Contained within his answer was the line: "I think the Greens represent the most clear and most present danger to our regional communities."

My ears pricked up and I wondered why the deputy prime minister would so deliberately turn a question about the demonstrably despicable One Nation into a seemingly gratuitous whack at the Greens.

Ideologically, the Greens and the Nationals could scarcely be further apart on the political spectrum. These are not parties that are competing for swinging voters.

The Nationals have enough to worry about to their immediate right, without looking way over yonder to pick a needless fight.

The biggest threat to the Nationals, as we saw at last week's NSW election, is from its disenfranchised voters looking for right-wing alternatives, such as the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers and One Nation, or independents who are not tethered to an ideology.

Make no mistake, the NSW election was a disaster for the Nats. To lose the seat of Murray to the Shooters and have candidates resoundingly beaten in Wagga and Orange by an independent and the Shooters respectively is not a good result no matter how you spin it.

As a party, the Nationals seem lost at the moment, trying to navigate an unstable middle ground on a number of complex, intertwined issues of great concern to their constituents.

The myriad challenges surrounding farming, mining, employment, climate, irrigation, infrastructure and immigration appear to be among those front-of-mind of voters.

The Nationals need to put their internal squabbles aside and be crystal clear on their policies in these key areas.

The NSW Coalition just survived losing seats that two or three years ago it would have pencilled in for the Nats. The federal Coalition would not want to cut it so fine.