Barnaby Joyce would become the next Nationals leader with Luke Hartsuyker as his deputy, in a leadership transition plan being floated by a Victorian MP amid expectations Warren Truss will bow out before the next election.



Darren Chester, who is the Coalition government’s assistant defence minister and represents the seat of Gippsland for the Nationals, has sought to garner support for the post-Truss plan among his colleagues.

By triggering publicity about the party’s succession planning, Chester has angered some colleagues and prompted questions about his motives.

Truss, Nationals leader since 2007 and deputy prime minister since 2013, has previously indicated he intended to contest the next election, due in 2016, but there is growing speculation he will not seek another term. Truss is understood to be considering his political future.

Joyce, as the deputy Nationals leader, is the heir apparent, although there have been grumblings in some quarters of the government about his style and suitability to stand in as acting prime minister.

Joyce was promised responsibility for water resources in addition to agriculture after Malcolm Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott as the Liberal leader and prime minister last month, but the portfolio carve-up caused some Coalition tensions.

The lower-profile Hartsuyker, previously the assistant employment minister, now has responsibility for vocational education and skills.

Hartsuyker’s New South Wales coastal seat of Cowper is next to Joyce’s inland seat of New England, a geographic factor that is likely to count against a joint leadership ticket. Guardian Australia understands Hartsuyker and Joyce are not personally close.

Chester pitched the idea to his colleagues this week and confirmed the proposal to the Herald Sun, but was at pains to say he was not trying to push Truss out.



“Warren is under no pressure to leave and we will give him the respect to choose his own future ... but when the position becomes vacant, I’ll be supporting an orderly transition to Barnaby Joyce and Luke Hartsuyker as the leadership team,” Chester told the newspaper.

Chester, who has previously ruffled conservative feathers in the National party by supporting same-sex marriage and is seen as a future leadership candidate, declined to comment when contacted by Guardian Australia on Friday.

Truss would not be drawn on the proposal or on his political future.

“I am concentrating on settling in the Turnbull-Truss government for the long haul,” the deputy prime minister said through a spokesman on Friday.

Joyce has repeatedly promised not to challenge Truss for the Nationals leadership, but would put his hand up should it become vacant.

Many within the party assume Joyce will become the next leader, resulting in the focus on jostling for the next most senior position.

Chester’s proposal for Hartsuyker to be the next deputy leader excludes other senior Nationals figures who are in the current Turnbull ministry, including assistant infrastructure minister Michael McCormack and rural health minister Fiona Nash.