Ley refuses to ‘influence’ Barnaby Joyce on One Nation move
Sussan Ley has revealed where she stands on Barnaby Joyce’s expected defection to One Nation.
Sussan Ley says she has spoken with “friend” and MP Barnaby Joyce since he quit the Nationals but not to advise him against joining One Nation.
Mr Joyce resigned from the party he twice led on Thursday, reshaping parliament on the final sitting day of the year.
It came a little more than a month after he announced he would not recontest the NSW seat of New England in 2028 nor partake in Nationals party room meetings, citing an irreparable breakdown in his relationship with leader David Littleproud.
Amid expectations Mr Joyce would join One Nation, the Opposition Leader was on Sunday asked if that would hurt the Coalition as its poll numbers sit at record lows.
“Barnaby is a member of the Nationals, and while he’s a friend of mine, it’s not something that I have any influence or commentary over,” Ms Ley told Sky News.
“He makes his own decisions, as he should.
“I don’t sit in the Nationals party room, I never have and I lead the Liberal Party.
“The decisions that Barnaby makes, again, are entirely a matter for him.”
She said she speaks with Mr Joyce “regularly” and has done so since his resignation.
“As I said, we’re friends and, over the years, I’ve checked in on him from time to time, because the collegiate relationship many of us have in the building, sometimes it’s overlooked by people outside the (parliament), but it’s important to keep those things front and centre,” Ms Ley said.
Asked point blank if she had “urged him not to go to One Nation”, she said she had not.
“I haven’t, because these are decisions for him,” she said.
“What he does is a matter for him. He’s not a member of my party room.”
Ms Ley also refused to weigh in on the falling out between Mr Joyce and Mr Littleproud.
“I simply leave all of the conversations around that to the individuals involved,” she said.
“Simple as that.”
Mr Joyce has said he remains undecided on whether to join One Nation.
However, he has played into speculation he could join the nationalist party and had dinner with leader Pauline Hanson in her office days before quitting the Coalition.
Announcing his resignation on Thursday, Mr Joyce told the Lower House he was “asked to leave” the Coalition twice by former Liberal leader Peter Dutton, but that his relationship with Mr Littleproud pushed him to quit.
He confirmed the same day that Ms Ley never asked him to leave.
A former deputy prime minister, Mr Joyce was booted from his shadow cabinet position after the federal election in a move Mr Littleproud put down to “generational change”.
Both the phrase and the demotion ruffled Mr Joyce’s feathers and left him to lead a crusade against net zero from the backbench, undermining Ms Ley and Mr Littleproud’s shared vision of a wholesale post-vote review.
Tensions boiled over in October when Mr Joyce announced he would not run for his seat of New England at the next election and flagged he might not sit in the Nationals party room, sparking speculation he could defect to the crossbench.
Mr Joyce singled out Mr Littleproud’s claim that his backbench banishment was a matter of “generational change”.
“Now, in the past, I’ve been asked to leave twice by Peter Dutton, and I suppose … when they talk about generational change, it’s pretty clear what people want,” Mr Joyce told the chamber.
“One of the biggest things, though … is that after five weeks, I announced this about five weeks ago, apart from a 90-second phone conversation with the leader, I’ve had no communication with either leader of the National Party or the deputy leader of the National Party to try and resolve this, and that’s disappointing.
“So after 30 years with the National Party, I’m resigning from the party, and that really leaves me with a heavy heart, and I apologise for all the hurt that will cause other people, I really do, but it’s not the most important thing.”
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Originally published as Ley refuses to ‘influence’ Barnaby Joyce on One Nation move
