Barnaby Joyce won’t run for New England, mulls One Nation move after talks with Pauline Hanson
Pauline Hanson says she will ‘open the door’ to the former Nationals leader after he announced he will not run for the seat of New England at the next election.
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has announced he will not run for the seat of New England in the next election, saying his relationship with party leadership has broken down “like a sadness in some marriages”.
It comes as Pauline Hanson visited Tamworth on Saturday to open a New England branch of One Nation amid fuelling speculation Mr Joyce will defect to her party and succeed her.
“He’s been shut down by the National Party. They put him on the backbench, out of the way,” Senator Hanson told Nine News, adding that Mr Joyce was “more aligned with One Nation than what he is with the National Party”.
“Barnaby...I’ll open the doors for your, come across to One Nation,” she said.
Mr Joyce released a statement on Saturday confirming the shock move, amid unconfirmed reports he was possibly planning to defect to One Nation.
“My relationship with the leadership of the Nationals in Canberra has unfortunately, like a sadness in some marriages, irreparably broken down,” Mr Joyce said in the statement.
“I will not be standing for New England again but will complete my term as promised at the last election.”
The veteran MP said he would have preferred more time to contemplate the decision, but felt forced to make his intentions known after the news broke.
“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,” he said.
“That is not who I want to be.
“More importantly our position in continuing to support net zero with the massive schism and hurt to my electorate, to small businesses, to the environment, to the poor, to the defence of Australia and creating hate between lifelong friends in my community makes continuing in the Nationals’ party room in Canberra under this policy untenable.
“I will leave with the greatest of love for all and money in the electorate bank account.”
Mr Joyce said he was now free to consider all his options on what to do next.
“I hope that the members understand the unfortunate position I am in and the obvious action after a period of consideration I must take,” he said.
“I wished I had been given more time to consider this and don’t know the motives of those who put the story out there.
“I am so desperately sorry as to the hurt this may cause and close with the deepest of affection for you all.”
One Nation move
The Australian earlier revealed Mr Joyce had been speaking to Ms Hanson about joining One Nation, amid growing fractures in the Coalition.
The 58-year-old was dumped from the frontbench by David Littleproud earlier this year after backing Michael McCormack as a potential leader of the Nationals.
Despite saying such an experience didn’t bother him as much as it previously would have after an unexpected prostate cancer diagnosis earlier this year, Mr Joyce has been canvassing his options with Senator Hanson and is considering joining the Queensland minor party. The Australian understands Mr Joyce has not yet made a final decision.
It follows a group of longstanding Nationals members in Tamworth defecting to One Nation amid frustrations over what they described as the National Party’s failure to represent their core beliefs. Chairman of the Nationals Tamworth branch, Steve Coxhead said, the country-based party had not listened to its membership, prompting the decision to defect.
During the last term of government, Mr Joyce was put on a tight leash after video emerged of him sprawled on a Canberra pavement, muttering expletives into his phone late at night during a sitting week.
He claims then-opposition leader Peter Dutton urged him to resign from politics and “lost his mind” over an interview in which Mr Joyce said nuclear power would not reduce household energy bills, only slow their rise.
He was soon placed under new party rules that barred him from campaigning outside of his electorate of New England, despite his obligations on the frontbench as minister for veterans’ affairs.
He revealed in the days immediately after the federal election that he had been diagnosed with early-onset prostate cancer and was due to go into surgery, to which he responded well. It fuelled a new round of rumours about his potential retirement.
Mr Joyce instead re-emerged emboldened as a disruptive presence on the backbench in the National Party, collaborating with one-time rival Mr McCormack to pressure the Coalition into scrapping its commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050.
The move gained traction within the junior Coalition partner, with many members concerned about the effect the green energy transition would have on regional communities.
The pair seized on concerns over Mr Littleproud’s hold on the party after the brief Coalition split, with Mr Joyce at the time saying he would “happily back Michael for leader”.
The Nationals have already seen one MP leave their ranks to join a different party, with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price in May switching to the Liberals in the hope of becoming Angus Taylor’s deputy.
The move prompted deep frustrations within the Nationals, given Senator Price’s exit resulted in the loss of their party status in the upper house.
Amid rumours in recent days of Liberals considering defecting to the Nationals, Mr Littleproud said he would “utilise” any Liberal MPs who joined up and welcome the opportunity for his party to gain more power in the Coalition.
The comments follow a split in the Coalition earlier this year, with Mr Littleproud and Sussan Ley stressing later that the Coalition was united that the ordeal was behind them.
With NewsWire
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