproud and his Coalition colleagues, including our former Member for Farrer Sussan Ley, have done nothing to influence Basin Plan policy that continues to hurt our region.
Candidate Brad Robertson, alongside the party’s new leader, will need to make it clear during the by-election campaign that they are committed to forcing their Liberal colleagues to take a much stronger stance on the Basin Plan to protect regional communities and national food security.
This will be a tough job, because we have suffered under Coalition water policy for nearly 20 years. The new leader and his candidate have a massive job in front of them, as they try to convince our region they can turn around two decades of damage and neglect.
And all the while under the watchful eye of a party machine that in recent years has been incapable of running effective local election campaigns.
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