David Littleproud

David Kelly Littleproud (born 4 September 1976) is an Australian politician who has been the leader of the National Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Maranoa since the 2016 federal election and was a cabinet minister in the Turnbull and Morrison governments.

Littleproud grew up in Chinchilla, Queensland, the son of former state government minister Brian Littleproud. He worked as an agribusiness banker with NAB and Suncorp before entering politics. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2016. Littleproud was appointed to cabinet the following year, subsequently serving as Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources (2017–2019), Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management (2019–2020), Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management (2020–2021), and Agriculture and Northern Australia (2021–2022). He was elected deputy leader of the Nationals in February 2020 under Michael McCormack. He retained the position under Barnaby Joyce and successfully challenged Joyce for the leadership following the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 election.

Early life
Littleproud was born on 4 September 1976 in Chinchilla, Queensland. His grandfather George Littleproud served on the Chinchilla Shire Council, while his father Brian Littleproud was a state Nationals MP and government minister. After entering parliament himself he recalled that he had handed out political flyers for his father from the age of six.

Littleproud attended Chinchilla State High School and Toowoomba Grammar School. As a teenager he worked as a "cotton chipper", removing weeds from cotton fields. As of 2019, he was one of the two members of the national cabinet who had no tertiary qualification.

Littleproud was an agribusiness banker before entering politics. He spent 17 years with the National Australia Bank (NAB), including 12 years based in Warwick, Queensland, as district manager (agribusiness and commercial). He joined Suncorp in 2011 as executive manager (business and agribusiness banking) for South West Queensland. , Littleproud was the owner of Mr Rental Southern Downs, a rent-to-buy business that employed four people.

Early career
In October 2015, Littleproud was preselected by the Liberal National Party of Queensland as the party's candidate in the federal seat of Maranoa, following the retirement of incumbent Nationals MP Bruce Scott. He retained Maranoa for the National Party at the 2016 federal election.

Within 18 months, Littleproud was elevated directly to cabinet as Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, following a reshuffle of the second Turnbull ministry. He was sworn in at Government House in Canberra on 20 December 2017.

In November 2018, Littleproud was additionally appointed Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Drought Preparation and Response. Following the Morrison government's return at the 2019 federal election, his title was changed to Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management. He re-assumed the agriculture portfolio following Bridget McKenzie's resignation in February 2020 following the Sports rorts affair (2020), becoming Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management.

Deputy leadership
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. On 4 February 2020, following Bridget McKenzie’s resignation, he defeated Keith Pitt and David Gillespie to become deputy leader of the National Party. 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.

Leadership of National Party
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 Coalition government lost office to the Labor opposition at the 2022 federal election. The Nationals increased their parliamentary numbers at the election, however Joyce's unpopularity in metropolitan electorates was attributed as a factor in the loss of some Liberal seats. Littleproud was elected to replaced Joyce as leader of the National Party, with Perin Davey as deputy. The Nationals, per longstanding policy, did not release the results.

Following his election as Nationals leader, Littleproud assumed the agriculture portfolio in Peter Dutton's shadow cabinet.

Murray-Darling Basin
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.

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. 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. 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.

Regional Investment Corporation
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, 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.

LGBT rights
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. 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.

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.

Climate change and renewable energy
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. Littleproud has voted consistently against greater action on climate change, including against net zero emission agreements and the Paris Climate Agreement.

In June 2024, Littleproud opposed the establishment of a wind farm offshore off the Illawarra, and committed to a ‘cap’ on renewable energy investment under a Liberal-National government.

Personal life
Littleproud has three children. He and his wife Sarah announced their separation in 2019, ending a 20-year marriage.