Pauline Hanson has invited Barnaby Joyce to join One Nation after he confirmed he will leave the Nationals after what he said was an irreparable breakdown in the relationship.
But he stopped short of saying whether he would defect to Hanson’s conservative party.
Pauline Hanson has invited Barnaby Joyce to join One Nation after he confirmed he will leave the Nationals after what he said was an irreparable breakdown in the relationship. (9News)
Hanson, speaking from Joyce’s hometown of Tamworth today, tried to encourage him to make the move to her party.
“Barnaby, I’ll open the doors for you. Come across to One Nation,” she told 9News.
“Barnaby is more aligned with One Nation than what he is with the Nationals Party.”
Her plea came just moments after Joyce released a statement about speculation of his departure from the Nationals – a party he’s been a member of since 1995.
“My relationship with the leadership of the Nationals in Canberra has unfortunately, like a sadness in some marriages, irreparably broken down,” he said in a statement.
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has confirmed he will leave the party. (Alex Ellinghausen)
“The instructions that during the federal election I was not to campaign outside New England as that did not represent the views of the Nationals, then after the election being moved on for ‘generational change’ and just 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.
“More importantly our position in continuing to support Net Zero with the massive schism and hurt to my electorate, to small businesses, to the environment, to the poor, to the defence of Australia and creating hate between lifelong friends in my community makes continuing in the Nationals’ Party Room in Canberra under this policy untenable.”
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s stance on net zero has spurred infighting, with senior Liberal Andrew Hastie and his colleague Jonathon Duniam publicly raising concerns over the matter.
Sussan Ley and David Littleproud during Question Time at Parliament House. (Alex Ellinghausen)
Joyce said he will complete his term as New England MP but will not run for the seat at the next election.
“I am free to now consider all options as to what I do next,” he said.
Joyce, a former Queensland Senator who resigned to contest New England, first won over the regional northern NSW seat in 2013.
The 58-year-old has held the 111,000 voter-strong electorate since.
He was elected as the Nationals leader and sworn in as deputy prime minister in 2016 and maintained his position during a cabinet reshuffle the following year and at the next federal election.
His dramatic fall from grace within the party led to him quitting both of those roles in 2018 amid pressure over his relationship with his former staffer Vikki Campion.
Joyce then returned as leader of the party in 2021, before losing the role to David Littleproud after a three-way contest in 2022.
Littleproud, who took the Nationals through its own separation with the Liberals before the reunification earlier this year, has refused to comment on Joyce’s announcement.
Pauline Hanson said she would be happy to allow Barnaby Joyce into her party. (Alex Ellinghausen)
Joyce’s colleagues, however, were saddened to learn of the news, with some going as far as to label his decision “rash”.
“This is a sad day both for me and for our great party,” Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie said.
“To turn his back on the party which gifted him the deputy prime ministership twice, I think it’s a rash decision, I think it’s the wrong decision, I’m very disappointed in the decision,” Nationals MP Michael McCormack said.
Liberal shadow communications minister Melissa McIntosh said she would prefer to see Joyce join the frontbench with her.
If Joyce defects to One Nation, he could take other dissatisfied colleagues with him, giving Hanson a major win and deepening the rift within the Coalition.
One Nation’s vote has nearly doubled from 6.4 per cent at this year’s federal election to 12 per cent in the latest Resolve political monitor.
Hanson said this was because there is a “movement” happening in Australia.
“People are fed up with the major political parties,” she said.
Just last week, the Nationals Tamworth branch chairman, Steven Coxhead, quit after a decade in the role to defect to One Nation.
“I have resigned as I believe the party does not adequately represent NSW regional and rural voters any more,” he said.
