‘Stay focused on what matters’: Scott Morrison’s warning to Coalition partyroom

Scott Morrison has warned his Coalition MPs there is no time for ‘individual agendas’, as Barnaby Joyce also addresses the partyroom.

Scott Morrison has sent a warning to Coalition MPs. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Scott Morrison has urged his Coalition colleagues to “stay focused on what matters”, warning that a failure to do so will see the “reins of government” handed to the opposition.

The Coalition held their joint partyroom meeting on Tuesday morning – the first since Barnaby Joyce was re-elected as Nationals leader on Monday.

During the meeting, Mr Morrison told his colleagues that the next election would be “within a year” and said the Coalition would move on from the leadership spill, according to a party spokesman.

He attended the meeting via web camera from The Lodge where he is isolating following his overseas trip to the G7 summit.

Mr Morrison said if the Coalition failed to focus on what mattered, the “reins of government” would be handed to Labor who he said were “not fit to hold them”.

He also warned it was no time for individual agendas, according to a party spokesman.

He said he had already had some positive discussions with Mr Joyce in the past 24 hours.

Mr Morrison acknowledged the recent events could be viewed as disruptive but said all MPs understood the complexities of the political environment.

He also thanked Michael McCormack for his time as deputy prime minister and paid tribute to his “moving” performance in Question Time on Monday where he had his last stint in the prime minister’s chair. He said Mr McCormack’s performance would play an important role in the healing process that now needed to occur after the change of leader.

During Monday’s Question Time, Mr McCormack sat in the prime minister’s chair in parliament just hours after he was dumped as deputy prime minister. At the end of Question Time, Mr McCormack’s exit from the chamber triggered applause from both sides of politics.

Mr Joyce meanwhile has told the joint partyroom meeting the Coalition needs to unify, and has warned a changing world paradigm will present Australians with an unprecedented challenge the government needs to address.

In his first address as deputy prime minister, Mr Joyce thanked the deposed Mr McCormack for his “outstanding efforts and strengths”, according to a Coalition spokesman.

He also warned his colleagues they needed to adapt to a changing world.

A Liberal Party spokesman said Mr Joyce added the rise of a new super power, ostensibly a reference to the rise of China, was presenting “different ways of seeing the world” and laying down a challenge for the government.

Consequently, he said they needed to ensure voters decided the Liberals and Nationals, not Labor, were the parties to ensure “our children and grandchildren” had the capacity to be who they want to be.

He lastly said he’d set his course on the “next six months” on serving the party and the nation.