State politics

Following an earlier announcement that the Nationals' sitting member for Orange, Russell Turner, would not be seeking re-election, Gee was endorsed by the National Party as its candidate in June 2010, after a pre-selection battle with three other candidates.^[8] During his election campaign, Gee was diagnosed with melanoma and given a 50% chance of survival.^[9]

At the March 2011 election, Gee was elected and received a swing of 12.5 points towards the Nationals in the traditionally strong Nationals seat, winning 74.2% of the two-party vote.^[10] Gee's main competitor was John Davis, an independent candidate, Mayor of Orange, former Councillor on Blayney Shire Council, and local car dealer.

Federal politics

On 30 April 2016, Gee was preselected by the National Party to contest the seat of Calare at the 2016 federal election,^[11] and resigned from his state seat before the federal election.^[12] The by-election to fill the vacancy was not held until 12 November 2016.

Gee won the seat of Calare at the federal election on 2 July 2016.^[2]

In January 2019, Gee was appointed Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack. He held the position until a ministerial reshuffle in February 2020, when he was elevated to the outer ministry as Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education and Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment.^[2]

Gee supported challenger Barnaby Joyce against incumbent leader Michael McCormack in the 2021 Nationals leadership spill. He had previously been regarded as a McCormack supporter, with his shift regarded as key in Joyce's victory.^[13] As a result of his support, he was appointed as Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel and was elevated to cabinet.^[14] He served as Minister until May 2022, following the appointment of the Albanese ministry.

On 26 March 2022, Gee gave a press conference in which he threatened to resign as a minister if additional funding was not provided in the Federal budget to address a backlog of claims from veterans. At this time the budget was scheduled to be handed down three days later. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the measure would receive initial funding in the budget, and that Gee was unfamiliar with how the budget process worked. A member of the Nationals told ABC News that Gee should have advocated for the funding months earlier if he had wanted to lock it in.^[15]

On 23 December 2022, Gee announced that he would be leaving the National Party and sitting as an independent after the Nationals' announcement that they would be opposing the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Gee noted in a statement, "I can't reconcile the fact that every Australian will get a free vote on the vitally important issue of the Voice, yet National Party MPs are expected to fall into line behind a party position that I fundamentally disagree with, and vote accordingly in parliament."^[16][17][7] Notably, his electorate had one of the highest percentage of "No" in the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, with 71.21% of the electorate's respondents voted "No".^[18]

Political positions

In his maiden speech to Federal Parliament, Gee supported fixed parliamentary terms of four years.^[4]

On 30 November 2022, despite the National Party indicating an opposition to a proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Gee announced his continued support and his intention to vote in favour of the Voice to Parliament.^[19] This eventually culminated in his resignation from the party a month later.