Back from the brink? The National Party after the 2010 Federal Election

After the 2010 federal election, the Leader of the Nationals, Warren Truss (2010c, Truss, W. 29 September 2010c. Governor General's Speech – Address in Reply 29 September, Hansard, 233), claimed that this was his party's ‘… best election result since World War II’. The National Party had gained two seats in Queensland, held on to the seat of Riverina in a three-cornered contest, increased its margins in most of the seats it had previously held, and there was a WA National in the Federal Parliament for the first time since 1974. An alternative view is that this election delivered some respite after a decade of decline (1998–2007), during which the perennial threats to the Nationals' viability were especially evident. They were beset by a particularly vigorous populist movement (One Nation, 1998–2001), won their lowest ever shares of Federal House of Representatives seats and votes (2001, 2004 and 2007), lost rural seats to the Liberals and another to an independent, and lost coastal ‘sea-change’ seats to the Australian Labor Party (ALP).