Pauline Hanson shuts down speculation of Barnaby Joyce taking on One Nation leadership
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has dismissed rumors that Barnaby Joyce will take over as leader of her party.
Senator Hanson told Sky News that “that’s not going to happen” and that he “won’t be running the party”.
“This is absolutely out of the question,” he said.
“The truth is that he is not even a member of that party. He has to make that choice himself to decide whether he will face One Nation or not.
“He wanted to see if he could move the bill through parliament, which hasn’t been debated yet, and it’s quite interesting to see where that goes.”
Mr Joyce dropped a bombshell on Saturday by announcing that he would not run again for the Nationals in the New England seat at the next election, saying his relationship with the leader had “broken down beyond repair”.
“My relationship with the Nationals leadership in Canberra has unfortunately broken down beyond repair, like the upset of some marriages,” he said.
The shock announcement fueled speculation that Mr Joyce would move to One Nation after Senator Hanson did not deny to Nine Newspapers that he had held talks with the senior MP.
The One Nation leader was among Mr Joyce’s voters last week to launch a new branch of his party.
