“In Tamworth now you’ve got people that used to be staunch National party have come across to One Nation, because they’ve been hitting their head up against a brick wall, that their members of parliament have not been representing them,” Hanson said.
Former Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, who was deposed from Nationals leadership by Joyce in 2022 when the Coalition was in government, said Joyce had let down his constituents, who had voted for the Nationals, and the party that had gifted him the Deputy Prime Ministership twice.
“You don’t throw your toys out of the cot … simply because you don’t get along with the leadership,” he said.
“I lost the deputy prime ministership. Did I turn my back on the National Party? Did I spurn the party that gifted me the great honour of being the Deputy Prime Minister? No, I didn’t.”
Joyce, who did not respond to a request for comment, declared in a letter to branch members on Saturday that he would not stand for his seat of New England at the next election, due by mid-2028.
He did not confirm the political switch but said he was now free to consider his options, raising speculation he could stand for a senate seat.
“My relationship with the leadership of the Nationals in Canberra has unfortunately, like a sadness in some marriages, irreparably broken down,” Joyce said in his letter.
“The atmospherics in the party room, where I am seated in the far corner of the Coalition in the chamber, means I am seen and now turning into a discordant note. That is not who I want to be.”
My relationship with the leadership of the Nationals … has unfortunately, like a sadness in some marriages, irreparably broken down
Barnaby Joyce
The Nationals are considering their position on Australia’s commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050, as is the Liberals. Joyce claimed the policy would harm the people of his electorate due to expansion of wind and solar farms, made his future with the Nationals untenable.
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“Our position in continuing to support Net Zero with the massive schism and hurt to my electorate… makes continuing in the Nationals’ Party Room in Canberra under this policy untenable.”
Joyce also highlighted a rule, implemented by Nationals leader David Littleproud, to hide Joyce during the election campaign, effectively barring him from conducting political trips outside his electorate and further alienating him within the party.
McCormack said he had welcomed Joyce to his electorate during the election to campaign against wind farms.
Joyce concluded his letter by stating he was free to consider all options for his future and apologised to his constituents for the predicament.
“I hope that the members understand the unfortunate position I am in and the obvious action after a period of consideration I must take,” he said.
“I am so desperately sorry as to the hurt this may cause and close with the deepest of affection for you all.”
Joyce’s move follows that of a senior NSW Nationals official in Joyce’s New England electorate, Steve Coxhead, who last week quit as Tamworth branch chairman to join One Nation listing climate policies and environmental restrictions on farmers as major concerns.
Coxhead told the AFR on Saturday that 12 members of the Nationals Tamworth branch had defected to One Nation.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price left the Nationals in May and switched to the Liberals for an aborted tilt at that party’s deputy leadership.
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Nationals federal president Kay Hull said she was sad to see Joyce leave the party but respected the way he informed his constituents, adding that she did not believe he would represent another political party.
“I’m sorry to see any of our team step down … but there’s a time when you’ve given your best and you make the decision, not only in your own interests, but in the interests of the party, that it’s time for somebody else to step up. I honestly believe that’s how Barnaby is feeling.”
“I would be extraordinarily surprised if Barnaby goes into another political future with another party,” Hull said.
Joyce was first elected Nationals leader in 2016, following the resignation of Warren Truss from the post. Joyce stepped down in 2018 following revelations he was having an affair and was expecting a child with his former communications staffer, and now wife, Vikki Campion. Joyce once again led the party after deposing Michael McCormack in 2021. Joyce lost the leadership to Littleproud in May 2022.
