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Barnaby Joyce Walks Out on Nationals After 30 Years, Eyes One Nation Senate Run
Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce quit the National Party on Thursday after three decades, declaring his relationship with party leadership “irreparably broken” and strongly signaling he’ll join Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
The shock resignation throws the Coalition into fresh turmoil just months after its election defeat, with Joyce telling reporters outside Parliament House he’d been “asked directly to leave” by Nationals leader David Littleproud.
“After 30 years in the National Party, it’s certainly not a decision I took lightly,” Joyce said. “I’ve been trying to work my way through this for a long period of time, say a couple of years, and there seemed no real resolution to the breakdown in the relationship.”
Joyce won’t recontest his New England seat at the next election but will serve out his term as an independent. He confirmed he’s “strongly considering” a One Nation Senate run in New South Wales.
“I’m certainly considering that,” Joyce said when asked about a Senate candidacy. “Strongly considering it.”
The 57-year-old MP said the final straw came after years of being sidelined by Littleproud’s leadership team.
“When they talk about generational change, that’s code for get out of here,” Joyce said. “I don’t think I have had a question in there for the last one and a half years. You’ve just got to read all the messages and where you sit quite obviously is a metaphor.”
Joyce revealed Littleproud had asked him to leave the party on two separate occasions.
“I was asked directly to leave,” he said. “You get to a point where you think, am I just going to continue on being the discordant note or am I going to get out?”
The veteran politician painted a picture of complete isolation within the parliamentary party during his final months.
“I’m not standing for New England again, I’ve said that,” Joyce said. “So I’m not becoming, I’m not sort of taking New England into an independent seat. I’m handing it over and I’m actually doing it with a lot of money that I’ve brought into the bank for them to actually campaign with.”
Joyce admitted he spoke with Hanson on Sunday night for “five to 10 minutes” but declined to detail their conversation. One Nation has publicly stated it would offer Joyce a winnable Senate position in New South Wales.
The former Nationals leader framed his likely defection as part of broader political upheaval sweeping Western democracies.
“The world’s changing,” Joyce said. “Have a look at what’s happening in England, have a look at what’s happening in France, whether it’s Farage, whether it’s Le Pen, whether it’s Miloni, whether it’s, unfortunately, AFD, which I think is very insidious, whether it’s the MAGA movement within the Republican Party, whether it’s what’s happening in Holland, the world’s changing.”
He pointed to One Nation’s growing membership base as evidence of shifting political ground.
“There are more One Nation members now in Tamworth than there are National Party members,” Joyce said.
Joyce argued Australia is “last” to experience the populist wave transforming politics globally, with compulsory voting making the system “a little bit more sticky here.”
He blamed the Coalition’s obsessive focus on winning back wealthy teal seats for abandoning regional voters.
“All the time we’ve said, oh, they’ve got to win back teal seats, you’ve got to win back teal seats, you’ve got to win back teal seats,” Joyce said. “And what was happening, people, especially in regional industry, if that’s what you want to focus on, we’re gone.”
The departure marks a dramatic fall for Joyce, who served twice as Deputy Prime Minister and led the Nationals until losing a leadership ballot to Littleproud in May 2022.
Joyce insisted he harbored no ill will toward Nationals deputy leader Sussan Ley, who was not named in his complaints about party leadership.
“No, no, no, no, of course not,” Joyce said when asked if Ley had requested his departure.
He defended his decision to remain in Parliament until the next election despite quitting the party.
“You’ve just got to get to a point where you either live in sort of bitter recrimination and continue on with it, or you get out of it,” Joyce said. “And I think that’s what I’m doing today, is I’m getting out of it.”
Joyce acknowledged the emotional difficulty of abandoning rank-and-file Nationals members.
“Membership of the National Party are wonderful people and that’s what hurts me so much,” he said. “Walking away from the party in Canberra is easy. Walking away from membership is very, very, very hard.”
When pressed on why he hadn’t finalized his One Nation decision despite months of speculation, Joyce bristled at reporters.
“Because I haven’t made that decision,” he said. “Why do you try and verbal me? I haven’t made that decision yet.”
He left open the possibility of pursuing opportunities outside politics entirely.
“It might be in business, it might be out,” Joyce said when asked about his future plans.
Joyce predicted the Coalition faces an uphill battle winning the next election, making a Senate position more strategically valuable than continuing as a backbench House MP.
“I think it’d be really hard for the Coalition to win the next election,” he said. “I hope they do. But I think it’s going to be really difficult from where they are.”
He argued the Senate offers more influence through its committee system and closer vote margins.
“I think in the Senate, you’ve got more capacity in the committee system and also the numbers, I reckon, in the Senate will be tighter after the election,” Joyce said. “And because they’re tighter after the election, I think you have more effect to have an effect.”
Joyce dismissed concerns about joining a party some consider fringe.
“The world’s changed,” he said. “You take it, in 1975, we’re talking about Gough Whitlam, 102 out of 127 seats were won on primaries, solidly on primaries. The last election, 11 out of 150 were won on primaries.”
He argued media consumption patterns have fundamentally altered political dynamics.
“The way people get media’s changed,” Joyce said. “Your job’s changed. They’re going online. It’s different. It’s echo chambers. And you can’t rage against it and say, oh, well, they’re all going to come back and read broadsheets and that’s it. It’s all changed and you can either change with it or get run over by it.”
Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie criticized Joyce’s departure, saying he’d “trashed” his legacy by quitting.
“Well, they’re entitled to do that,” Joyce responded when told of McKenzie’s comments.
Joyce defended his financial position, rejecting suggestions money motivated his political calculations.
“My family’s also in business, right?” he said. “And we’re cattle producers. Take it from me, it’s not the money here. I mean, the money here is great. I’ve never complained about it, but I’m not like I’ve got the backside out of my pants.”
The resignation caps a turbulent political career that included two stints as Deputy Prime Minister, both ending in resignation amid personal controversies.
Joyce was first elected to the Senate in 2004 before switching to the House of Representatives in 2013 to contest New England. He led the Nationals from 2016 to 2018, returned to the leadership in 2021, then lost to Littleproud in 2022.
His departure leaves the Coalition one seat weaker in the House of Representatives, though Joyce will continue voting with the opposition on confidence and supply matters.
“I will serve out my term to the best of my abilities,” Joyce said. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”
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