Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce appears to have rejected his leader’s overtures to remain in the federal party, and hasn’t ruled out joining One Nation.
“I do believe there has been a breakdown in the relationship between myself and David and others,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“I don’t think it’s conducive to a harmonious party room for them or, to be honest, for me.
“The pretense that everything is perfectly fine and running smoothly is nothing more than a game of charades—it simply isn’t the case,” Barnaby Joyce candidly expressed.
“The best thing to do there is to move on, which is what I can do,” Joyce said.
Joyce didn’t rule out joining One Nation after finishing up as the MP for New England when the next election arrives in about two and a half years, and revealed he spoke to leader Pauline Hanson on Sunday night.
“I did ring her last night because seeing they [the media] are talking about us, we may as well speak to each other rather than through the media,” he said.
He clarified, “There are no firm decisions or commitments. Let’s bring it down a notch—I have not joined One Nation.”
Joyce disclosed that he had a conversation with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson on Sunday night. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Littleproud also called on Joyce to stick with the junior Coalition party.
“The people that have joined the National Party have joined because of our values, our beliefs and we proved that at the last election by holding onto all of our seats and nearly winning a new one,” he told Nine’s Weekend Today program on Sunday.
“We’ve led on many debates … but we do that when we draw on the collective and we have sensible policies that are drawn from the collective of our party room.”
There have been tensions within the Coalition over its future direction after it suffered its worst federal election loss in its 81-year history in May.
Tanya Plibersek, Labor minister and Joyce’s sparring partner on Sunrise, commented that she had no opinion on what she described as the “circus” occurring within the Nationals.
Littleproud said he would reach out to Joyce to reassure him that he has a constructive role to play.
“We’ll be talking to Barnaby,” he said.
“We want to make sure that his contribution is a valued one within our party room, as everybody’s is.
“It’s the collective of the National Party that determines the policy settings and sometimes our policies take a little bit longer.”
Joyce did not say on Monday if he had heard from the leader.
He told branch members in a letter that his relationship with the Nationals leadership broke down when he was demoted to the backbench.
“I am free to now consider all options as to what I do next,” he said in the 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.”
