Barnaby Joyce and allies in battle to stop retirement of George Christensen
Barnaby Joyce’s allies are making a last ditch effort to convince maverick Liberal National party MP George Christensen to rethink his retirement decision in an attempt to bolster the National leader’s numbers in the party room.
In April, Christensen announced his decision to not contest the coming election. He later sought to be disendorsed by the LNP in order to access the $105,600 “resettlement allowance” – a move which was ultimately rejected by the party executive.
Christensen has advised both the party and his Federal Divisional Council (FDC) of his decision and just three weeks ago, he reiterated his plans to retire from federal politics. The LNP candidate nominations for the seat close on Tuesday 13 July.
Christensen gave the same statement when contacted by Guardian Australia on Tuesday. “There have been many calls for me to continue on in politics,” he said.
“Certainly many of my colleagues in the Coalition and the LNP, and many within my electorate and further afield, have asked me to stay on.
“While I’m humbled by the support, the situation has not changed and I will not be contesting the next election.”
That hasn’t stopped Joyce’s party room lieutenant, Queensland senator Matt Canavan, from throwing his public support behind a petition to convince Christensen to stay hosted on the altright website “the good sauce”.
The petition, which Canavan had promoted on his social media channels, urges Christensen to reconsider his decision:
The petition had 1,173 signatures on Tuesday afternoon.
Retirements and preselection challenges have resulted in Joyce losing at least three votes in the tight 21-strong party room. Christensen’s retirement is one, along with Flynn MP Ken O’Dowd, who will retire at the next poll, and NT senator Sam McMahon, who lost a preselection battle to retain her Senate ticket spot.
LNP state MP Colin Boyce won preselection in O’Dowd’s central Queensland seat of Flynn and is not considered an automatic vote replacement for Joyce. Joyce left regional NSW and headed to the resources seat for the vote, which his colleagues viewed as an early attempt to woo Boyce, if needed.
The “keep Christensen” campaign was kicked off by Joyce himself, who, in one of his first question time performances since returning to the leadership, took a question from Christensen and prefaced his answer by saying he was doing everything he could to keep Christensen in parliament.
“He has been a great champion for farmers, especially the cane farmers. I’m doing everything I can to make sure that the member for Dawson remains the member for Dawson after the next election because of the advocacy that he has done,” Joyce said on 24 June.
Joyce, Canavan and the Queensland LNP were all contacted for comment.
Preselections are being finalised around the country, with the LNP hoping to have its candidates roster completed in the coming months and an election due anytime before May next year.