Shock new defections loom for Nationals
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is preparing to launch fresh raids on the ranks of disaffected Coalition MPS, so who will make the move?
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is preparing to launch fresh raids on the ranks of disaffected Coalition MPs with hopes of encouraging MPs who oppose net zero climate change targets to switch parties.
Amid a bitter split over climate change policy, One Nation is circling MPs who may defect in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.
MPs being targeted include Senator Jacinta Price and Llew O’Brien, a Queensland MP and friend of Barnaby Joyce.
As MPs threaten to walk, the divisions are increasing the pressure on Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud to declare their position on net zero.
Former National leader Barnaby Joyce shocked colleagues over the weekend after he announced he was in serious talks to join One Nation.
He confirmed he would not stand again in the seat of New England at the next election.
“My relationship with the leadership of the Nationals in Canberra has unfortunately, like a sadness in some marriages, irreparably broken down,” Mr Joyce said.
“The instructions that during the federal election I was not to campaign outside New England as that did not represent the views of the Nationals, then after the election being moved on for “generational change” and just the atmospherics in the party room, where I am seated in the far corner of the Coalition in the chamber, means I am seen and now turning into a discordant note. That is not who I want to be.
“Continuing in the Nationals’ Party Room in Canberra under this policy is untenable.”
However, Mr Joyce left open the prospect of running for One Nation in the Senate, potentially raising the prospect that he could one day emerge as One Nation’s leader if Pauline Hanson retires.
New MPs targeted by One Nation
Now, it has emerged that Pauline Hanson is targeting a range of disaffected MPs, including Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who was recently banished to the backbench.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says she wanted to “open doors” for Barnaby Joyce, suggesting his own party was ostracising him.
Speaking from Tamworth, where she is launching a One Nation New England branch on Saturday, Ms Hanson said she would welcome Mr Joyce with open arms.
“I made it quite clear that last year I was talking to Barnaby about it,” she said.
“He’s spoken about the net zero. He’s very passionate about it. It’s ruining our country, we’re on the same page.
“He is more aligned with One Nation than he was with the National Party.
“He’s been shut down by the National Party. They’ve put him on the back bench, out of the way. Just sit there, shut up Barnaby. We don’t want to hear from you.
“That’s not what a decent member of parliament will do, and he wants to be that voice.
“I encourage him. Barnaby … I’ll open doors for you. Come across to One Nation.
“I think he’s got a lot to offer politics. We’re on the same page, and that’s a decision he has to make.”
Matt Canavan rules out split
Other MPs in her sights include Colin Boyce and Llew O’Brien, although the Nationals’ Matt Canavan told news.com.au he wouldn’t split with the Nationals.
“There’s no way I will be changing parties,’’ Senator Canavan told news.com.au.
“It’s Nats or bust for me. That’s my line. I’ll do my best to change net zero. But even if I don’t, I won’t be changing parties and deserting the people that supported me to get here.”
Llew O’Brien issues warning
On Sunday night, Nationals MP Llew O’Brien warned that if David Littleproud refuses to dump a net zero by 2050 target, he could join One Nation.
“I would have to know what our position is to make a call on anything, but net-zero by 2050 is unachievable, and it goes against the principles that I joined the party for: smaller government, freedom of the individual. It is a big impost on all of those things,” Mr O’Brien told The Australian.
“If we don’t come up with a position that is not chasing net zero by 2050, I have got to wonder whether the party I joined is the same party.
“As far as I was concerned, the party changed when it adopted net zero. But to maintain it now, whether that becomes tenable for me to stay in the party, we will have to wait and see what happens with the final position.
Speculation mounts
Six months after Peter Dutton lost the 2025 election in a catastrophic landslide to Labor, the Coalition remains in disarray over major issues, including climate change targets. Mr Joyce has proposed a plan to reverse Australia’s net zero emissions target.
The campaign, backed by fellow former Nationals leader Michael McCormack, aims to repeal what Joyce calls Australia’s “lunatic crusade” of net zero by 2050.
Any departure by the former Deputy Prime Minister would be another blow following the decision of Andrew Hastie to go to the backbench and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s expulsion from the frontbench.
In May, National Party leader David Littleproud announced the party would dump the Coalition agreement in the wake of the disastrous election result before promptly mending the fence.
He blamed a fight over the four policy issues, including the future of nuclear power and supermarket divestitures.
It was a historic move, one of the rare splits in opposition since the 1920s. But it didn’t last long.
Last year, Mr Joyce was diagnosed with a serious illness, and he was filmed lying on a Canberra footpath mumbling into a mobile phone.
The former Nationals leader had defiantly refused to take leave in recent weeks after the fallout from his Braddon misadventure made national headlines.
“I don’t take advice from people in Canberra,” he said.
“I take advice from my wife, my close friends, and my local GP. I do not listen to the views of people in this crazy boarding school they call parliament.
“Look, obviously, I made a big mistake — there’s no excuse for it.
“There is a reason, and it was a very eventful walk home wasn’t it. I’m on a prescription drug, and they say certain things may happen to you if you drink, and they were absolutely 100 per cent right.”
At the time, Mr Littleproud confirmed that he had decided to take personal leave following a stressful period.
“He won’t be here this week. He’s notified me that he won’t be coming to parliament,” Mr Littleproud told Nine’s Today program.
“He’s having the week off, which we gave him the opportunity to undertake with his family [sic]. And I respect that. And I hope, hope he went to church yesterday and all he had was altar wine.”
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Originally published as Shock new defections loom for Nationals
