AUSTRALIA is ready for gay farmer and former Big Brother contestant David Graham to become a politician, Queensland senator Barnaby Joyce says.

Senator Joyce, the National Party leader in the Senate, believes Farmer Dave, as he was known on the TV show, would make a good candidate. "He's got empathy, he's got experience, he is authentic in his political beliefs in that he's had a long involvement in politics," he told the ABC's Australian Story.

Former Big Brother contestant David Graham, the subject of Australian Story.

"There's so many people in the National Party who are gay – and I'm not one of them – but they don't walk around with a wristband saying 'I'm gay'. I suppose if you said there's something in the National Party as a culture, it's this: it's OK. We neither persecute you nor promote you; that's your business."

Senator Joyce is Mr Graham's friend and political mentor. “I knew David long before I ever saw him on Big Brother, which I think was a bad move, David. There's a stereotype you want to break down. You try and not reinforce it by going on some sort of voyeuristic load of rubbish which was Big Brother,” he said.