Andrew Gee says ‘all bets are off’ as PM avoids questions about Joyce in Washington, saying they are a matter for the Nationals

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A second Nationals MP has moved to destabilise Barnaby Joyce by canvassing a challenge after the crisis around his leadership escalated with the report of a sexual harassment complaint against the Nationals leader.

On Friday Nationals MP Andrew Gee joined Andrew Broad in withdrawing support from Joyce, issuing a statement that “all bets are off” when it came to the leadership.

Earlier, Malcolm Turnbull repeatedly declined to publicly support his embattled deputy prime minister. Joyce’s woes were compounded on Thursday by Nationals MP Andrew Broad publicly withdrawing support for him and the report of the complaint, which Joyce has dismissed as “spurious and defamatory”.

Questioned in his car by Channel Nine, Joyce indicated he would address the allegations later on Friday. When asked if his intention was to hang on to his job, Joyce replied “let’s do the presser”, which has been scheduled for 2pm in Armidale.

Gee said: “Until I have clarification regarding some of the issues about Barnaby, I won’t be able to back him but I’m also not in a position to back any challenger.”

The New South Wales MP noted “nobody has contacted me to tell me they’re challenging [or] what they’d do for the Calare electorate”.

“I’m backing the electorate and not anyone else, and we’ll just have to see what next week brings.”

Earlier, at a press conference outside the White House in Washington, Turnbull at first deferred questions about Joyce and then declined to say whether he still supported the Nationals leader.



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“These are matters for the leadership of the National party,” the prime minister eventually said. “I’ve been at great pain to stress that I have not, nor has my party, sought to influence in any way the deliberations of the National party.”

At a press conference in Sydney the acting prime minister, Mathias Cormann, and the treasurer, Scott Morrison, declined to express personal support for Joyce, saying his leadership was a matter for the National party.

Cormann acknowledged the National party had received a formal complaint against Joyce, adding that “any allegation of sexual harassment is very serious”.

“Barnaby Joyce has denied the allegation, but it’s being investigated … and given that there is an investigation under way, I don’t really believe it’s appropriate for me to make any further comments.”

Joyce is weathering fallout from the revelation of his relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion, and digging in by repeatedly stating in media appearances during a week of personal leave that he is not going anywhere.

Broad told ABC on Thursday he would attempt to force a resolution on Joyce in the Nationals party room when parliament resumed next week.

Senior party figures have rallied around Joyce, with the party’s Senate leader, Nigel Scullion, saying the leader retained his support, and the deputy Nationals leader, Bridget McKenzie, arguing a leadership motion could not be considered at Monday’s meeting because it wasn’t a full party room gathering.

Q&A Why can't Malcolm Turnbull sack Barnaby Joyce? Show Hide Barnaby Joyce is not a member of Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal party, he is the leader of the National party, which governs in coalition with the Liberals. In the same way that the prime minister could not sack the leader of the Labor party, he has no power to force the Nationals to change their leader. There is a coalition agreement between the leaders about the terms of their political partnership. The agreement is secret, but one of its cornerstones is that the leader of the National party will be deputy prime minister when the Coalition is in government and therefore acting prime minister in the absence of the PM. Turnbull could remove Joyce from the position of deputy prime minister by ending the Coalition between Liberals and Nationals. However, because the two parties combined only have a one-seat majority over Labor in the House of Representatives, that would be risky. Photograph: Michael Masters/Getty Images AsiaPac

Last week Joyce successfully stared down an internal rebellion and claims to still enjoy majority support in the Nationals party room.

While a chorus of former Nationals leaders and the Western Australian division of the party have declared his leadership untenable Joyce lacks a high-profile challenger in the federal party room.

Broad said he would not be a candidate for the leadership in the event the position was spilled, and he declined to say who he would back if Joyce was toppled.

On Friday there were reports that MP David Gillespie, the assistant minister for children and families, had indicated to colleagues he would put his hand up for the Nationals leadership if Joyce resigned.

The New South Wales MP Michael McCormack last week dodged questions about whether he still supported Joyce, or would put his hand up for the leadership in the event the deputy prime minister resigned or was rolled.

McCormack has been considered by colleagues as the person most likely to command majority support in the Nationals party room in the event of a spill. Despite his low public profile, he would likely command support from social conservatives within the party.

On Thursday the Daily Telegraph reported that a West Australian woman had made a sexual harassment complaint against Joyce, with the party’s national president, Larry Anthony, confirming it had been lodged.

“All complaints are taken seriously and treated with strict confidentiality and given due process,” Anthony told the paper in a statement.

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Joyce said the allegations were “spurious [and] defamatory”. “They should’ve been referred to the police if they had substance,” he said.

Earlier, Joyce’s spokesman said the deputy prime minister had been “made indirectly aware” of the complaint and any allegations should be referred to the police “so that the veracity of any claim could be properly tested”.

Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, said the claim should be properly investigated and the conclusion made public. “It didn’t really take this for me to conclude that Barnaby Joyce needs to stand aside – he’s been caught out ignoring the prime ministerial code of conduct on multiple occasions,” she said.

Labor claims that Joyce breached the code because Campion may have been his partner while employed by him and has targeted Joyce for receiving free rent from Greg Maguire, which he did declare.

When he telegraphed the challenge to Joyce’s leadership, Broad cited the Nationals leader’s behaviour over the past week, when he was meant to be on personal leave, as the last straw for him. He said it demonstrated Joyce didn’t have his mind on the job.