Barnaby Joyce declares he’s ‘entitled’ to Coalition policy debate despite not ruling out One Nation move

Barnaby Joyce has declared he’s “entitled” to policy debate in the National party despite not ruling out a move to One Nation after announcing he won’t recontest his New England seat.

In his first major press conference since rumours began to swirl of his potential defection, the maverick MP added fuel to the speculation by pointing to “a lot of similarities” he held with Pauline Hanson’s agenda.

While Mr Joyce on Monday had said One Nation “do a good job” — he went a step further on Tuesday, by adding that “philosophically, there’s a lot of similarities” between his views and the minor party’s.

Despite clarifying he was still a Nationals member — Mr Joyce also declared himself a “free agent”.

“I’m still basically a member of the National Party. I have not joined another party, but I think that’s for me to consider over time,” he told reporters in Tamworth on Tuesday.

He also clarified on Tuesday his interest to be involved in Nationals’ policy debate despite previously questioning whether he would sit in the partyroom when he returned to Parliament in Canberra next week.

“I want to make this very clear; I love the membership that has been so good to me, and I’m not going to be part of any process that I believe hurts the National Party membership,” he said.

“I will be involved in the policy debate. I’m entitled to that.”

It comes as the Coalition prepare to gather for an energy policy roundtable on Friday next week, with several MPs and Senators — including Mr Joyce — agitating over their ongoing policy reviews.

Mr Joyce has been vocal on his desire to dump the commitment to net zero by 2050, claiming it’s overwhelming regional areas with renewable projects and prompting businesses to struggle with energy costs.

Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan said the planned backbencher sessions on energy policy had been organised several weeks ago as party of Coalition’s usual process of discussing policy.

He added members from both parties were invited.

Mr Tehan said he had previously offered Mr Joyce a chance to sit down with him to discuss energy policy, but revealed he’s yet to take up the offer.

“I’ve always said he’s welcome to come privately and talk to me… The door is always open. We’ve had brief conversations in the corridors. But we hadn’t had an extended sit down yet,” Mr Tehan said.

“He’ll be able to attend (on Friday). He’s welcome to come privately and talk to me.”

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan called for everyone to “have a debate” in the party next week and said he was “sick and tired” of anonymous Coalition members leaking to the media before discussing it with colleagues.

“Show your face. Come to Canberra next week and let’s have a debate. Let’s have a debate in the joint party room, where everybody can have their say,” Senator Canavan told Sky on Tuesday.

“Everyone can get up — drop the anonymity — and say to the room what they think.”

Mr Joyce added that he didn’t want his decision to been seen as an attack on Opposition leader Sussan Ley’s leadership but reiterated the that he has “different philosophical views than her — and one is Net Zero”.

“I’d hate for this to be seen as some attack on Sussan, it’s not,” Mr Joyce said.

Ms Ley said she wouldn’t be drawn into Mr Joyce’s decision.

The Liberal leader instead said it was an issue for the Nationals and stuck by the Coalition’s review process.

Mr Joyce also used his Tamworth press conference to share his “breakdown” in the relationship with Nationals leader David Littleproud, saying it had been “pretty traumatic” for him and contributed to his decision.

He labelled “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was the “awkward” timing of the story being “leaked” to the media about his potential deflection.

Mr Joyce had been at a weekend fundraiser for the Liberal-National Party in central Queensland when the story broke, which he was asked by the party to attend.

“(The) story about me going to One Nation just completely blew my weekend out of the water and made things incredibly awkward,” he said.

“And I thought ‘I’ve got to deal with this now and I’m going to deal with it’.”

While speculation has circled that Mr Joyce’s long-term plan would be to run for a NSW Senate seat under One Nation’s banner as a succession plan for Senator Hanson, she has since labelled the rumours an “absolute joke”.

“I haven’t got a foot in the grave yet. I respect Barnaby and he has been deputy prime minister, but I also believe people have to earn their stripes,” the firebrand told Sky News on Tuesday.

Senator Canavan expressed hope on Tuesday that his fellow Nationals MP would choose to remain with the party, declaring “the divorce papers haven’t been signed”.

He likened Mr Joyce to famous soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, saying he was a “G.O.A.T” – the anonym for Greatest Of All Time – politician who any team should try to keep onside.

“If Ronaldo is looking to leave your soccer team, you don’t just let him walk out the door,” Senator Canavan told Sky.

“You do everything you can to try and make him happy, to keep him as part of your team because it’s going to be so important to have someone like him to score political goals.”

During the Tamworth press conference, Mr Joyce also spun off into a rant about the dangers of “the State” being too powerful and questioned whether anyone attending had COVID.

“Just keep the State in check. Don’t have it so powerful,” he said.

“I suppose a classic example that recently was not the issue with COVID, but the excesses that came into place — where all of a sudden you felt like the State was locking (you in) your house.

“It just seemed to have too much power in your life. And there’s probably people here today with COVID.”

Mr Littleproud has rejected Mr Joyce’s claims of a “breakdown”, insisted the pair have a good working relationship and urged him to stay in the Nationals.