McCormack is considered most likely person to command majority support if Joyce quits or faces challenge

The Nationals MP Michael McCormack has dodged questions about whether he supports Barnaby Joyce hanging on as Nationals leader, only lending the besieged deputy prime minister support on the eighth time the question was put to him.



McCormack, considered by colleagues as the person most likely to command majority support in the Nationals party room if Joyce quits or faces a challenge to his leadership when federal parliament resumes next week, sidestepped questions about the rolling debacle on Sky News on Monday.

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As McCormack prevaricated on live television, his New South Wales National colleague John “Wacka” Williams told Guardian Australia “the clear message” he was getting from grassroots supporters in Inverell was Joyce should remain as party leader.

“Barnaby is copping a lot of flak but the clear message I’m getting from grassroots supporters is he needs to remain as Nationals leader,” Williams said on Monday.

And in a clear shot at Malcolm Turnbull, who on Monday morning told 3AW he didn’t know if Joyce still commanded a majority in his party room, Williams declared: “If it hadn’t been for Barnaby Joyce, the Coalition wouldn’t have won the last election, and Malcolm Turnbull wouldn’t be the prime minister.”

Williams also pointed to times in the past when Joyce had stood up for Turnbull as prime minister when he had faced criticism from colleagues. During the New England byelection, Joyce had publicly smacked down the NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, when he had called for Turnbull to step aside.

The outspoken Queenslander George Christensen also said Joyce retained his support, “and I believe he has the party room support”.

Like Williams, Christensen said the local reaction to Joyce’s personal travails had not been negative. “Since I actually got back to my electorate on Friday, I have had a lot of people raise that issue about Barnaby Joyce and the ongoing media storm around his personal situation and, by and large, the response has been that he’s done nothing wrong, it’s a personal issue and people should just get off his back.”

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A Newspoll published on Sunday night suggested the public reaction was more negative than Williams and Christensen suggest. It showed 65% of a sample of 1,632 voters believed Joyce should resign the leadership of the Nationals, while a third of the sample thought he should quit parliament.

While the Nationals remain divided about their options to resolve the crisis, McCormack is regarded by colleagues as the favourite to take the leadership from Joyce in the event he steps aside or is challenged, because he would command support from the party’s social conservatives.

McCormack has next to no public profile. The much better known Victorian Darren Chester is not regarded as a starter because he is too moderate – and because the Nationals leadership team already has an incumbent Victorian, Bridget McKenzie, who replaced Fiona Nash, who was sidelined by the high court during last year’s dual citizenship fiasco.

As well as being divided on how to proceed, the Nationals also remain concerned that the prime minister is continuing to pressure the junior Coalition partner for a leadership change, interfering in their internal processes, despite Turnbull’s public protestations to the contrary.

On Sky News on Monday, McCormack was asked repeatedly whether he supported Joyce, and gave a series of qualified answers, such as there was no vacancy “at the moment”, and Joyce would continue to be the leader “as long as he gets the support of the National party room”, and there was no challenge “at the moment”.

When he faced his eighth question on the subject, McCormack said: “Of course I support Barnaby Joyce, he is our leader, he has been a very good leader of the National party. The National party in government has delivered.”

After delivering the more declarative statement, McCormack again lapsed again into qualified language.

“I am not sure what is going to happen this week. If I knew what was going to happen this week, I would be down at the local racetrack betting on the horses I knew were going to come home. I am not sure what is going to happen this week; I am not a Nostradamus looking into the future.

“I probably wouldn’t be here talking to Sky News, I would be down at the Fanny Bay racetrack backing the sure price winners which I would know what happened.

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“I am just concentrating on doing my job as the minister.”

Asked whether colleagues had pledged him support in the event McCormack was prepared to challenge Joyce for the leadership, McCormack said no.

Pressed on whether or not a single colleague in the party room had sounded him out about his intentions, McCormack said: “Well of course there has been talk about what may or may not happen, but at the moment Barnaby Joyce is the leader of the National party. At the moment, Barnaby Joyce has the support of the National party.”