Matt Canavan has used his first speech as Nationals’ leader to push for “more Australian everything” while at the same time vowing to fight off Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

The outspoken Queensland senator triumphed over Victorian senator Bridget McKenzie and former deputy leader Kevin Hogan in a leadership contest on Wednesday morning that was triggered by the sudden resignation of David Littleproud.

Darren Chester was elected deputy leader and McKenzie remains Senate leader.

Canavan put forward a nationalistic pitch when he addressed media after his win, saying he stood for the leadership “because I think we are losing our country”.

“People are losing their standard of living, they’re losing their confidence,” he said.

“We’re losing our relaxed and larrikin nature and we have to fight back for Australians.”

The conservative senator claimed things were “not going well” under the Labor government, and said the solution was as simple as looking inward rather than overseas.

“All we need to need to do to revive our great nation is to have more Australia. We need to have more Australian farming, more Australian manufacturing, more Australian jobs. We need to have more Australian everything,” he said.

“We need to manifest a hyper Australia. We need to go hyper Australia for our country, we need more Australian babies. We need more Australian humour, more Australian jokes.

“We need more Australian barbecues, sometimes often fuelled by fossil fuels.”

Canavan, a key campaigner in the Coalition’s decision to dump its net-zero emissions by 2050 target, is a big supporter of coal production. He called for Australia to use all its “God-given resources” to bring down cost-of-living pressures .

“We should run our energy system to deliver the lowest possible prices for Australians, that should be the primary goal,” he said.

“That is not the goal of this government – their goal is to meet arbitrary emissions or renewable energy targets.”

Announcing the ballot result, party whip Michelle Landry said it was important the party had strong leadership.

“We have a mighty battle coming ahead of us, we have two years to get ourselves up in the polls,” Landry said.

“We have fights with Labor, One Nation, the teals, so we need strong leadership – we have voted for that today and we are looking forward to getting with the job.”

In an interview with Sky News, former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said he believed Canavan would be able to regain votes lost amid the rise in support for One Nation.

“I think he’ll bring that sort of reset, and with Darren Chester as a good fallback in the House of Representatives, somebody who is experienced, somebody who is a little bit more moderate perhaps, I think they’ll be a very good duo there,” McCormack said.

Canavan will have a baptism by fire, with the Farrer byelection – sparked by the resignation of former Liberal leader Sussan Ley after she was knifed by Angus Taylor – scheduled for May 9.

A popular independent is again contesting the seat after whittling down Ley’s margin at the 2025 election, and it is the first real test for One Nation to see if it can convert popular polling into an electoral outcome federally.

Both nascent Coalition leaders are under pressure to win the seat and shore up voters who are leaving major parties in favour of independents and minor parties.

Regional Queensland and NSW are considered particularly at risk of flipping to One Nation, threatening crucial electorates held by the Nationals.

Canavan slapped down Hanson’s divisive comments after she implied there were no good Muslims.

“I was very critical of Pauline’s comments, dividing Australians into groups, saying that, suggesting that are no good … I totally reject that,” he said.

“We are all Australians, what unites us as a country is more than what divides us.

“I worry about where Pauline would take this country, to an area of more division.”

At the 2025 federal election, the rural party held all its lower house seats but failed to win back Calare. It was retained by independent Andrew Gee, who quit the Nationals over their opposition to the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Firebrand Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price also defected to the Liberal Party following the federal election defeat.

Wednesday’s leadership contest came after Littleproud fronted the media at short notice on Tuesday, accompanied by his wife Amelia, to declare he was stepping down from the regional party’s top job.

He said he was “buggered” and didn’t have the energy to continue. He will remain in parliament as the member for his safe Queensland seat of Maranoa.

–with AAP