Plotting by podcast: rebels act to protect Nationals’ future

Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan use new podcast to paint grim picture of party’s future | LISTEN

Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan record their Weatherboard and Iron podcast in Parliament House on Wednesday. Picture: Gary Ramage

Matt Canavan and Barnaby Joyce tried to stop Llew O’Brien quitting the Nationals partyroom, fearing an emerging push for a stand-alone Liberal-National partyroom would threaten the existence of the country party.

In a podcast to be launched on Thursday, Senator Canavan and Mr Joyce claim there was no ­“maliciousness” or “grand plan” behind last week’s failed attempt to remove Michael McCormack as Nationals leader.

The 30-minute podcast, dubbed Weatherboard and Iron after Mr Joyce’s memoir, also warns of the impacts of Australia meeting overly ambitious climate targets, which they said would ship jobs off to China and damage the economy.

For app users, listen to the podcast here

The pair strongly opposed the creation of a stand-alone LNP party­room, which was raised this week following Mr O’Brien’s decis­ion to leave the Nationals.

A small number of Queensland LNP MPs have told The Australian they were open to the idea of a breakaway group in Canberra.

Senator Canavan said Mr O’Brien had “effectively created a new partyroom” in deciding to sit in the Coalition joint partyroom as an LNP MP.

He spoke to Mr O’Brien on Sunday night, urging him to “take a breath and talk it over”. “Both of us tried to talk Llew out of it … and partly, at least in my case, I do want to see the National party survive,” Senator Canavan said. “I think it’s even more ­important now that we have this regional country voice down here.”

Senator Canavan said he was a “proud Queenslander” and ­described the LNP as a “great party”. “I back their interests. But we’ve got to work together and parties, I think, should be formed on political principles and values, not arbitrary geographical boundaries,” he said.

Mr Joyce, a former Queensland senator, said the LNP provided a significant rump inside the ­Coalition partyroom.

“If everybody who’s in the LNP sits in the LNP and not the National­ party, the National party then disappears. In our 100th year, we would be no more,” he said.

Reflecting on last week’s leader­ship spill, the pair claimed there was no orchestrated campaign in the lead-up to the showdown, which was narrowly won by Mr McCormack.

Senator Canavan, who ­resigned as resources minister after backing Mr Joyce, joked that the Nationals needed tips from the Labor and Liberal parties on “how to run a spill”. “We don’t really co-ordinate among ourselves.

“It’s not about that … you put your hand up … I thought something might go down but I wasn’t sure what would happen. I found out on Sunday night.”

Mr Joyce, who apologised to his former staffer who copped a $150,000 pay cut after quitting his cabinet post, said there was no “maliciousness” behind his ­decis­ion to contest the Nationals leadership, saying he put up his hand because others had called the spill.

“There was a vote between myself­ and Michael. Michael won, I lost. That’s it.”

The Nationals MPs, vocal in their support for coalmines, coal-fired power stations and protecting manufacturing jobs, said the debate over climate change and emissions should be fact-based.

“I don’t want to see our manufacturing jobs get shipped to China,’’ Senator Canavan said. “We could meet our Paris targets, we could even beat them if we just shipped our manufacturing industry over to China.

“I don’t want to do that.

“I think we want to give our young people a chance to work and make things, and not to just have a job in an office­ or doing coffees in a cafe.”

Mr Joyce described as ­“bullshit” claims that coal-fired power stations were not viable and said any pursuit of ambitious ­emissions targets must be met with facts.