Michael McCormack

Michael McCormack was elected as The Nationals’ Member for Riverina on 21 August 2010, and has lived and worked in the Riverina all his life.

Following the 2013 Federal Election, Mr McCormack was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, then Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister in September 2015 where he worked alongside The Nationals’ Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss, in the administration of regional development programmes. A reshuffle in February 2016, following the retirement of Mr Truss, saw Mr McCormack become Assistant Minister for Defence, a portfolio with key ties to the Riverina which has two major defence bases – RAAF Base Wagga and the Home of the Solider at Kapooka. He was elected leader of The Nationals and deputy prime minister in February 2018 following the resignation of Barnaby Joyce, but was defeated in a leadership spill in June 2021 when Mr Joyce was re-elected as leader and deputy prime minister. In June 2022, following the Liberal Party's defeat at the federal election, Mr McCormack became the Shadow Minister for International Development & the Pacific in the Dutton shadow ministry.

Mr McCormack has a keen interest in military history, particularly World War I, and each year produces ANZAC booklets with an emphasis on encouraging school students to write poems or short stories about ANZAC Day in the Riverina and what it means to them.

Prior to entering Parliament, Mr McCormack began his journalism cadetship with The Daily Advertiser newspaper in Wagga Wagga in 1981, and was appointed to the newspaper’s editorship in 1991. At the age of 27, he was the youngest person appointed to edit a daily newspaper in Australasia at the time.

He was appointed Justice of the Peace in New South Wales in 1999.

He then co-founded a small media and publishing business in Wagga Wagga, which he owned and operated in partnership until he was elected to Parliament in 2010. In February 2018, Mr McCormack became the leader of the National Party; Deputy Prime Minister of Australia; and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.