Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce’s Shocking U-Turn: Will He Defect to One Nation After Party Dumps Net Zero?
- Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce grilled on Sunrise about his future with the party after it dumped net zero target
- Joyce cited the party’s support for net zero as the reason for his decision to leave, but now says he’s ‘assessing the process’
- Party room meeting heard research claiming net zero policy will push up power bills by $800 per household annually
Barnaby Joyce, the Nationals MP who made headlines with his decision to leave the party over its net zero target, has been grilled on Sunrise about his future with the party. Joyce had cited the party’s support for net zero as the reason for his decision, but now says he’s ‘assessing the process’ after the party dumped the target.
In a tense interview with Sunrise host Natalie Barr, Joyce was non-committal about his future with the party. “I am going to make sure I assess exactly what the process is,” he said. “I don’t want to rehash it. This is my decision to make and I’ll make it.”
Barr pressed Joyce on whether he would reconsider his decision to leave the party now that it had dumped net zero. “Isn’t this why you’re leaving? You wanted net zero scrapped. The Nats have given you net zero. So, aren’t you going to walk back in now?” she asked.
Joyce replied that the issue was more complex than just net zero. “We are still in the Paris Agreement, and I have to go through with Matt Canavan this morning a lot of the issues pertinent to the capacity of the investment scheme,” he said. “In regional areas, we are being overrun by intermittent power, transmission lines, solar panels, wind towers. That’s the questions that will be asked of me and I want to know what the answers are.”
The Nationals’ decision to dump net zero has sparked a heated debate about the party’s future and its relationship with the Liberal Party. Joyce warned that the Coalition was facing a crisis, saying “you can’t be two different parties down here and one party up there”.
As the drama unfolds, Joyce’s future with the party remains uncertain. Will he defect to One Nation, or will he find a way to reconcile with the Nationals? One thing is clear: the fate of the Coalition hangs in the balance.