The official reason Mr Chester was dumped was there were only four Nationals MPs from Victoria and that two in cabinet were too many.

Newly elected deputy leader Bridget McKenzie, for whom Mr Chester did the numbers, is also a Victorian and she went straight into cabinet by virtue of her position. She replaced former Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash, who was disqualified from Parliament for being a dual citizen when elected.

Queensland had long claimed to have been under-represented and Queensland Liberal National Party MPs were threatening to break away and sit as a third Coalition party in Canberra if their representation did not increase.

Mr Joyce, who selects the Nationals for the ministry, told MPs he was jammed between keeping Mr Chester or promoting another Queenslander. He went for the latter but controversially chose first-term backbencher David Littleproud.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announces his cabinet reshuffle at a press conference in Sydney on Tuesday. Jessica Hromas

Queenslander Mr Pitt, who has an awkward relationship with Mr Joyce, was not just overlooked for promotion but dumped from his job as parliamentary secretary for trade.

First-term Queensland Liberal MP and former state government minister John McVeigh also jumped straight from the backbench to cabinet, filling the spot left by fellow Queensland Liberal George Brandis, who resigned as Attorney-General to replace Alexander Downer as Australia's next high commissioner in London.

Also departing cabinet was NSW Liberal Arthur Sinodinos, who resigned as Industry, Innovation and Science Minister due to ill health, but will stay in the Senate. In all, there were five new faces in the cabinet, the other two being former Liberal junior ministers Dan Tehan and Michael Keenan.


The Nationals kept their five-out-of-22 cabinet positions, despite losing Ms Nash, but Mr Chester's spot was given to Mr Littleproud whose sole federal political experience is 18 months as a backbencher.

Senior NSW Nationals MP Michael McCormack, who also has an awkward relationship with the leader, was overlooked and stays in the outer ministry. He lost Small Business and was given Veterans Affairs.

Sources asserted that Mr Joyce was squaring up with those who have opposed him internally while also "taking out" any perceived opposition to Senator Matt Canavan, who is being groomed as the leadership successor.

"It's all about protecting Canavan," claimed one Nationals MP.

In the ballot for deputy leader, Mr Chester did the numbers for Senator McKenzie against Mr Joyce's candidate of Senator Canavan.

Mr Chester was also one of two Nationals who supported same-sex marriage.


Mr Chester was furious at his demotion. In frenetic last-minute conversations with Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce, he was offered the most junior role as parliamentary secretary "but told them to stick it", said a party source.

Mr Turnbull said demoting the pair was Mr Joyce's idea.

"The composition of the ministry has to take into account matters of geography as well, and, plainly ... the Nationals have a very large component of their party room comes from Queensland," he said.

"Barnaby was keen to see that reflected in their representatives in the cabinet."

Labor leader Bill Shorten said "Barnaby Joyce has gone mad and Malcolm Turnbull's too weak to stop him".

The anger in the Nationals was especially over Mr Chester's treatment, given he had helped keep the party together while Mr Joyce was absent fighting the New England byelection, caused by his own failure to declare his dual citizenship.

Mr Joyce won the byelection and, at the weekend, Liberal MP John Alexander, also a dual citizen, won back Bennelong, restoring the government's one-seat majority on the floor of the House.


If Mr Pitt defects, guaranteeing only supply and confidence, the government would be back to 74 MPs on the floor, ranged against 75 Labor and crossbench MPs.

In the reshuffle, Mr Joyce moved from Agriculture to take Mr Chester's job as Infrastructure and Transport Minister, giving him oversight during an election year of the much-vaunted Melbourne-to-Brisbane inland rail link.

Mr Littleproud's ascension to Agriculture and Water Minister has caused a lot of friction.

"Colleagues are just dumbstruck," said an MP. "He used to be a rural bank lender. That will go down a treat in the bush."

Peter Nicholson cartoon for From the Gallery 20 December 2017 Barnaby Joyce new Infrastructure Minister in Turnbull cabinet reshuffle

Handing water to a Queensland National, Mr Littleproud, has also sparked anger in South Australia. He opposes the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and has the giant Cubby Station cotton farm in his electorate of Maranoa.

Senator McKenzie became Minister for Sport, Rural Health and Regional Communications.