Former Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has made a shocking admission to Sky News Australia after losing the Nationals lead to David Littleproud.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has revealed that he will “always go to the transition” and relinquish national leadership after the 2022 federal election.
The New England member spoke to Sky News Australia’s AM agenda on Tuesday after being ousted by David Littleproud in the party hall vote just 24 hours earlier.
The father of six made the startling admission when presenter Laura Jayes asked what her “new era” would be like.
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“I don’t know. We’ll see what happens to us,” he said on Tuesday, hinting at the possibility of moving to the back seat.
“I was very happy in the past. I remember fighting the carbon tax, I was the only one fighting for it, but then it came to a Labor government.
“You can do a lot of good things from the back bench if you focus and present convincing arguments.
“Anyway, I was always in transition, out of leadership, so I’m not crying over my beer.”
Jayes, who was shocked by the revelation, asked the former prime minister when he was going to move on from the National leader.
“That term,” he said.
“When did you say that in the party room?” Jayes asked more.
“I said that when I took the lead, I’ve said it many times, I was always going to make the transition,” Joyce replied.
The 55-year-old insisted the decision was ultimately for the best of the party.
“I saw my job as getting the party to a strong position and then setting it up for a change; I still want to keep my job in New England and whatever job I get, but I said that when I regained the lead , it was a transition process to win the election and that is exactly what I did, “he said.
But he closed the suggestions that he would return for a leadership inclination, pointing to his phrase “outward transition” and not “inward transition.”
“I said when I got it back it was for the purpose of holding all our seats and then handing them over,” Joyce said.
“Now yes, maybe I would have liked to deliver it later, but that’s life. The party has made its choice, this is democracy and I’m happy with the result I got, very happy.”
At the beginning of the interview, he stated that the loss of Mr. Littleproud “wasn’t so bad” and that wasn’t expected, as it was just “how politics works.”
“So when I look around the room and see all the guys and girls there, I think it’s a great result, I’m very happy with that,” she said.
Joyce wasn’t sure if she would have a ministry, but she was excited to spend more time in her NSW New England regional constituency after spending much of her time in Canberra.
He then extended his warm wishes to Labor to form a majority government.
Sky News Australia election analyst Tom Connell has projected that incumbent Labor MP Josh Burns will retain his Macnamara constituency in south Melbourne to give Anthony Albanese the crucial 76 seats out of 151 in the House of Representatives.
“I really wish the Labor government the best for it, so I’m very happy that they have a majority in their own right,” Joyce said.
“This is incredibly important because this nation will make very difficult decisions and some of them will not be popular, but they must be made to protect us.”