Nationals could be kingmakers

The National Party has resisted overtures to form a governing coalition with the Liberal Party, vowing to deal with whichever party offers the best deal for its supporters in the bush.

“We’re an independent political party,” Nationals’ leader Grylls said on ABC television last night when asked if he would stick with tradition and form a coalition with the Liberal Party.

Mr Grylls said he would be prepared on talk to either party, if they accepted the Nationals “royalties for regions” proposal, which calls for an extra $700 million of mineral royalties to be spent in regional areas.

He said that proposal has been non-negotiable for more than two years.

``If our support is needed for either Labor or Liberal to form government, maybe they'll be a bit more interested in supporting regional Western Australia.

``But there's still a lot of counting to go.''

Mr Grylls seemed to even countenance the bizarre possibility of forming a partnership with Labor, similar to what has been done in South Australia.

The Nationals leader in SA, Karlene Maywald, is a minister in the Rann Labor government, and is the current Minister for the River Murray and Water Security.

Mr Grylls said on television last night that Ms Maywald was “an inspiration”.

“She has been my guiding light,” he said.