Good afternoon.
Barnaby Joyce was a pain in the neck for the Liberals when he was a Nationals MP, and remains a pain now he has joined One Nation.
Never far from a TV camera, the former deputy prime minister made headlines on Tuesday by raising the prospect of a supply and confidence deal with the Coalition to offer a pathway to minority government after the next election.
Joyce claimed he had discussed a possible deal, with policy strings attached, with senior Liberals this week. He wouldn’t say who he had spoken to or just how deep the conversation went.
Angus Taylor could need One Nation’s support to oust Labor at the 2028 election, if he falls short of a parliamentary majority. A promise of confidence and supply in parliament would help Taylor get over the line.
‘Buyers remorse’
Talk of a deal is bad news for the Coalition. Taylor and senior Liberals haven’t agreed on how to fight back against One Nation and any suggestion Hanson is calling shots for the opposition could further weaken the opposition leader’s position.
Parties never like talking about messy political negotiations ahead of elections, and usually tell voters they’re running to govern in their own right.
To that end, senior Liberals including Jane Hume and Tim Wilson were quick to rubbish Joyce’s claims on Wednesday, suggesting he had buyer’s remorse after defecting from the Coalition in December.
Wilson said the talks were a “figment of Barnaby’s imagination”. The opposition frontbencher Simon Kennedy ruled out a formal coalition but agreed he would work with anyone eager to end Labor’s hold on power.
Taylor said no talks had taken place, adding that he had given no authority to anyone else in the Coalition to have conversations with Hanson’s party.
The Coalition and One Nation are in a bidding war on a number of policies already, including cuts to immigration, a cut to the tobacco excise and a push to ditch commitments to get to net zero by 2050. Joyce helped end support for net zero when he was working within the Coalition, despite being responsible for setting up the plans while a member of Scott Morrison’s cabinet.
Trouble for Taylor
But the fracas shows the difficulty for Taylor and the Coalition created by Hanson’s surge in opinion polls.
Almost every day at least one of the questions put to the opposition leader is about something Hanson or Joyce have said, forcing Taylor to play on One Nation’s preferred issues. The same challenge exists internally from statements by frontbencher Andrew Hastie, a likely leadership rival for Taylor.
The sheer number of interviews Joyce gives every week – including to outlets One Nation has supposedly banned, like the ABC – means the often discursive member for New England will make plenty of trouble for Taylor yet.
Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
