Independent Tony Windsor on notice as Barnaby Joyce eyes shift to lower house

BARNABY Joyce has moved to cement his status as the Nationals leader-in-waiting by confirming he is preparing to make the switch to the lower house.

BARNABY Joyce has moved to cement his status as the Nationals leader-in-waiting by confirming he is preparing to make the switch to the lower house at the next election in a political gamble that could pit him against key independent Tony Windsor.

Senator Joyce last night confirmed to The Australian that senior Coalition figures were actively lobbying him to run for the lower house.

He would prefer to challenge for the sprawling electorate of Maranoa in southern Queensland, currently held by 20-year Nationals veteran Bruce Scott.

But it is understood Mr Scott is reluctant to be pushed out. Senator Joyce has nominated Mr Windsor's NSW rural seat of New England - where he grew up and his parents live - as his second choice.

"Obviously I would like to stand where I live in Maranoa, but the reality is there is a sitting member," he said.

Senator Joyce said he would also be keen to target Mr Windsor's electorate. The pair have a longstanding animosity, with tensions between Senator Joyce and Mr Windsor, who quit the Nationals to run as an independent, boiling over last election night.

Senator Joyce said he and his wife were born in New England, "our children were born in New England, and I played rugby for New England". He believed his Nationals colleagues had a right to demand he move to the lower house if he was looking to play "a leading role in the National Party".

Senior party sources confirmed that Senator Joyce's planned switch from the Senate was part of Nationals leader Warren Truss's succession planning, and said Mr Truss had been working for some time on bringing forward the next generation of leaders.

With Senator Joyce holding a senior role in the Coalition front bench, he was seen as the logical successor. "He's obviously one of the key contenders for leadership, post-Warren. To do that, he needs to get into the lower house," the source said. Before last year's federal election, Senator Joyce flirted with contesting the Queensland seat of Dawson, but was unable to secure enough support in a local preselection.

The seat was subsequently won by the Liberal National Party's George Christensen.

Party sources said this attempt by Senator Joyce was far more serious and was being treated as such by senior party officials.

They said Mr Truss intended to continue to lead the party to the next election, and then hand over to a successor some time in the following term.

Mr Truss told The Australian he would support Senator Joyce making a tilt for the lower house, and said the Nationals leader in the Senate was a "strong contender" for the party leadership in the future.

"If Barnaby comes into the lower house, he would absolutely be a contender for that role," Mr Truss said. "He wouldn't be the only potential candidate, but he would be a strong candidate who has demonstrated he has leadership skills. I believe he would be a significant contender at the time of my retirement."

Mr Truss said it was his job as Nationals leader to make sure there was a "good choice" of people available to replace him. He said the party's success in recent years meant there were a number of contenders.

He told The Australian last night he would be contesting the  next election as leader of the party. "I would expect to go to the election as leader and serve as the deputy prime minister in a new Coalition government," Mr Truss said. He said as long as there were challenges, he would stay in the Nationals' top job.

Senator Joyce said he had already had conversations with the local New England Nationals branch, but no decision on a candidate would be made until the preselection, and Senator Joyce said he had not been invited to run for preselection yet.

New England - along with Rob Oakeshott's nearby electorate of Lyne - are understood to be high-priority seats for the Nationals, who want to capitalise on a groundswell of dissatisfaction with the independents, who they say have alienated voters by supporting a Gillard Labor government. "We intend it to be a seat that we win," Senator Joyce said. "Overwhelmingly the people of New England don't want a Labor-Greens government and Tony Windsor has delivered that."

Senator Joyce said last night the battle for New England would be a difficult one.

Queensland's LNP president Bruce McIver said Senator Joyce would make a good successor to Mr Truss.

He said Nationals members would "welcome" him anywhere he decided to run for a federal seat in the lower house, but he said Mr Truss still "had a lot left in him" as Nationals leader.

In 2009, an attempt by Senator Joyce to make a play for Maranoa was rejected by Queensland powerbrokers. At the time, he said a move to the lower house was "more a medium-term goal".

Sources said Mr Scott would not take kindly to any challenge in his Queensland electorate.

Mr Scott, who was on a flight last night to France for Anzac Day, was unavailable to comment but he told his local newspaper, The Warwick Daily News, this month his "batteries are fully charged" and he had no plans to retire.

Mr Windsor could not be reached for comment.

Additional reporting: Matthew Franklin