Barnaby Joyce confirms conversations with Pauline Hanson amid speculation on possible defection to One Nation | Australian politics
Barnaby Joyce has confirmed he has spoken to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as she considers a possible switch to the far-right party following the extraordinary deterioration in relations with the Nationals.
But Joyce insisted on Monday that “nothing is locked”.
The former National Party leader and deputy prime minister answered questions about his future on Monday morning for the first time since announcing his intention to leave the country party and not run again for the New England seat of New South Wales.
In a message to Nationals members on Saturday, Joyce said this left him “free to consider all options”, fueling speculation he was ready to defect to One Nation after it emerged he was considering the move.
His decision not to run again in New England leaves open the potential to finish out his term in the lower chamber before switching to the Senate, possibly on the One Nation ticket.
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Joyce confirmed he spoke to Hanson in Canberra about six weeks ago and spoke again for 5-10 minutes on Sunday night out of “politeness” following two days of sustained media coverage about Hanson’s possible departure from his party.
He said nothing had been confirmed, stating that he had not yet officially left the National party.
“I spoke to Pauline briefly about a month and a half ago,” Joyce told Sunrise.
“I actually called him last night. I said have a good day; nothing is locked.
“Let’s take it down a step, I didn’t join One Nation. In fact, I didn’t resign from Nationals at this point.”
Many National MPs, including leader David Littleproud, hope Joyce can be persuaded to stay in the party.
However, the 58-year-old actor has almost closed the door on this possibility. On Monday Joyce marked an irreparable breakdown in his relationship with Littleproud, highlighting the leader’s decision to effectively ban him from campaigning outside his electorate during the May election and then kick him out of the frontbench to promote “generational change”.
“Obviously the relationship with David wasn’t great. So if we said anything else, it wouldn’t be true,” Joyce said in an interview with ABC radio on Monday.
“I wish people the best. I’m not just going to leave hurt and twisted and angry. I just, you know, honestly, I wish people the best. That’s actually what I do. Like most things, you feel a lot better when you’re not angry. That’s why I’m not angry now because I said I was leaving.”
Nationals MP Michael McCormack, who once led the party, said he hoped Joyce would not leave.
“Barnaby was a force of nature for regional Australia and did a lot of good things,” McCormack told the ABC.
