Joyce could run for New England after Torbay quits

Updated

Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce says he is willing to challenge Tony Windsor for the Lower House seat of New England, after the party's candidate quit last night.

New South Wales Lower House independent Richard Torbay withdrew his candidacy for September's federal election after it emerged that disgraced Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid helped him get his start in politics.

Who is Richard Torbay? Independent member of NSW Legislative Assembly representing Northern Tablelands from 1999-2013.

A 51-year-old father of three who studied at University of New England.

Elected to the Armidale City Council in 1991.

Deputy Mayor in 1992 before serving as Mayor from 1995-1998.

Challenged Ray Chappel in 1999 for seat of Northern Tablelands, running as an independent.

Beat Chappell with 44.15 per cent of primary vote, 59.37 per cent on two-party preferred.

Accepted an offer in 2007 from premier Morris Iemma to become NSW Legislative Assembly speaker.

Elected University of New England chancellor in 2008.

Pre-selected as Nationals candidate for federal seat of New England in 2013 to challenge Tony Windsor.

This morning Mr Torbay also resigned his seat in State Parliament, effective immediately.

Senator Joyce, who has been looking for a move into the Lower House, says he will replace Mr Torbay if asked.

"If I get an invitation to stand for pre-selection then I think that I will do that," he said.

"The reason I will do that is that we can't go on with this current government. This is insane.

"This has gone beyond a joke down here, there is no-one running the show."

Senator Joyce grew up in the New England region and was interested in seeking pre-selection before Mr Torbay was chosen.

"Now I am prepared to put myself forward if that is what the people wish. I'll be making sure that these people are given the respect of having their say before I go to far with having mine," he said.

The Coalition had been pinning its hopes on Mr Torbay taking the seat from Mr Windsor, one of the key independents in the hung Parliament.

Mr Torbay, the former independent speaker of the New South Wales Parliament, was pre-selected with much fanfare mid-last year as the Nationals candidate for New England.

His campaign was due to be launched by the federal Nationals leader Warren Truss this Friday.

Challenge welcomed

Meanwhile, Tony Windsor said he would welcome Senator's Joyce's challenge.

"I think anybody's entitled to stand," he told AM.

"Barnaby's on record as saying that New England is his second choice. He's actually the second choice to Mr Torbay.

"I don't think it's about New England for Barnaby. It's very much about him and positioning himself, his view of himself in terms of being a great leader of the Nationals."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has described Senator Joyce as a "friend, a colleague, a very senior member of my team".

"In the end it is a matter for the National Party, but I am sure he would make a very, very strong candidate," he said this morning.

NSW Nationals chairman Niall Blair said Mr Torbay has been asked to step aside because of information received within the past 24 hours that the party previously knew nothing about.

Mr Blair would not say what the information was, but said the party was seeking legal advice.

Mr Torbay, who is a former speaker in the NSW Lower House and has represented New England in state parliament since 1999, released a statement confirming he had quit.

"Given the current toxic political environment, I do not want to put my family, the community or myself through an ongoing smear campaign," he said.

It also appeared that his Twitter account had been deleted.

We can't go on with this current government. This is insane. This has gone beyond a joke down here, there is no-one running the show. Barnaby Joyce

Mr Windsor said the National Party has some questions to answer.

"I was commenting on allegations in another newspaper that Mr Torbay's name had been mentioned in many diary entries of Mr Obeid's," he said.

"Obviously with Mr Obeid in the news as he is, one would have to ask what were those diary entries about, particularly seeing he is a Nationals candidate and Eddie Obeid is a disgraced Labor operative that had been involved in the coal debacle."

National Party Leader Warren Truss said he was unaware of why Mr Torbay had been asked to step aside.

"On Monday evening, the party became aware of issues in Mr Torbay's past that had not been previously been declared as the rules of the party required at the time of endorsement," he said.

"These issues were of such substance that the party organisation took the view that it was no longer appropriate for him to be a candidate.

"I am not aware of the details of those matters. The party has received legal advice that others should not be informed at this time, and I have to respect that legal advice."

Mr Blair confirmed the Nationals will immediately look to pre-select a new candidate.

Senator Joyce reiterated that his preference is to either run in the seat of Maranoa where he currently lives, or New England where he grew up.

Nationals MP Bruce Scott has held the seat of Maranoa since 1990.

Topics: government-and-politics, nationals, federal-government, armidale-2350, nsw

First posted