Australia news live: Littleproud says Nationals ‘bigger than any individual’ after Joyce quits; arrests over alleged $1m Sydney casino fraud

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Asked whether Joyce should quit the Parliament so that there can be a by-election, Littleproud says it’s a decision for Joyce to make.

In the same line of questioning, asked whether Joyce is a rat from his perspective, Littleproud says “I don’t think commentary from the sideline helps anybody.”

You never take anything for granted in politics. I think the Nationals and our polling shows this. The Nationals are holding up very strong in terms of our votes since the election because we … get policy right. We could have taken the populous path and just said no to net zero, but we had to say why we were saying we were going to and I think we’ve landed an eminently better policy, a cheaper, better way, than Labor’s plan.

He hasn’t joined One Nation. It is disappointing that he has broken a contract with the National party and while he didn’t sit in a National party party room for the last four or five weeks, that is not something that is unusual. We’ve had other members that have done that, but the fact that he has taken a significant step to walk away from the membership, from the people who put him there, that invested their time for no financial gain, but belief in our movement. Our movement is bigger than any individual. It is about the collective and about those members that have put us there. Look, Barnaby hasn’t joined One Nation, but he has made a significant step. My door is always open and phone always on. I animosity towards Barnaby Joyce, never have.

The reality is he has made a decision after the fact, I challenged him after the 2022 election, as did Darren Chester, I kept him on the frontbench it clear after the that there were others that to step up and like Ross Cadell who has fantastic job in helping Matt Canavan land our emissions policy and make sure we have the party. That hasn’t sat well with Barnaby, I accept unfortunately as a leader, as [Joyce] did, you have to make tough decisions about who is the in the team. But we can all still make a contribution when in the team.