Ian Macfarlane has warned that any decision to leave politics could be “accelerated” by bad blood in the Liberal party after his failed defection to the Nationals.
Macfarlane’s attempt to join the National party was narrowly blocked by the Liberal National party (LNP) state executive in Queensland on Monday.
The former industry minister, who lost his seat on the frontbench when Malcolm Turnbull rolled Tony Abbott for the leadership in September, said he would use the summer break to contemplate his future.
“I booked with my family to have our usual Christmas break down the Sunshine Coast,” Macfarlane told ABC Southern Queensland. “I’ll get some time to think about it all and I’ll come back, gauge how things are going in Canberra, and obviously the plan at the moment [is] to return to the February sittings and see what happens from that.”
But he issued a caveat.
“I can’t sit with the Nationals, but I guess if the Liberals make me feel unwelcome, well, that may accelerate the decision,” he said. “Politics is a rough and tough game and I would be the last one to bemoan that. You’ve got to give it everything you’ve got and you’ve got to give it a red-hot go.
“I wasn’t going to walk away without trying and I don’t ever want to die wondering,” he said. “I may make a decision but I won’t announce it. It’s a decision I want to make in the cool of the evening.”
The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, wants Macfarlane to stay on.
“I would love it if Ian happily re-embraces his Liberal party family in the new year but whatever his decision, I of course wish him all the very best,” he told ABC TV.
Macfarlane’s defection would have given the Nationals greater leverage for a fourth cabinet seat.
The deputy leader of the Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, who is widely tipped to take the reins as Nationals leader when Warren Truss retires, is still hopeful the party will win extra representation in the cabinet, despite Macfarlane’s failed defection.
“As John Howard said, politics is brutally governed by the rules of arithmetic,” Joyce told ABC Radio on Tuesday. “John Howard followed that up with the rejoinder that if at a time in the future the National party gained a number, then things would go in the National party’s favour.”
Joyce said he was blindsided by the LNP state executive’s decision to block Macfarlane, and noted that his local branch in the electorate of Groom voted overwhelmingly to allow the move.
“We never thought that would be where the problem arises, because one would think that Queensland getting better representation, that those who voted against this would have beared [sic] this in mind, and said, ‘why are we voting against Queensland getting better representation?’” he said.
Joyce denied prompting Macfarlane to defect, saying Macfarlane approached the Nationals, and not the other way around.
“This wasn’t brought about by us; we didn’t tote for the business,” the agriculture minister said. “He of his own volition came across.”
The LNP’s decision has saved Turnbull from embarrassment soon after his successful leadership challenge.
“The whole reason for these astonishing events is that Mr Turnbull promoted Mal Brough but demoted Ian Macfarlane,” the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said on Monday.
“His poor judgment caused this split and this crisis in the coalition. The government under Malcolm Turnbull is ending the year the same way it started under Tony Abbott – bickering amongst themselves.”
Macfarlane insisted he and Turnbull would remain “mates”, citing the prime minister’s call for the duo to have a long talk about the events of the past few weeks.
“I am loyal to people,” Macfarlane said.
