Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has confirmed he won’t stand again for the party at the next election but left the door open to a switch to One Nation.
Just 24 hours after speculation swirled he will defect to Pauline Hanson’s party, Mr Joyce has put out a statement outlining his future.
“My relationship with the leadership of the Nationals in Canberra has unfortunately, like a sadness in some marriages, irreparably broken down,” he said.
“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.”
Mr Joyce confirmed he would not stand again for the Nationals but left the door open to a switch to One Nation.
“I will not be standing for New England again but will complete my term as promised at the last election,” he said.
“I will leave with the greatest of love for all and money in the electorate bank account.
“I am free to now consider all options as to what I do next.
“I hope that the members understand the unfortunate position I am in and the obvious action after a period of consideration I must take.
“I wished I had been given more time to consider this and don’t know the motives of those who put the story out there.
“I am so desperately sorry as to the hurt this may cause and close with the deepest of affection for you all.”
Speculation mounts
It comes amid speculation Joyce was in advanced talks to defect to One Nation as the splintering of the Coalition over climate change continues.
Six months after Peter Dutton lost the 2025 election in a catastrophic landslide to Labor, the Coalition remains in disarray over major issues, including climate change targets. Mr Joyce has proposed a plan to reverse Australia’s net zero emissions target.
The campaign, backed by fellow former Nationals leader Michael McCormack, aims to repeal what Joyce calls Australia’s “lunatic crusade” of net zero by 2050.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party refused to rule out the recruitment drive on Friday night, with Senator Hanson telling the Nine newspapers, “If Barnaby wants to come to One Nation, I’d be happy to have him.”
Mr Joyce declined to comment with his colleague Senator Matt Canavan, insisting he had “no idea” what was going to happen.
It followed a report in the Sydney Morning Herald that other Coalition MPs could follow and jump ship.
Any departure by the former Deputy Prime Minister would be another blow following the decision of Andrew Hastie to go to the backbench and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s expulsion from the frontbench.
In May, National Party leader David Littleproud announced the party would dump the Coalition agreement in the wake of the disastrous election result before promptly mending the fence.
He blamed a fight over the four policy issues, including the future of nuclear power and supermarket divestitures.
It was a historic move, one of the rare splits in opposition since the 1920s. But it didn’t last long.
Last year, Mr Joyce was diagnosed with a serious illness, and he was filmed lying on a Canberra footpath mumbling into a mobile phone.
The former Nationals leader had defiantly refused to take leave in recent weeks after the fallout from his Braddon misadventure made national headlines.
“I don’t take advice from people in Canberra,” he said.
“I take advice from my wife, my close friends, and my local GP. I do not listen to the views of people in this crazy boarding school they call parliament.
“Look, obviously, I made a big mistake — there’s no excuse for it.
“There is a reason, and it was a very eventful walk home wasn’t it. I’m on a prescription drug, and they say certain things may happen to you if you drink, and they were absolutely 100 per cent right.”
At the time, Mr Littleproud confirmed that he had decided to take personal leave following a stressful period.
“He won’t be here this week. He’s notified me that he won’t be coming to parliament,” Mr Littleproud told Nine’s Today program.
“He’s having the week off, which we gave him the opportunity to undertake with his family [sic]. And I respect that. And I hope, hope he went to church yesterday and all he had was altar wine.”
The former deputy prime minister had declared he was ashamed and “embarrassed” after the video emerged, and he revealed he had mixed alcohol with prescription medicine.
“Barnaby’s embarrassed himself and his family, and while he’s clearly articulated some of the underlying issues and circumstances, there are other circumstances that I’m not going to break his confidence on,” Mr Littleproud said.
The bizarre footage recorded the Nationals frontbencher lying on the footpath in Canberra late at night while mumbling “dead f**king c***” into his phone.
In a statement, Mr Joyce said he was embarrassed and confirmed he had fallen off the inner-city planter box.
His new wife, Vikki Campion, who confirmed he was on the phone with her at the time, said the harsh words were not directed at her.
“No, I think he was calling himself one, he likes to self-flagellate,” she told news.com.au.
Ms Campion said she was disappointed someone filmed the incident rather than render assistance.
“I’ve been with Barnaby when we have found a man in the same state on the street and rather than take a video and sell it to the media, he picked the guy up and took him home, we later found out there had been problems with his medication and if he hadn’t helped him back he could have been in a very bad situation,” she said.
Ms Campion said her husband did hurt himself, but observed that, like most farmers, he never complained.
“He did hurt his back but he hasn’t made a big deal of it,” she said. “The guy who took the video witnessed him fall off the pot plant and confirmed that to the Daily Mail, and instead of checking if he was OK, whipped his phone out, took a video and kept walking. Lovely.”
Witnesses claim the MP had been sitting on a large pot plant while chatting on the phone before he fell off and started swearing into the phone.
Barnaby Joyce has made no secret of his mental health issues. He had previously written that he needed to seek help during his marriage breakdown.
“Winston Churchill had his black dog. Mine was a half-crazed cattle dog, biting everything that came near the yard,” Mr Joyce wrote in his book.
He eventually did seek the help of a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with depression.
He also started praying at a “special” rock he found on Canberra’s Red Hill.
Read related topics:Pauline Hanson