NSW to Feds: It’s our role to serve

FRESHLY reinstated NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says her political colleagues in Canberra should focus on the community and not themselves as the federal election looms.

Ms Berejiklian, who defeated NSW Labor leader Michael Daley on Saturday, offered the advice when asked what Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s team could learn from her campaign.

“I think what our campaign in NSW demonstrated is that the community rewards people that work hard,” she told Seven’s Sunrise yesterday.

“We focus on the community and we have a plan for the future. My advice to anybody seeking high office would be that it is all about the community, not about ourselves.”

The Coalition at a federal level has been buoyed by the NSW result, with AttorneyGeneral Christian Porter on Sunday saying it shows the national poll, expected in May, is absolutely winnable.

The morale boost comes despite the NSW Nationals losing some ground, including two seats that have gone to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers. Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos says the Liberals and Nationals must band together to differentiate themselves from other parties in the bush.

But former Nationals leader, now backbencher, Barnaby Joyce says his party must run its own race.

“We have to clearly announce our own policies in our own seats, not the explanation to our people of the wishes of other people living somewhere else,” he told The Australian.

Mr Morrison says the Liberals will work with the Nationals on all issues, including energy.

“We’ll continue to work constructively with the National Party because we are part of the one government, and we always come to resolutions

MY ADVICE TO ANYBODY SEEKING HIGH OFFICE (IS) THAT IT IS ALL ABOUT THE COMMUNITY, NOT OURSELVES GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN

on important issues,” he said in Melbourne.

Labor Leader Bill Shorten believes Ms Berejiklian’s victory as a more moderate Liberal should give conservative Liberal Party members food for thought.

“People don’t like extremes in political parties,” he said.

Independent federal MP Kerryn Phelps says the NSW Coalition generally has more moderates than at the federal level, meaning the Morrison Government shouldn’t be too excited by the state win.

“People are smart enough to see there’s a very big difference between the two,” she told Sky News.