news, federal-politics, matt canavan, barnaby joyce, national party, michael mccormack, joyce podcast, barnaby podcast

The National Party shows no sign of uniting behind leader Michael McCormack, with Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan now launching a podcast to strengthen their renegade voice in the party and Mr Joyce skipping Question Time to advance his cause in an interview on Sydney radio. "I'm not going to bullshit people," Mr Joyce said, when asked whether he was friends with Nationals leader Michael McCormack. Mr Joyce and Senator Canavan appear to have embarked on a campaign of boosting their profile, which will further undermine Mr McCormack's leadership. One of the complaints rebel Nationals have about Mr McCormack is that he doesn't advocate loudly enough for the party and bush voters. "By reason of your numbers being smaller ... people out in the regional areas in politics have to speak in a loud and clear voice," Mr Joyce told 2GB radio. Senator Canavan did nothing to hose down rumblings about the Liberal National Party in Queensland setting up a separate grouping in Canberra. In his first podcast with Mr Joyce, which the pair are calling Weatherboard and Iron, Senator Canavan said Llew O'Brien had "effectively created a new party room" already by quitting the Nationals party room this week. The option of the other Queenslanders joining him was "an open question now", Senator Canavan said. But the idea isn't new; it is periodically canvassed by disgruntled Nationals including Keith Pitt in 2017. And it doesn't appear it has widespread support. National David Littleproud, also a member of the Queensland party and now the agriculture minister, said there was no widespread support for a separate party room and it would be impractical, given the Liberal National Party was a Queensland state-based party. "It's not going to happen," he said. Mr Joyce received seven of the 21 votes in the leadership spill, winning support from Senator Canavan and fellow Queenslanders Llew O'Brien, George Christensen and Ken O'Dowd, and from Northern Territory Senator Sam McMahon and NSW MP David Gillespie. He said if Mr O'Brien hadn't become deputy speaker more Queenslanders might have joined him in quitting the Nationals party room. "Then you wouldn't have to worry about the National Party because the National Party would be no more," he said. David Gillespie, another of the Joyce backers, said the Nationals recriminations were a result of "frustration". "Everyone has arguments," he said, saying he was working to keep Mr O'Brien close and in time bring him back into the Nationals party room. In the podcast, Senator Canavan also laments the $150,000 salary hit when he resigned from the Morrison cabinet to back Mr Joyce in last week's failed leadership coup. Mr Joyce apologised and said he felt "tortured" about Senator Canavan's pay cut and career setback. Nationals president Larry Anthony pleaded with party rebels to stop destabilising Mr McCormack. "It's not sustainable and people have seen this movie before," he said. "This is not something we do in the National Party ... the National Party always performs best when we hunt as a pack and are united."

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