Barnaby Joyce says he remains the ‘elected deputy prime minister of Australia’

Barnaby Joyce has responded to the extraordinary public comment from his own party’s leader, as speculation swirls about his future.

Barnaby Joyce has responded to Nationals leader Michael McCormack’s apparent dig at his failed marriage, saying he hopes it was just a verbal slip-up.

The back-and-forth started this morning when Mr Joyce told ABC radio the Nationals were “not married” to the Liberal Party.

Mr McCormack responded with what seemed to be a swipe at Mr Joyce’s personal life.

“I understand when you have a marriage it’s a two-way relationship,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

“I understand that. I understand what it takes to have a successful marriage.”

Mr Joyce resigned the leadership of the National Party last year after the public learned of his affair with a former staffer, Vikki Campion.

The relationship destroyed Mr Joyce’s marriage to his wife Natalie, and strained his relations with his four daughters.

Mr Joyce and Ms Campion have since welcomed their son Sebastian into the world.

Speaking to Sky News’ political editor David Speers this afternoon, Mr Joyce said he would “move on” from Mr McCormack’s comment.

“I hope it was a faux pas, and I’ll stick with that belief,” he said.

“You’re very, very blessed to have a strong marriage. It is incredible. Unfortunately, sometimes things break down. They did with me. And of course there’s guilt, and there’s hurt, there’s anger, and there is an absolute sense of bewilderment.

“You are super sensitive to any sort of things that take you back to that sort of pained place. All I’d say to anybody is to be really careful when you go into that sort of space.”

“Did that hurt today?” Speers asked.

“I suppose it did a bit. But now you’ve got to move on, don’t you? So that’s what I’m going to do,” Mr Joyce said.

“The thing hurts because of how you perceive it to yourself. I’m not accusing Michael of trying to do that, and I’ll just take it as a faux-pas that probably didn’t mean that at all.”

Barnaby Joyce. Picture: Kym Smith

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Picture: AAP

This comes amid mounting speculation that the Nationals will replace Mr McCormack after the election.

Earlier today, Mr Joyce publicly pushed for the government to support building a new coal-fired power plant in Queensland — a stance that put him at odds with Mr McCormack, who declared over the weekend that he was merely “not against” coal projects if they stacked up financially.

Funding a new coal-fired plant would risk upsetting voters in key Liberal seats across the southern states. But Mr Joyce said that wasn’t his problem.

“We are not married to the Liberal Party,” he told ABC radio. “If we’re going to agree with everything they say, we should join the Liberal Party.”

Mr McCormack responded with his own comment about marriage.

Vikki Campion and Barnaby Joyce. Credit: Channel 7

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed the calls for a coal-fired power station in Queensland and rejected speculation that Mr Joyce is eager to take back the Nationals leadership.

Mr Morrison described claims of a possible leadership spill among the Nationals during Budget week as “nonsense”.

“We have a fantastic leader of the National Party and deputy prime minister in Michael McCormack and there will be no change to that,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.

He promptly rejected Mr Joyce’s demand that the government commit to either underwriting or subsidising a new coal-fired power station.

“For such a project to proceed, it would require the approval of a Queensland state government. The Queensland state government has no intention of approving any such projects,” Mr Morrison said.

“So I tend to work in the area of the practical.”

His comments came after Mr Joyce made bizarre comments on radio, claiming he was “the elected deputy prime minister of Australia” and would have “no guilt” about standing to be the leader of the Nationals again if there were a spill.

“I am the elected deputy prime minister of Australia,” he said, bizarrely comparing himself to Malcolm Turnbull, who was dumped as prime minister last year.

Radio National breakfast host Fran Kelly asked Mr Joyce whether his comments sounded a bit like a sense of entitlement.

“No it doesn’t,” Mr Joyce said. “Because the entitlement comes from the Australian people at the election and it’s not so much an entitlement, it’s a responsibility, a reflection and a respect of their views.”

Mr Joyce’s comments have been described as sounding “almost unhinged”.

Barnaby Joyce sounding almost unhinged on #RNBreakfast just now a reminder that it was only a year ago his own bizarre behaviour raised questions about his honesty, integrity and mental state.The Nats might have short memories but perhaps not the rest of the electorate.#auspol

— Janine Perrett (@PerrettReport) March 10, 2019

Barnaby thought he had been elected to the peerage, a lifetime appointment.

— TeeMG (@Grilledchops) March 10, 2019

Tony Abbott was elected PM and got sacked Turnbull was elected PM and got sacked Barnaby you were elected deputy PM and got sacked just leave it at that

— Hans Rischke (@hans_rischke) March 10, 2019

I’m waiting for Turnbull to respond to being the elected Prime Minister of Australia #auspol

— PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) March 10, 2019

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Investment in coal-fired power would be electoral poison in urban Liberal Party-held electorates in southern states, where voters are demanding stronger action on climate change.

Mr Joyce angrily rejected suggestions he was harming the Liberal Party’s chances at the election in May by calling for more coal, arguing he was standing up for Nationals voters.

Mr McCormack, who is under internal pressure to take stronger action on energy policy, made some extraordinary claims of his own on Sunday as he railed against renewables and climate change action.

He argued pensioners would be “shivering all winter” and “melting all summer” if Labor wins the election and legislates a 45 per cent emissions reduction target. “I mean sure, go down that path, but forget night footy, forget night cricket,” he said.

“You’ll have pensioners turning off their power because they won’t be able to afford it, and they’ll be shivering all winter, and they’ll be melting all summer.”

As the debate on coal rages on, new research from the Australian National University has found National Party-held electorates are the most vulnerable to climate change.

The six Queensland Nationals are also demanding the Morrison government put its “big stick” energy bill to a vote during budget week.

However, Queensland Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington has slapped down her federal colleagues, arguing the shelved divestiture laws are not the answer to the state’s power bill woes.