Barnaby Joyce has been elected unopposed as the new leader of the National Party and will become the new Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

Senator Fiona Nash is deputy.

Mr Joyce was elected to Parliament in 2004 as a Queensland Senator, but moved to the Lower House seat of New England in 2013.

The Agriculture Minister had been considered by many in the party to be the heir apparent to Warren Truss, despite internal divisions over his often unpredictable and outspoken nature.

Mr Joyce created headlines last year when he publicly threatened to euthanize two dogs owned by actor Johnny Depp, after it was revealed they were not quarantined on their arrival in Australia.

The changing of the guard within the Nationals will also be the trigger for a cabinet reshuffle within the Federal Government.

A close ally of the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Mr Joyce will serve as Deputy Prime Minister to Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Truss’s retirement also means the Infrastructure and Regional Development portfolio and the safe Nationals seat of Wide Bay in Queensland will be up for grabs.