- Fevered speculation Barnaby Joyce may resign as Nationals leader on Friday
- Mr Joyce has called a 2pm news conference and there is scant detail why
- Some members of his party are pushing for a leadership spill next week
There is growing speculation Barnaby Joyce will announce his resignation as Nationals leader on Friday afternoon.
The Deputy Prime Minister has announced he will hold a news conference at 2pm today.
Some members of his party are pushing for a leadership spill when the House of Representatives returns next week.
Gone? There is growing speculation Barnaby Joyce will announce his resignation as Deputy Prime Minister at a press conference on Friday afternoon
Victorian backbencher Andrew Broad yesterday said Mr Joyce ‘needs to step down as leader of the National party’.
The speculation comes weeks after Mr Joyce’s affair with his former press secretary, Vikki Campion, was revealed.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull suggested his deputy ‘consider his position’ a week ago but Mr Joyce has forged ahead with a lengthy series of press interviews.
He called on Australians to ‘move on’ from the affair in a Fairfax Media interview with Ms Campion this week.
But the whispers surrounding Mr Joyce’s hold on his position showed no sign of abating since.
He was forced to deny a sexual harassment allegation as ‘spurious and defamatory’ on Thursday.
Asked by Nine News whether he was still going no where on Friday, Mr Joyce said: ‘Let’s do the presser’.
Calls to Mr Joyce’s office went unanswered.