Australian news and politics live: Barnaby Joyce confirms he’s defecting from Nationals Party

Thanks for joining us.

We’ll be back with live coverage of Australian news and politics tomorrow.

You can read tonight’s edition of The Nightly below:

Weary MPs have had their last sitting day for 2025, a year that may have been one of the most important in modern Australian history when the government did not change.

Like their elected representatives, Australians participated in profound debates that helped define the nation, from children’s access to social media to a vicious war in a foreign land.

The struggle over policy, politics and the future produced winners and losers.

Here’s Aaron Patrick’s list of the top ten based on the entirely subjective methodology of personal opinion.

Read more

The Coalition has staged a stunt in Parliament Question Time on the Government’s energy policy.

After Opposition leader Sussan Ley opened the questions to asked about Labor’s promise to reduce power by $275, MPs held up paper posters with slogans mocking it as a lie.

After Milton Dick issued a general warning about behaviour in the House, Anthony Albanese hit back at the Coalition.

The PM joked that the only paper those opposite needed was to “paper over the cracks in the Coalition”.

As Coalition MPs held up their signs, Labor members yelled back “Where’s Barnaby” after he formally announced his deflection minutes earlier.

He slammed the Coalition for being divided on energy policy, after weeks of infighting led them to scrap the 2050 net zero commitment.

Barnaby Joyce says he is “certainly” considering joining One Nation after confirming to Parliament that he will quit the National Party to serve out the term as an independent.

Speaking to reporters after announcing his decision, the former Deputy Prime Minister declared: “I will serve out my term to the best of my abilities and that’s what I’m going to do”.

Mr Joyce says he won’t recontest the New South Wales seat of New England, but is “certainly” considering running for the Senate with One Nation.

Former Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce has confirmed he will leave the party ahead of an expected defection to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

“After 30 years with the National Party, I’m resigning from the party. That really leaves me with a heavy heart,” Mr Joyce told Parliament.

The backbencher did not specify what his next steps would be, but criticised the current National Party leadership for not speaking to him.

Several National Party colleagues were in the chamber to hear the one time Deputy Prime Minister announce his decision, including Michael McCormack and Darren Chester.

The Minerals Council of Australia has criticised the government’s environmental reforms, warning it would create new regulatory hurdles for the mining sector under the deal struck with the Greens.

They argue the legislation fails to properly balance environmental protections with the need to streamline housing, renewable energy and critical minerals projects.

“The government’s deal with the Greens will increase red tape by requiring mining operations to make climate disclosures under the EPBC Act despite this already being a clear legal requirement under the Safeguard Mechanism, which could open new avenues for legal challenge,” the Council’s chief executive Tania Constable said.

“The failure to restrict the Federal EPA to compliance, enforcement and assurance functions only creates more power for unelected officials when the agency should be accountable to the public through elected officials.

“Despite the industry’s disappointment, we are now firmly focused on encouraging the government to rapidly accredit all states for both assessments and approvals which would support a more competitive Australian minerals sector.”

Roger Cook has declared an overhaul of the country’s environmental laws could have been better but “could have been a lot worse” after Anthony Albanese locked in a deal with the Greens.

The WA Premier accused the Coalition of letting industry down by forcing the Albanese Government to negotiate with the minor party instead and blocking further amendments local industry leaders wanted.

“It could have been better from an industry point of view, but it could have been a lot worse, and there’s no doubt that the legacy package has improved as a result of the deep engagement from Western Australian industry,” Mr Cook said.

“There has been a missed opportunity and that missed opportunity was to do an agreement with the Liberal party to make sure this legislation, perhaps, had further reflected the concerns of industry.

Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said there’s a “fundamental problem” with the Coalition in the current parliament.

Speaking in Canberra after his portrait was unveiled in Parliament House on Thursday, he accused current members of chasing the approval of a small section of Australia.

He said it was “really sad” that Coalition members were trying to appease people on the right wing, in the echo chambers of social media and fans of “Sky After Dark” TV programs.

“If I had to diagnose the fundamental problem of what’s going on within the Coalition at the moment… There’s a group of people… who think the object of politics is to win the approval of a relatively narrow part of what you might call the right wing,” he told reporters after the ceremony.

“Sky After Dark. And fellow travelers on social media and radio. So, they’re running on culture war issues, on reality denial. It’s really sad.

“This is always an issue. It was an issue in my time. But it’s just got worse and worse and worse.

“You can see from the electoral results, you can see from the polling, it doesn’t work.”

Read more.

The peak body for Australia’s gas industry has warned the Albanese Government’s deal with the Greens to pass new environment laws was a squandered opportunity to address the significant costs and delays in delivering gas to Australian consumers.

Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch argued that carving gas out of streamlined reforms was not in the national interest.

“The deal will entrench slow approvals which will drive up energy costs, deter investment and further delay the new gas supply Australia urgently needs,” she said.

“This approach ignores the expert advice of the ACCC and the Australian Energy Market Operator to remove barriers to new supply, undermines investor confidence, and risks higher energy costs for households and businesses.

“Australia deserves evidence-based policy made in the national interest — not short-sighted political compromises that stall critical projects and jeopardise the new gas supply essential to our future energy needs.”

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce is expected to use the final full parliamentary sitting day of the year to announce he’s leaving the party, ahead of his defection to One Nation.

Earlier this week The Nightly reported Mr Joyce was ready to quit the party he once led citing frustrations with current leader David Littleproud and policy directions.

Earlier this week the maverick MP dined with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson in her parliamentary office feuling expectations he would soon join her minor party.