David Littleproud

Littleproud was viewed as a potential candidate to replace Barnaby Joyce as National Party leader in February 2018. The position was eventually won by Michael McCormack.[11] On 4 February 2020, following Bridget McKenzie’s resignation, he defeated Keith Pitt and David Gillespie to become deputy leader of the National Party.[12][13] The ballot for the deputy leadership was held simultaneously with a leadership spill in which McCormack defeated a challenge by Joyce. It was subsequently suggested that Littleproud could emerge as a compromise candidate if conflict continues between supporters of McCormack and Joyce.

Littleproud challenged incumbent Nationals Party leader Barnaby Joyce along with Darren Chester in a three-way contest for the leadership of the party on 30 May 2022 after the incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government lost office to the Labor opposition. The Nationals party room got bigger, however, their coalition partner suffered massive seat losses due in part to Joyce's unpopularity in metropolitan electorates.[14][15] Littleproud was elected Leader of the National Party with Perin Davey as deputy, replacing Joyce. The Nationals, per longstanding policy, did not release the results.

On 14 February 2018, Labor and the Greens voted to disallow a mechanism in the Murray Darling Basin Plan that would reduce the amount of water being returned to the environment in the northern basin.[16]

The disallowance motion triggered a crisis in basin states when New South Wales and Victoria pledged to abandon the Plan as a result. It was widely considered the withdrawal of the two largest states would see the Basin Plan dismantled after it had taken more than a century to strike the agreement.[17] On 7 May 2018, in the lead up to a second disallowance motion that would have blocked 36 environmental water savings projects, Littleproud struck a deal with Labor that both secured the works in question and the 70GL recovery reduction for Northern Basin farmers which had previously been disallowed. This effectively resurrected the Murray-Darling Basin Plan by reassuring Basin states the Plan would be fulfilled as agreed in 2012.[18] In addition to securing the Basin Plan, Littleproud delivered enhanced protections for Aboriginal people in the Basin. This included an Indigenous position on the MDBA board and a world-first $40 million indigenous fund so Aboriginal communities could buy water for either cultural or economic purposes.[19]

Littleproud at a July 2018 meeting with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue

Littleproud successfully negotiated with the Senate crossbench for passage of legislation establishing the Regional Investment Corporation. On 6 February 2018 the new laws passed the Senate,[20] breaking a political deadlock that had dragged on months. On 16 May 2018 it was announced that the RIC's headquarters would be set up in Orange, New South Wales.[21]

In December 2017, Littleproud was one of four members of the House of Representatives to vote against the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017, which legalised same-sex marriage in Australia.[22] Littleproud had pledged to vote according to the majority response of his electorate of Maranoa in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, and Maranoa recorded a result of 56.1% against changing the definition of marriage.[23]

In 2023, he called on One Nation leader Pauline Hanson to take action against Mark Latham (One Nation's leader in New South Wales) for a tweet that contained vulgar and homophobic language targeted at Alex Greenwich, a gay man who is the independent member for Sydney.[24]

In 2018, Littleproud told The Guardian “I believe the climate is changing. Whether it is manmade or not, I don’t really care,” however by 2023 Littleproud described renewable energy as a ‘virus’ and criticised the Albanese government of running a “reckless race” toward renewables.[25] Littleproud has voted consistently against greater action on climate change, including against net zero emission agreements and the Paris Climate Agreement.[26]