Nationals Leader Confirms Joyce Sitting Outside Party Room as Former Deputy PM Opts Not to Recontest Seat
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Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will sit outside the National Party room following a breakdown in his relationship with leader David Littleproud, but has not resigned from the party, Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie confirmed Wednesday.
McKenzie told Sky News Newsday that Joyce’s decision not to recontest his New England seat at the next election was forced forward by what she called “malicious” leaks to media, quashing speculation the veteran MP would defect to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.
“There’s been no resignation letter. He’s not recontesting New England and he’s going to sit outside the party room,” McKenzie said. “Well, that’s hardly unique for the National Party.”
The Senate leader said several Nationals have previously sat outside the parliamentary party room, including current deputy leader Kevin Hogan, along with Darren Chester, Lou O’Brien and former Senator Barry O’Sullivan.
“I hope he comes back. He has an enormous contribution to make,” McKenzie said. “We’re a small but mighty force and we’re better when we all fight together. And it’s really up to David to really repair that relationship so that that can happen.”
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Joyce’s split from the party room represents a dramatic rupture for a figure McKenzie described as “synonymous” with the National Party. The New England MP served as party leader, Deputy Prime Minister and has championed signature National policies on gas exploration, inland rail and biosecurity legislation.
“There’s been feverish speculation around Barnaby Joyce and One Nation has been significant in the media all week,” McKenzie said. “It’s been obviously the talk of all the branch meetings that I’ve been at and internally as well.”
The Senate leader said the speculation showed “malicious intent” designed to push Joyce toward One Nation, forcing him to publicly address his political future earlier than planned.
“It hasn’t been in Barnaby’s interest. It hasn’t recognised the significant and enormous contribution he’s made to the National Party,” McKenzie said. “As a result, he’s had to bring forward his announcement around not recontesting New England at the next election.”
Joyce also had to publicly acknowledge his fractured relationship with Littleproud. “And Pauline Hanson has had to come out and stop the hoopla that he’s going to be the leader of One Nation,” McKenzie added. “So it’s been really unedifying.”
McKenzie said the timing of Joyce’s announcement was unusual, coming six months before an expected election when he was just recently elected. “Usually, you wouldn’t be saying you’re not going to recontest your seat six months out from an election when you’ve just been elected,” she said. “People usually make that announcement on the dawn of a new election.”
The Senate leader said Joyce and his wife Vicky made the decision not to recontest as a family choice, but the malicious leaks forced an earlier public statement.
“That’s not something that you want to sort of almost be walking around your own electorate with people knowing you’re not going to be the local member for the next, you know, in three years’ time,” McKenzie said.
Asked whether she wanted Joyce to recontest New England despite his announcement, McKenzie deferred to the MP’s personal decision. “That’s his personal decision. He and Vicky have obviously made that decision,” she said.
McKenzie emphasized Joyce’s contributions during her Senate career. “When I arrived, he was my leader in the Senate,” she said. “He was helping farmers get a better deal out of gas companies with coal seam gas exploration, inland rail, Biosecurity Act changes, on and on I could go around how symbiotic and synonymous Barnaby Joyce is with the National Party.”
The Senate leader said the party had given Joyce significant opportunities while he had also contributed substantially. “We’ve given him everything there is to give as a political movement and he has given a lot as well,” she said.
McKenzie said party membership wants Joyce to remain. “I don’t believe he should go. I think we’re better with him in the room. And I know our membership feels the same,” she said. “And so I’m hopeful that Barnaby will stay with the party.”
The Senate leader identified the core problem as the personal relationship breakdown between Joyce and Littleproud. “He loves our party. But it is that breakdown with his relationship with the leader. That’s the problem,” she said.
Joyce has also cited disagreements over net zero emissions targets as a factor in his decision to sit outside the party room, though McKenzie said the party would make decisions on climate policy in coming weeks.
On the separate issue of the Trump-Albanese White House meeting and the critical minerals deal, McKenzie declared the diplomatic outcome a success despite controversy over Ambassador Kevin Rudd’s treatment by President Donald Trump.
“I think it’s mission accomplished for Team Australia,” McKenzie said. “The fact that Ambassador Rudd had to make a very public and embarrassing apology, I think, was the right thing to do.”
McKenzie said Rudd’s apology for previous derogatory comments about Trump was overdue and appropriate. “Rudd should have apologised for those derogatory comments about the President a long time ago,” she said. “So the fact that he had to do it so publicly, and it was humiliating, I think’s appropriate.”
The Senate leader dismissed suggestions Trump didn’t know who Rudd was during the Oval Office exchange. “When you’re a minister and especially when you’re a prime minister and you’re travelling overseas to sign whether they’re trade deals or indeed deals around AUKUS or critical minerals, these are not being hammered out at the table in that moment,” McKenzie said.
She said extensive preparatory work occurs behind the scenes for months before such meetings. “The Prime Minister would have been significantly brief before sitting down at the table, as would have Prime Minister Trump,” McKenzie said, referring to Trump by an incorrect title. “He knew exactly who was who around that table.”
McKenzie said she wouldn’t complain about Trump’s public rebuke of Rudd. “Am I going to complain that he gave him a chip on the way through? No,” she said. “But at the end of the day, we’re all professionals around those tables and everyone’s got on with business.”
The Senate leader praised the critical minerals agreement as serving both national and global interests. “This is a deal in the national interest, but I think in the interests of the globe as we join with our great ally for that geostrategic race around critical minerals,” she said.
McKenzie noted critical minerals are used in products ranging from smartphones to F-35 fighter jets. “We need to get that processing capacity here on shore,” she said. “That’s where the real challenge is going to come, right?”
The Senate leader said implementing the agreement would require unprecedented speed on environmental approvals and workforce development. “Now we’re going to have to literally move at warp speed to do things we’ve never done. Get those environmental approvals done, the skill sets required,” McKenzie said.
She framed the deal as challenging China’s dominance in global supply chains. “A lot of challenges for Labor to make this deal a reality as soon as possible to really challenge China in that global supply chain,” McKenzie said.
On AUKUS implementation, McKenzie cited the $368 billion investment and development of HMAS Sterling naval base in Western Australia. “It’s not just the nuclear-powered subs docking. And we’re going to have a lot of ancillary services and benefits flow right throughout those economies, particularly in Western Australia and the Northern Territory,” she said.
The Senate leader noted the delicate diplomatic balance ahead of next week’s meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, expected at the APEX summit in Korea where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will also attend.
“People have been likening it to two elephants, really, sort of both incredibly powerful, also interdependent when it comes to trade and who’s holding whose debt,” McKenzie said. “Trump seems to be the kind of guy that likes to get a deal done and he’ll be, I imagine, relishing the challenge to land a deal with Xi Jinping.”
She described Trump’s approach as both deal-oriented and peacemaking. “A peacemaker as well, which probably defies the expectations of a lot of people,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie welcomed expressions of support for the critical minerals deal from Western Australia Premier Roger Cook and Northern Territory Chief Minister Leah Finocchiaro, noting substantial flow-on effects for local economies.
On climate policy, McKenzie said the National Party would make internal decisions before coordinating with Liberal backbenchers led by Simon Birmingham who want the coalition’s position resolved before year’s end.
“Before we actually talk about what our communication strategy at the next election is going to be, it’s really important that my political party, the National Party, makes a decision about action on climate change, lowering emissions and making sure we’re a strong, prosperous nation going forward with a secure energy supply,” McKenzie said.
The Senate leader said she has consistently argued for climate action that doesn’t damage the economy. “I’ve always said that net zero was never going to be net zero cost,” she said. “And it seems that those costs, social, economic and environmental, are now starting to be felt and realised by the broader Australian community.”
McKenzie said several more steps would occur within the National Party before negotiating positions with the Liberal Party. “I’m focused on what the National Party is going to be doing,” she said.
The Joyce situation represents a significant internal challenge for the Nationals as the coalition prepares for federal elections expected within the next year, with the party’s net zero position and leadership dynamics both in flux.
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