“No not at all, I know my colleagues believe I’m doing a very good job and I can’t work any harder than I am,” Mr McCormack said. 

“I am working hard everyday for regional Australia and I’m not getting on the rooftops with a mega phone and shouting about how I’m doing and my achievements and where I’m going.

“Under my leadership the Nationals are back in Tasmania for the first time in 90 years and others tried and didn’t succeed in the Murray-Darling Rural School Network, but I succeeded within the first few weeks.” 

As talks of the Nationals challenge grows Mr McCormack was defiant that the Nationals Party supported him and that he did not need more time to grow in his role. 

“Well the fact is, I’ve been elected as the Nationals Party leader and there is no spill motion, no one agitating for change among my colleagues,” he said. 

“No one has come in and tapped me on the shoulder and said they want change or I needed to do something differently or that they’re dissatisfied with the job that I’m doing. 

“People know that I am getting things done for regional Australia and that I am a fighter and I won’t give up ever.” 

While the clock is ticking on who will be sworn in for the Sydney seat of Wentworth, Mr McCormack said the current instability facing the Federal government would be resolved by the Liberal candidate. 

“I would like to see Dave Sharma win, because I want stability in the government,” the Nationals leader said.

“I recognise the fact that there have been a few ups and downs lately with the government on the personality side but certainly as a government, you only have to vote on the fact that unemployment is the lowest it has been in many years. 

“Drought aside, all the economic figures are very good and right across the nation, business and the economy is strong and we’re very focused on business tax cuts.” 

Mr McCormack argued that politics is all about “arithmetic” and the Liberal vote is important for the nation’s future. 

“We need that additional number so that we don’t always have to rely on the cross benches to get legislation passed,” he said. 

Mr McCormack said he won’t talk about a “hypothetical” situation as to how the government would cope to a vote to independent candidate Kerryn Phelps. 

“We will wait to see what the poll produces, I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it and I just like to think that we will win that seat,” he said. 

“I don’t think the government will cop a hammering, I think Dave Sharma represents a good outcome for the voters of Wentworth and our nation.” 

The national innovation hub based in Wagga has secured half a million dollars from the Federal government to help Australian agriculture. 

The grant for Bridge Hub will help Australian agriculture and food businesses identify, test and commercialise new ideas to create business opportunities and jobs. 

Bridge Hub community manager Dianne Sommerville said this is a “unique” opportunity for Australia and the funding has been matched by their partners, including CSU and AgriFutures Australia. 

“As much as we will be helping Australian start-ups scaled globally, we will also be assisting in building Australia as a test-bed location for globally leading Agri-food tech,” she said. 

“We will look at bringing new and emerging technologies to Australia to be trialed and as proof of concepts to what they’re actually working on here in Australia.”

The agrifood tech innovation hub will also provide a global platform for Australian start-ups through its close partnerships with Israeli researchers. 

Bridge Hub was launched last month by Blue River Group co-founders Craig Shapiro and Grant Fuzi, with former Israel Trade Commissioner in Australia, Ethy Levy, a co-founder. 

“The funding will allow Bridge Hub to dedicate additional resources to accelerate its work with both agrifood tech start-ups in Australia and the building of deeper connections with world-leading agrifood tech nations, such as Israel,” Mrs Levy said. 

Riverina MP Michael McCormack said there is a “dollar to be made” in regional Australia and it is important to work in conjunction with a country like Israel.

“It’s a collaboration with wonderful innovative people around the Riverina who just need the right bit of advice to be steered in the right direction to start off what could potentially be the next great rural business,” he said.

“If anyone knows how to use their water and one of their most precious resources, is Israel.”