Can Barnaby and Pauline hit it off after Nats divorce?
The pair look set to tie the knot after former national leader Barnaby Joyce flirted with joining Pauline Hanson’s One Nation team with a steak and sandwich press.
After weeks of speculation, Mr Joyce finally announced on Thursday that he was resigning from the rural party to become an independent.
As relations soured with current National leader David Littleproud, the New England MP confirmed he was “seriously considering” returning to the Senate with One Nation.
But given Senator Hanson’s poor retention of elected representatives and Mr Joyce’s disagreements with party leaders, questions are being raised about the longevity of the potential political marriage before it is consummated.
Former national leader Michael McCormack, whom Mr Joyce unsuccessfully challenged in 2020 and eventually ousted a year later, had some doubts.
“This will be an interesting sort of clash of minds between two very out there people like Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce. Is there enough room in One Nation for those two?” he told reporters.
“This needs to be seen.”
Earlier this week, Senator Hanson persuaded Mr Joyce in his parliamentary office over a dinner of sandwich press-fried steak, pasta, salad and strudel.
Although the two appeared to get along well, Senator Hanson frequently fell out with other One Nation representatives.
In the federal parliament, Malcolm Roberts remains the only long-term One Nation senator who did not leave the party started by Senator Hanson and which until recently bore his name.
Former Liberal adviser David Gazard, now a director of DPG Advisory Solutions, said Mr Joyce joining One Nation would be “the biggest train wreck of all time”.
“They are two figures who both want to lead and will not back down,” he told ABC News.
“Barnaby is about Barnaby and Pauline is about Pauline and the two will never meet – and that goes for other high-profile people of some color who have come out of One Nation after One Nation.
“So this is a train wreck waiting to happen.”
National senator Bridget McKenzie told ABC News she hoped Mr Joyce would not join One Nation, saying it was a protest party and unable to bring about political change there.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
