Barnaby Joyce’s task in the New England byelection has got considerably easier, with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers both ruling out a run on Monday.
The former independent MP Tony Windsor ruled out contesting the seat after the high court found on Friday that Joyce was ineligible due to holding New Zealand citizenship by descent.
Joyce is likely to face challengers from Labor and the Greens but the decision by One Nation and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers leaves him without an opponent with the institutional support of a right-of-centre party in the New South Wales regional seat.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Hanson blamed Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s decision on Sunday to call a “snap election” for 25 November, accusing her of “a backflip”.
One Nation, New England by-election announcement. -PH #auspol pic.twitter.com/Wd6ODLTSUU
— Pauline Hanson (@PaulineHansonOz) October 30, 2017
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers NSW upper house member Robert Brown blamed Joyce and Malcolm Turnbull, who he said had “stood in parliament, hand on heart, saying Mr Joyce was not ineligible on the basis of his citizenship”.
“As such we have not made preparations to field a candidate in the New England byelection,” he said.
Brown said that the National party was “arrogant” and “lazy as the lapdog of the Liberal party”, citing his party’s strong showing in the NSW byelections in Cootamundra and Murray.
The ABC has reported that so far only the independent Rob Taber and the former West Australian Liberal MP Ian Britza have declared their intention to nominate.
Joyce spent Monday campaigning in New England, including issuing a pointed reminder that the Coalition won the 2016 election due to the National party’s performance and attacked Liberals for backgrounding against the junior Coalition party.
Joyce has used Labor advice that his and Fiona Nash’s decisions may be vulnerable to legal challenge to claim that the opposition would reverse a series of decisions that have benefited the region, including the relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Armidale.
