Local MPs back Paul Toole to be great Nationals leader, state Perrottet has 'big shoes to fill'

Mr Toole was announced as the Nationals leader and deputy premier on Wednesday morning, defeating Oxley MP Melinda Pavey in a party room vote. Bronnie Taylor was unopposed for the deputy leader role.

Mr Anderson said the new Banksia mental health unit and Tamworth ambulance station would remain high on the fresh leadership team's priority list.

He also believes the Regional Transport and Roads Minister's frequent visits to the region means he has a decent knowledge of the local area.

"It has been my great pleasure to work alongside him since we were both elected to the NSW Parliament in 2011," he said.

"Over this time, I have gotten to know Paul well and have absolute respect for the work he has done as both the Member for Bathurst and as a Minister, particularly for us here in Tamworth."

Meanwhile Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has said Mr Toole will be a different type of leader to the outgoing John Barilaro, but will still be a champion for the bush.

He said he has been "good mates" with the new leader for quite a while and believes he did an excellent job as deputy prior to this.

"He'll be his own man, and will be a leader that will do things differently to John, he's a different person, but I don't think we'll see any change in terms of work ethic, or the vigorous thumping of the table for rural and regional NSW," he said.

As for new premier Dominic Perrottet, Mr Marshall said he was the obvious choice but will have a big challenge replacing Gladys Berejiklian.

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"I don't think people have come to grips yet with the enormity of the departure of Gladys, and the enormous gulf that she leaves, and the vacuum in NSW politics," he said.

"She was a person who, regardless of political stripe, was incredibly highly thought of and respected by millions of people across the state, even people who were Labor voters or Greens voters and voted against the Liberal Party.

"I think Dom's got big shoes to fill but I think he'll be someone who, like he said, will try to lead for all people of all views in a continuation of the good work that has been done already."

In Tamworth business leaders have welcomed the change of leadership - and lack of change anywhere else in government.

Business NSW regional manager Joe Townsend said he was happy that Mr Perrottet had confirmed the COVID-19 roadmap would stay more or less as it is now.

Businesses "need consistency" he said.

Just a fortnight ago, Tamworth businesses got a chance to get in the ear of the new premier, then state treasurer, in an online forum.

Mr Townsend said the 40-or-so small business owners were largely concerned with issues to do with the end to coronavirus restrictions.

"At the time I was actually in discussions with the deputy premier's office to try and get him to come up and do a similar roundtable around the 70 per cent and 80 per cent roadmap to see if there was local concerns and hear it direct from the horse's map," he said.

"I think we would still look to do something like that with the new leadership in place."

Tamworth egg farmer Bede Burke said he was thrilled at the new leadership and encouraged them to keep Mr Adam Marshall in the agriculture portfolio.

He too was leery of too much change, too quickly.

"We've got a lot of things in our industries that are happening in the ag space at the moment. We've been dealing with Adam. We know how he thinks and what his vision is for it. You don't want to see change quickly," he said.

"I hope we let the whole thing settle now."

Tamworth Ratepayers Association vice-president David McKinnon encouraged the new leadership team to resist pressure to water down the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

The corruption-fighting institution helps ratepayers have faith in the integrity of decisions made by councils he said.

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