Barnaby Joyce announces defection to One Nation

MAVERICK MP Barnaby Joyce will join Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.

After weeks of speculation, the New England MP and former deputy prime minister has confirmed he would move to the far-right party, after previously representing the Nationals.

He will sit in the House of Representatives for the rest of the parliamentary term as a One Nation MP, before leading the party’s Senate ticket for NSW.

“I am firmly of the view which I have considered over a long period of time that the best choice before me is to stand for One Nation as a Senator for NSW,” Mr Joyce said in a statement on social media on Monday.

“I will let the voters be the ultimate arbiter of that decision.”

Mr Joyce announced his defection from the Nationals on the last sitting day of the year in November, citing a breakdown in the relationship with party leadership and being relegated to the backbench after the May election.

At the time, he did not say what his next political move would be.

Speculation increased about the move to One Nation after Mr Joyce was seen dining with Senator Hanson at Parliament House over a wagyu steak cooked on a sandwich press.

Senator Hanson said she was pleased the MP would be joining the party.

“Mr Joyce strengthens One Nation’s position in parliament just as many Australians are strengthening our position in the polls,” she said in a statement.

“I have always been very straightforward about asking Mr Joyce to join our team, and on making it clear this was always his decision.”

Mr Joyce will be the first member of One Nation to sit in the lower house since Senator Hanson herself in the late 1990s.

Recent polling shows the number of people planning to put One Nation first on their ballot paper is at an all-time high, with surveys putting support for the party between 14 and 18 percent.

A recent Resolve poll said 29 percent of voters would be more likely to support the party if it were led by Mr Joyce.

By Andrew BROWN, AAP