Senior Nationals figures and Barnaby Joyce’s local members had been waiting several months for the New England MP to declare he would retire, as the party prepares the difficult task of replacing the popular local member for a years-long battle to retain the seat from independent candidates.
Former party leader Joyce said on the weekend that he would not contest the next federal election and implied he would separate himself from the Nationals party room in Canberra, citing a personality clash with the man who replaced him as party leader, David Littleproud.
Member for New England Barnaby Joyce.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Joyce has held New England since 2013, coming after independent Tony Windsor’s 13-year reign in the seat. Climate 200 said there was clearly an opening for a strong independent candidate in the seat after Joyce’s decision.
However, Joyce insisted he would keep his future options open, despite reports that he would join Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party, most likely as a NSW Senate candidate.
On Tuesday, Joyce gave his strongest signal to date that he would quit the Nationals for good at the same time as he praised One Nation’s policies.
“This is a really hard decision that I made, and I thought of it over a very long period of time as things got sort of worse and worse and worse, to be honest,” Joyce said to media at Tamworth, in his northern NSW electorate.
“I wouldn’t create this kerfuffle if I was just going to flippantly go in, come out, and put my foot back in.”
Nationals federal president Kay Hull told this masthead that Joyce’s apparently sudden defection had, in fact, been expected for some time by party insiders and the party would now work alongside the MP to organise his replacement.
“Barnaby has for several months given an understanding, to many in his electorate and his branches, that he may not run in the future,” Hull said.
“The process of replacing Barnaby will be very respectful and done in engagement with him as the sitting member, with the New England Nationals Federal electorate council and the party’s state executive.”
Pauline Hanson said on Tuesday that she had known of Joyce’s move before it was revealed by this masthead on Friday.
When asked if Joyce would switch to One Nation, Hanson said she “thought it would be a little further down the track”.
“The offer is there,” she told Sky News. “He will make that decision and when he makes his decision, he will let the people know where he stands.”
NSW Nationals chairman Rick Colless said Joyce had been a successful retail politician and the people in his electorate “absolutely love him”, which had helped him retain the seat since he replaced former independent MP for New England Tony Windsor in 2013.
“No names … but there are a number of people who have expressed interest in putting a hand up for preselection,” Colless said.
The Nationals expect the process of selecting a new candidate to take about a year, a choice that Colless said was crucial given the past success of independent candidates in the region.
“Those seats, in northern NSW, at state and federal level, they’ve all been held by independents,” he said.
Fundraising group for community independents Climate 200 tripled its number of donors to 33,000 people and received $5 million backed 35 candidates at the May election.
While Climate 200 has not yet been approached by any group from New England, co-convenor Kate Hook said there was an opening for an independent challenger.
“The great thing about people in regional Australia is they can tell when someone’s pulling the wool over their eyes, and they understand the importance of community,” Hook said.
“New England has a great history of independent representation and now has an incredible opportunity to elect someone that truly reflects the values of their community.”
Windsor represented NSW England from 2001 to 2013, when he did not contest the election, before mounting an unsuccessful challenge against Joyce in 2016.
“Some people think that New England, at state and federal level, is welded on to Nats. Historically, it hasn’t been,” Windsor said.
“I don’t think anybody could take it for granted, particularly if, if Joyce goes to One Nation, that would change the climate if he’s seen to have walked away from his electorate.
“If he does that, there’ll be a lot of people who voted for Joyce who see that as an affront.”
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