Barnaby Joyce fumbled a “good morning” when starting his nighttime interview with Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 730 earlier this week.
He quickly corrected himself and declared, “God, I’m tired. Good evening”
It’s exhausting work, continually appearing in the headlines, including by spectacularly announcing you won’t be re-contesting your seat for the party you once led, The Nationals.
The announcement sparked speculation that Joyce would be defecting to One Nation, and leading the party.
But One Nation’s current leader, Pauline Hanson, has declared she’s not going anywhere.
She’s issued an offer for Joyce to join One Nation, but called off any ideas he’ll make the move and be elevated to leadership
Hanson told Sky News last night that, “He’s not going to be leading the party, so that’s totally out of the question.”
“He has to make that choice himself, to finally make the decision if he is going to come across to One Nation.
“I know he’s disgruntled with the National Party. I know he’s passionate about eliminating net zero. He’s introduced his bill to parliament, he doesn’t expect to get support,” Hanson said, adding it’ll be “interesting” to watch what unfolds with the bill.
One Nation has been enjoying surging popularity in recent months – a quiet rise since the last Federal election. Polls put support for One Nation between 11 per cent and 14 per cent, with Nine’s Resolve poll putting it at 12 per cent on first preferences, ahead of the Greens on 11 per cent, which could put the right-wing populist party in a position to win House of Representatives seats.
It must look very appealing to Joyce, who has been unsuccessfully trying to find a place to make more noise since he was dumped from The Nationals’ frontbench due to a need for “generational change.”
For now, Joyce has his Repeal Net Zero Bill 2025, with the goal of sending climate-related laws to the scrapheap.
His private members’ bill was debated in the House of Representatives, and ultimately labelled a “clown show” by independent MP Zali Steggall.
It’s likely The Nationals will end up dumping its net zero commitment in line with Joyce’s wishes, but the “irreconcilable” differences Joyce has with current leader David Littleproud are clearly too big to overcome to stay in the party to keep firing up the climate wars.
It really is exhausting.
Joyce now has until next week, when parliament returns, to determine whether he’ll move to the crossbench, to become an independent or a One Nation MP.