Barnaby Joyce reveals his secret prostate cancer diagnosis

One-time deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has revealed he will undergo surgery on Monday after being diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer.

Barnaby Joyce is optimistic about his diagnosis. Picture: Martin Ollman

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Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce will undergo surgery on Monday after weeks of keeping a prostate cancer diagnosis handed to him before the election campaign a secret.

The Australian understands Mr Joyce decided to not publicly declare his diagnosis to avoid distraction and waited until the end of the campaign to have the ­surgery in Tamworth.

“I had a prostate specific antigen test that was elevated so I was asked to go for an MRI, which showed something suspicious and a biopsy said it was cancer,” Mr Joyce said.

“Luckily it is in the early stages. My strong message to all males is to go and get your PSA done. It is not a good story to get it but it’s a story you can deal with, but don’t let it fester because that would be a sad story for you and your family.”

The former Nationals leader and frontbencher, who was banned by current party David Littleproud from campaigning outside his New England electorate, was one of a handful of Nationals MPs who achieved positive swings and increased their margins.

Despite hopes from within the party that it can still win the previously safe Labor-held seat of Bendigo in Victoria, Nationals deputy leader Perin Davey is on track to miss out on a NSW Senate position, while the country party failed to win back crossbench ­defector Andrew Gee’s central NSW seat of Calare.

Following his victory, Mr Gee said: “one of the other reasons was that the National Party is simply not the party that it used to be, and it’s not truly representing country people anymore”.

Under the Nationals’ party rules, the positions of both leader and deputy leader will be voted on by the partyroom in coming weeks.

One key Country Liberal Party figure, Jacinta Price, said on Sunday night that the party hadn’t lost because of its values but “because we didn’t stand tall enough”, declaring she would “not change who I am” despite concerns over her divisive views and comments that echoed the “Make America Great Again” mantra of Donald Trump.

NT Senator Jacinta Price at the CLP after-party in Alice Springs on Saturday. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Reflecting on the failed Coalition campaign, Mr Joyce told The Australian “if you ignore your mistakes, you’re absolutely bound to repeat them”.

Asked about the Nationals’ votes on the party’s leader and deputy leader that occur after every election, Mr Joyce said “it is up to the partyroom to decide who the leader will be”.

However, other Nationals’ sources told The Australian they believed Mr Littleproud’s position as leader was very secure.

Mr Littleproud on Sunday attributed the Liberal Party’s humiliating defeat to Labor’s personal attacks on Peter Dutton to make him “effectively unelectable”.

“Labor … ran a better campaign and they ran a campaign where ­effectively they destroyed the character of Peter Dutton, that he became effectively unelectable, not only in his own seat, but across the country sadly and they’ve been too schmick for us,” the Nationals’ leader told Sky News.

On the Liberals’ nuclear energy policy – which was also weaponised by Labor – Mr Littleproud said the Coalition would “sit down obviously after this and work through the policy positions and make sure they’re fit for purpose and fit for the future”.