Queensland Liberal National MP Ewen Jones hopes Ian Macfarlane can recover from the "brain explosion" that was his plan to defect from the Liberal party room to the Nationals.

On Monday, the Queensland LNP State Executive blocked Mr Macfarlane's bid to switch allegiances to the Nationals, despite local party members in his regional seat of Groom voting 102-34 in favour of the move.

Mr Jones — who sits in the Liberal party room and is one of the Turnbull Government's whips in the House of Representatives — has suggested it would be up to the party room as to how the former Abbott government minister would be received when Parliament resumes next February.

"He could walk in there and could be treated as this was a brain explosion, and he can move on and rebuild," Mr Jones said.

"Or he could be treated with the same sort of respect and admiration as [former LNP MP] Peter Slipper.

"I don't know if he's a turncoat, [but] for me this is a very bad decision."

For Mr Macfarlane, the decision is now whether he will remain in Parliament.

"I booked with my family to have our usual Christmas break down the Sunshine Coast," Mr Macfarlane told ABC Southern Queensland.

"I'll get some time to think about it all and I'll come back, gauge how things are going in Canberra, and obviously the plan at the moment [is] to return to the February sittings and see what happens from that.

"The world is a very complicated place.

"I may make a decision, but I won't announce it.

"It's a decision I want to make in the cool of the evening."

'I wasn't going to walk away without trying'

Mr Macfarlane has given his strongest indication yet that this incident could spell the end of his political career.

"I can't sit with the Nationals, but I guess if the Liberals make me feel unwelcome, well that may accelerate the decision," Mr Macfarlane said.

"Politics is a rough and tough game and I would be the last one to bemoan that.

"You've got to give it everything you've got and you've got to give it a red hot go.

"I wasn't going to walk away without trying and I don't ever want to die wondering."

His colleague, Ewen Jones said Mr Macfarlane only had the urge to join the Nationals when he lost his Cabinet position after Malcolm Turnbull took over as Prime Minister.

He argued the whole saga had been a distraction for the LNP, because all the party had been talking about was "some bloke's disappointing career move in Toowoomba".

"Put two and two together, and this is more about his career than about the state of the Government, more about his career than about the state of the party in Queensland, more about his career than about the parliamentary Liberal Party or National Party," Mr Jones said.

"I think he has had a fantastic parliamentary career since 1998, on the frontbench since 2001.

"To have his career defined by this moment is a sad time for just about everyone involved."

Macfarlane party swap block could impact Cabinet

Yesterday, Deputy Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce expressed his disappointment that the State Executive disregarded the overwhelmingly favourable vote among local members in Groom.

Fellow Queensland LNP MP Michelle Landry, who sits in the Nationals party room, echoed such comments.

But she did not believe the party would face a voter backlash at the next election.

"In Queensland, it's the Liberal National Party, and a lot of people really think of us as one team," Ms Landry said.

"It's more when you get down to Canberra that you sit with the Liberals or the Nationals that it's more of a probably relevant issue.

"I think that it is disappointing. We would have loved another member, another team member for the Nationals in Canberra, but we still all are one team."

Blocking the defection could also scuttle hopes the Nationals had at securing another Cabinet position.

Mr Macfarlane has been mooted for filling a role, and Ms Landry said the possibility of Ian Macfarlane leaving Parliament would be the worst outcome.

"That would be a shame if that did happen, because I do have a lot of respect for Ian," Ms Landry said.

"I would hate to see that talent leave.

"Obviously there is a reason that the executive have made that decision, but I would hate Ian to leave at the next election because of the decision."