McBride is not in politics for the pay packet. The fifth-generation pastoralist was born into one of the country’s largest wool-producing companies, AJ and PA McBride, with an annual revenue over $38 million.

Last August he was voted in as board chair overseeing the family-owned business based in South Australia.

The company owns swathes of sheep country in the state’s north, and bought Victorian sheep property Telopea Downs for around $70 million five years ago.

Its portfolio also includes many hectares of rich farming land in the state’s South East where McBride has represented the state seat of MacKillop since 2018.

McBride and his wife Katherine – who recently lost her own tilt at Liberal party preselection against federal Barker MP Tony Pasin – own one of the original family properties Conmurra Station in Kingston separately.

So when McBride says the decision to quit the Liberal Party this month was difficult as he wrestled with what he called “dark forces” at play pushing the party too far to the right, the obvious question is why he is staying in politics at all.

“I don’t have to be in politics… but I have a huge amount of love for this type of role being a strong advocate and battling for people who haven’t been heard,” he says.

The Liberal Party no longer holds any seats in its traditional South East heartland following the resignation of Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell (pictured left) in 2017 and Nick McBride this week. Photo: supplied

He believes as an Independent MP there is more opportunity to have an impact in the region without having to toe the party line, his resignation leaving the Liberal Party with no seats in its traditional South East heartland.

“I don’t want to be seen as an independent that throws rocks at the Liberal party, but when I heard the language (describing him as spitting the dummy) as a response to my departure it did put a smile on my face, it made me feel good about my decision,” McBride says.

McBride has lived in Kingston most of his life apart from high school years boarding at Prince Alfred College, a few years completing a boilermaker and welding apprenticeship in an Adelaide shipyard and running a farm for two years in New South Wales.

He claims the South East is ignored by a Labor Party thinking it will never win a local seat in the region, and has been taken for granted by the Liberal Party thinking it would always be safely blue.

It was when Troy Bell sensationally resigned from the Liberal Party after being charged with a criminal offence that the region’s politics began to shift, with Bell retaining his seat at the 2022 state election – this time as an independent.

Now the Liberal Party is also grappling with the loss of McBride’s seat after he quit the team with plans to work with Bell “who I do consider a close friend”.

McBride lists a swag of priorities for the two to pursue, starting with pushing for more services for Mount Gambier and its more than 28,000 residents. It’s the state’s second largest city and McBride believes it receives an unfair distribution of support.

He says the region is handed “derogatory breadcrumbs” in funding despite its high-rainfall agriculture, forestry, two abattoirs and rock lobster industries helping power the state’s economy.

“Being independent I’m hoping will mean this area gets more support than it has seen for the last 30 years,” McBride says.

He says the Naracoorte Hospital desperately needs funds to fix its “leaking roof, lift that plays up and décor from the ‘60s and ‘70s”, and of “falling apart” roads upon which caravans blow tyres on broken shoulders,  and “we are seeing locals being killed on Dukes Highway”.

McBride is clearly mindful of chatter about whether his quitting the Liberal Party foreshadows a switch to the Labor party. He describes a “respectful relationship with the Premier” consisting of a “few short, quick conversations”, that he hopes will lead to more recognition as an independent.

Liberal leader David Speirs has visited the South East eight times since the election and is again touring the Limestone Coast this week.

A “listening post” was held, and a community forum where locals talked about their long-running fight for radiotherapy services.

“On Wednesday we were hosted at an important community forum the Limestone Coast Radiation Treatment Working Group,” Speirs says.

“We are supporting and fighting to see people of the South East get access to a local specialised cancer treatment centre.

“Right now, for a 15-minute treatment, people in the South East are forced to travel up to nine hours for a round-trip to Adelaide. It’s not fair and it’s not right.”

Speirs’ visit this week included meetings with young business leaders along with the District Council of Grant to hear more about a seafront development project in Port MacDonnell.

“I spent the trip with (South East Liberal MLC) Ben Hood and Thursday night met with the Mt Gambier Liberal Party branch before a dinner with local business leaders,” the Opposition Leader says, reiterating that the Liberal party is best placed to serve regional interests.

Hood is a former local councillor and deputy mayor, well-known locally for jointly creating the George the Farmer series of books and videos with Simone Kain.

He campaigned unsuccessfully for the Liberals against Troy Bell at the last state election, but won preselection over moderate Leah Grantham to replace Stephen Wade in the Legislative Council.

McBride says “I’m not threatened” by the Liberal interest around his seat, and is happy to hear the Opposition is hearing its challenges.

Nick and Katherine McBride. Photo: Facebook

Hood, who is also a conservative, posted on Facebook recently that a Voice to Parliament community forum will be held in Mount Gambier, where he will join SA Liberal senator and “No” campaigner Kerrynne Liddle and leading Right members senator Alex Antic and Tony Pasin on a panel.

While he too supports a ‘no’ vote, McBride stands firm on his claims that the Liberal Party is shifting too far right in it policies. He says concern about the party’s directions prompted his wife’s Katherine’s unsuccessful preselection challenge against Pasin in May.

“I clearly identified to her that if I was a betting man, I would put my money on Tony Pasin as the incumbent,” he says of the challenge for the safest Liberal seat in South Australia.

“But she had a frustration that the party was not capturing the middle ground.”