Saving private Barnaby Joyce: rescue mission heads off leadership crisis … for now

Barnaby Joyce has been granted a temporary leadership reprieve after colleagues agreed to ‘let the dust settle’.

A fired-up Barnaby Joyce, right, returns serve in Parliament House yesterday while Malcolm Turnbull listens. Picture: Kym Smith

Barnaby Joyce has been granted a temporary leadership reprieve after colleagues agreed to “let the dust settle” following a dramatic intervention by senior party figures led by Nationals president Larry Anthony.

After a tense 48-hour standoff, senior Nationals MPs fell in behind the Deputy Prime Minister to fend off a partyroom insurgency that continues to threaten Mr Joyce’s leadership.

Nationals MPs yesterday warned that the stay of execution “does not exonerate” Mr Joyce and said he would be “cooked” if further disclosures “from left field” emerged.

Mr Joyce stood firm in the face of the crisis triggered by his ­relationship with former staffer and mother of his unborn child Vikki Campion.

The Nationals leader is expected to serve as acting prime minister when Malcolm Turnbull travels to the US next Wednesday but may still decide to take personal leave to deal with family matters.

Mr Anthony, a former minister in the Howard government and son of Malcolm Fraser’s deputy prime minister Doug Anthony, bunkered down in Canberra for two days talking with Nationals MPs and senators.

After days of silence, Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie appeared on Sky News to give a “rolled-gold guarantee” that Mr Joyce would “still be leading the party on Friday”.

She was dismissive of her colleagues’ attempts to move against Mr Joyce’s leadership. “It’s like this amorphous delegation that never materialises,’’ she said.

“Somebody is … talking a big game to the media and not delivering ... Barnaby Joyce has the full support of the party.”

Nationals sources said Mr Anthony urged MPs to “take the heat out” of what was an extremely difficult experience for the Nationals and the Coalition.

“It is most important that the parliamentary team never makes a decision about the leadership in the heat of the moment,” Mr Anthony told The Australian.

“It is important the MPs and senators get back to their constituencies next week and test the feeling of the voters.”

Nationals president Larry Anthony. Picture: Kym Smith

Liberal MPs have told The Australian Mr Joyce would be a lia­bility as acting prime minister and expose the government to attack, with Labor using question time to target the Deputy Prime Minister.

The internal party move against Mr Joyce, set in motion on Tuesday, failed to marshal the numbers to launch a strike yesterday, with rebellious Nationals MPs pulling back to “give him a chance”.

The Australian understands a group of four or five Nationals MPs failed to attract enough support to force a bloodless leadership coup amid recognition they faced a political fallout if Mr Joyce were replaced.

There were also concerns that if he stayed in the role, the crisis could continue to stifle the Prime Minister’s messaging ahead of the May budget.

Nationals MPs Keith Pitt and Luke Hartsuyker — named by colleagues on Tuesday as part of a delegation considering an approach to Mr Joyce — both denied their involvement as their colleagues endorsed the party leader.

Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie swamped by the media. Picture: AAP

The Australian understands Labor will seek to extend the political pain over the affair by using Senate estimates hearings this month to query Nationals staffing arrangements after Ms Campion was promoted to Resources Minister Matt Canavan’s office in April and transferred to then chief whip Damian Drum’s office in August.

The opposition focused its question time assault on the Nat­ionals leader, targeting his declaration of a six-month rent-free tenancy of an Armidale townhouse, worth about $14,000, provided by “close friend” and multi-millionaire businessman Greg Maguire.

“I chose to declare it,” Mr Joyce told parliament. “Prior to that date, I wasn’t a member of parliament, as you probably remember, so it didn’t need to be declared.”

Labor also plans to put questions to the Australian Electoral Commission about Mr Joyce’s declaration in relation to the townhouse, where he has been living rent-free with Ms Campion.

Mr Joyce’s position was strengthened by reports Mr Turnbull called at least one Nationals MP on Tuesday, hardening the ­resolve of some party MPs not to buckle under Liberal Party ­pressure and move against their leader.

Queensland MP George Christensen defended Mr Joyce as the “greatest asset” in the Turnbull government.

Additional reporting: Greg Brown