'Australian Born & Bred' Gurmesh Singh Is New NSW Nationals Leader
- Staff Writer
- Nov 18
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 19
Regional politics in New South Wales just got a new captain. “Australian born and bred” Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh has clinched the NSW Nationals leadership after Dugald Saunders’ surprise resignation this week.
Taking over with Kevin Anderson as his deputy, Singh pledged to keep the regional voices loud and proud in Macquarie Street, saying, “It is an honour to be elected by my peers to lead the NSW Nationals...Our team will continue to represent regional NSW to the very best of our abilities”.
Singh, a third-generation immigrant and a two-time MP,, has seen a rapid rise in NSW politics, since his election to the state Parliament in 2019.
Who is Gurmesh Singh?
Gurmesh Singh isn’t your textbook career politician. Singh, a third-generation local of Coffs Harbour, grew up in a farming family in Woolgoolga, steeped in the realities of banana, blueberry, and macadamia farming.
His great-grandfather, Bella Singh, migrated from Punjab, India, to Australia in 1895—literally chasing opportunity halfway around the globe.
That pioneering spirit trickled down through generations: Gurmesh’s childhood was steeped in the earthy pragmatism of banana and berry farms. Saturdays weren't for cartoons—they were for hauling bananas under the Coffs sun, something Singh joked “was enough to drive anyone bananas!” in his maiden speech in NSW Parliament in 2019.
But behind the wisecracks lies a grit for honest work, as Singh put it: “I learnt the value of an earnt dollar and the value of having a strong work ethic”.
Singh’s educational odyssey took him from Woolgoolga Public and High Schools (where he was Dux) to the University of NSW to study Industrial Design, and then into a turbocharged spell in Sydney’s advertising and marketing world. But city lights couldn’t keep him, and 2009 saw Gurmesh and wife Manni decide to return to the home turf and dig into farming full-time.
Before Parliament, Singh’s CV reads rural renaissance: farmer, business owner, and chairman of the hugely successful Oz Group Co-Op—a $150 million farmer-owned outfit that became one of Australia's largest agricultural co-ops under his watch.
From Farmer To Politician
Singh’s rapid rise is rooted in the experience and connection to the land and community that he detailed eloquently in his 2019 maiden speech to New South Wales Parliament.
“My path to this Parliament started over 120 years ago with the decision made by my great-grandfather, Bella Singh, to leave Punjab… to seek opportunity on the other side of the world in Australia."
"I doubt that in his wildest dreams he would ever have imagined that his great-grandson would be standing here today, in the oldest Parliament in Australia, as the newly elected member for Coffs Harbour,” Singh told Parliament, sharing the journey that shaped his perspective as both a proud local and grandson of a Punjabi migrant.
He however made it clear that he was Australian through and through. “I am proud of my heritage but, as members can clearly hear, I am Australian born and bred. I attended Woolgoolga Public and Woolgoolga High schools and immediately prior to my election in March I was a farmer—I grew macadamias and blueberries in the sandy loam soils of the Corindi range,” Singh said.
Not Left, Not Right—Just Fair
Singh concluded his 2019 speech by laying out his philosophy and promise to his constituents:
“The politics I represent is not about left or right, it is about the people of the Coffs Harbour electorate having access to the same services and the same opportunities as someone living elsewhere in the State.”
“I represent opportunity and growth. I represent rewarding those who work hard. I represent helping those in need of extra support. I represent lower taxes, less red tape and fiscal responsibility. I represent affordable, reliable and clean energy. I represent regional New South Wales”.
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