Vic: Victorian Nationals meet this weekend to debate name change

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2000
Vic: Victorian Nationals meet this weekend to debate name change

MELBOURNE, April 13 AAP - The Victorian National Party will vote this weekend on severing
ties with the Liberal Party and changing its own name as it prepares for a crucial by-election
campaign.

A motion by the Wonthaggi and Inverloch branches to change the name to the Country
Party of Victoria will be debated at the party's three-day Bendigo state conference.

Delegates will also vote on a Warrnambool motion to immediately withdraw from any formal
relationship with the Liberal Party and stand alone.

The conference is the first since the Nationals' disastrous showing in last September's
state election, which voted out the Kennett government and preceded the end of the formal
coalition.

But recriminations by grass roots members is expected to be tempered by former leader
Pat McNamara's retirement announcement yesterday, which puts the party on an unofficial
by-election campaign footing.

The Liberal Party's decision not to contest Benalla, which the Nationals have held
for 57 years, has also diminished the prospect of public dissention within conservative
ranks.

But divisions within the party may surface when another motion is put up to have the
conference support the federal party's policy backing the full sale of Telstra.

The Telstra sale has divided the party across Australia, with members torn between
federal coalition policy and the widespread fears of regional voters about the impact
of the sale on services.

The Queensland party's state council meeting last week defied National Party leader
and Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson by passing a motion that its federal MPs block
the sale.

Mr Anderson is due to address the Victorian conference on Saturday.

Delegates will also elect a replacement to party state president Brian O'Sullivan,
who stands down after five years but retains a position on the state council and management
committee.

Mr O'Sullivan said the major issue facing the conference was a Labor plan to overhaul
the state's upper house, which he claimed would reduce country representation.

AAP pjb/jlw/hu/br

KEYWORD: NATIONALS VIC

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