Coalition crisis as Barnaby Joyce loses Nationals MPs’ support

Barnaby Joyce’s political future is in danger with the Deputy Prime Minister losing the numbers to ring-fence his leadership.

Barnaby Joyce showing the pressure he’s under while sitting in question time at Parliament House yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith

Barnaby Joyce’s leadership was in peril last night after he lost critical support within his partyroom, as senior Nationals moved to force his resignation over the love-child scandal.

As the Deputy Prime Minister dug in to defend his leadership, a group of Nationals MPs plotted to remove their leader after his ­repeated failure to explain the ­potential misuse of taxpayer funds in creating jobs for his former ­staffer and now-partner Vikki Campion.

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The crisis threatened to spill into a Coalition turf war, with supporters of Mr Joyce expressing anger to The Australian after it was disclosed that Malcolm Turnbull, as Liberal leader, had contacted at least one Nationals MP, despite his office earlier denying he had ­talked to backbenchers.

Nationals MPs, including ­Andrew Broad, Keith Pitt, Luke Hartsuyker and leadership contenders Michael McCormack and Darren Chester, held crisis ­meetings in parliament yesterday as The Australian was told that Mr Joyce had lost the numbers to ring-fence his leadership.

A delegation, believed to ­include Mr Broad, Mr Pitt and Mr Hartsuyker, was last night considering approaching Mr Joyce and urging him to step down.

Nationals MP Ken O’Dowd confirmed a delegation of MPs would visit Mr Joyce today to discuss his future.

Mr McCormack denied he had had any conversations to replace Mr Joyce.

A senior government source said the Prime Minister had ­become “increasingly frustrated” that the government’s agenda was being hijacked by Mr Joyce’s personal crisis. Several senior cabinet colleagues of Mr Joyce said last night they did not believe he could ­remain in his position.

“He should step down for the good of the government, his family and his pregnant partner,” one cabinet minister said.

A senior Nationals source confirmed the issue would be resolved one way or another before Friday, claiming that the scandal was “infecting” the government.

One Nationals MP said it was untenable for the crisis to roll on, arguing the issue needed to be brought to a head. “I think you can’t continue to die a death of a thousand cuts,” the MP said. “No one is bigger than the party and the national interest.”

As Mr Joyce declared he would “emerge” from the scandal, colleagues told The Australian that the mood in the Nationals partyroom had shifted against Mr Joyce in the previous 24 hours.

Mr Joyce — who yesterday ­issued a public apology to his family, a move that colleagues said had the appearance of a bid to save his leadership — told the Nationals partyroom he would fight on.

“Everyone in politics goes through a time of trial; this is mine, I’ll get through it,” he said.

Des­pite initial denials from his office, confirmation that Mr Turnbull had been in contact with at least one Nationals MP about Mr Joyce — having returned a call — angered Nationals fiercely proud of their independence from the Liberal Party. While Nationals who are sympathetic to Mr Joyce can see the ­almost inevitable need for him to go as leader, there was anger that the Liberal leader had been in contact with Nationals. Some believed Liberal interference could cause a backlash within the junior ­Coalition partner and convince uncommitted MPs to back Mr Joyce.

Senate leader Mathias Cormann was left hanging by the Prime Minister’s office after telling the Senate that the reports that Mr Turnbull had called Nationals MPs were untrue.

Mr Turnbull, who further distanced himself from the Deputy Prime Minister in parliament yesterday, was forced to buttress his office from opposition claims that it had approved shifting Mr Joyce’s lover out of his office and into a higher-paid job in other ­Nationals MPs’ offices when ­rumours of an affair began to circulate. Pressed on whether his own office had any responsibility in authorising the internal staff movements of Ms Campion, Mr Turnbull shifted accountability to the Nationals leader.

“The Nationals under the ­Coalition arrangements, the ­Nationals have a share of the personal staff pool that is available to the government,” Mr Turnbull said. “And the allocation or distribution of those staff between ­offices in the National Party — whether it’s ministers or others — is a matter for the National Party.”

He said the government had administrative responsibility for informing the Finance Department of any staffing changes.

When peppered by the opposition on whether Mr Joyce had breached the ministerial code of conduct banning the employment of partners, Mr Turnbull was forced to define the difference ­between a girlfriend and a legitimate partner.

Mr Joyce denied any breach of ministerial standards, arguing Ms Campion was not his partner when she worked in his office or when she was shifted into the ­office of Resources Minister Matt Canavan in April. He did not deny Ms Campion was his partner when she was moved to the office of then Nationals chief whip Damian Drum in August, but noted Mr Drum was not a minister at the time and that he was “very aware” of the ministerial standards.

Mr Joyce was forced to reject a report in The Daily Telegraph yesterday that alleged he had pinched a woman on the bottom at an official function in 2011. The allegations had been dismissed by the woman in question as being false.

In an address to the joint partyroom, Mr Joyce apologised to his colleagues for his private life, “which had come into the public domain”.

He said he wanted to “work through” the issue and encouraged his colleagues to reference a formal statement he issued if they were asked about the affair.

Former deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Warren Truss warned the crisis over Mr Joyce’s personal life was “damaging”. He told the ABC’s 7.30 Mr Joyce needed to demonstrate his “capacity to continue to do the job” and conceded the Nationals leader had been “diminished”.

Additional reporting: Joe Kelly, Rosie Lewis