West Australian Nationals leader Mia Davies in trouble for comments about Barnaby Joyce

Mia Davies is facing a revolt from fellow West Australian Nationals for her alleged role in Barnaby Joyce’s fall from grace.

Mia Davies, Leader of The Nationals WA, is set to come under fire from within party ranks. Picture: Colin Murty

West Australian Nationals leader Mia Davies is facing a revolt from some of her own colleagues and members over the role she played in the demise of Barnaby Joyce, who remains popular among many of the party’s supporters.

The Australian has been told by several senior sources that some MPs are wavering in their support for Ms Davies, 39, a former Barnett government minister who became WA Nationals leader after last year’s state election rout.

One Nationals MP said Ms Davies was safe as leader “for now”.

Ms Davies has repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether she encouraged respected pastoral leader Catherine Marriott, who she knows, to make the complaint of sexual harassment against Mr Joyce that led to his resignation as Nationals federal leader.

The allegation had been known in WA political and rural circles for some time but was only sent to the federal Nationals when Mr Joyce was fighting for his political life after the scandal over his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and his pregnant partner Vikki Campion pictured at Canberra airport. Picture: Kym Smith

Sources in the WA Nationals have confirmed that Ms Davies’ role has been scrutinised as part of a report written by state president James Hayward.

Mr Hayward declined to speak about the report in detail but he told Perth’s Sunday Times newspaper at the weekend that it would examine whether Ms Davies advised Ms Marriott behind the scenes and why the allegation wasn’t referred to the police.

He said his report was looking at “what role our MPs played and whether they offered any support to the people involved.”

Mr Hayward said he had prepared the report for the party’s state executive with a view to establishing a policy for dealing with serious matters such as complaints against an MP or office bearer.

Nationals sources have also confirmed that Ms Davies angered Mr Hayward and other senior members of the party with her decision on February 20 to publicly call on Mr Joyce to resign.

This was because the Nationals state council had decided on November 17 to withdraw support for Mr Joyce confidentially.

“It was the state council’s view that Barnaby Joyce should step down as leader,” Mr Hayward said in a statement.

“The process was that the state president send a letter to the federal president Larry Anthony to make state council’s view known.”

On the same day as Ms Davies went public, Ms Marriott wrote to the Nationals federal executive to formally allege “sexual harassment and/or sexual misconduct” against Mr Joyce.

The New England MP, who denies Ms Marriott’s allegations, resigned as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister two days later.