{"id":786308,"date":"2026-05-10T10:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T10:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/786308\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T10:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T10:15:18","slug":"nationals-mp-colin-boyce-says-hes-considering-move-to-one-nation-after-wake-up-call-in-farrer-byelection-farrer-byelection-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/786308\/","title":{"rendered":"Nationals MP Colin Boyce says he\u2019s considering move to One Nation after \u2018wake-up call\u2019 in Farrer byelection | Farrer byelection 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Nationals MP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2026\/jan\/29\/colin-boyce-nationals-leadership-challenge-furious-cattle-farmer\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colin Boyce<\/a> is considering shifting to One Nation after the Farrer byelection saw the Coalition\u2019s vote tank to about 20% of the primary vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Speaking to the Guardian in Albury after One Nation recorded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2026\/may\/09\/farrer-byelection-results-one-nation-michelle-milthorpe-coalition\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">its historic victory in the House of Representatives<\/a>, the MP for the central Queensland seat of Flynn said the result was a \u201cwake-up call\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe reality of what has happened last night has to be put into perspective: so approximately 40% primary vote in the Farrer byelection [was] for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/one-nation\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">One Nation<\/a>, so the big question is, what does that look like in central Queensland?\u201d Boyce said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cI would argue if you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/pauline-hanson\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pauline Hanson<\/a>, it\u2019s a lot easier to campaign in Rockhampton than it is in Albury.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">When asked if he was considering shifting to One Nation, he said: \u201cI consider a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a data-link-name=\"standard link button Primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/email-newsletters?CMP=copyembed&amp;CMP=emailbutton\" class=\"dcr-svb9qg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cAt this point in time, I\u2019m a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/national-party\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">National party<\/a> \u2013 that\u2019s Sunday morning, whatever the date is today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But when pushed on whether the result had him reconsidering his political future in the Nationals, Boyce said: \u201cAbsolutely. And I think everybody should be thinking about their political future, particularly the people who are the organisers in the hierarchy. If this isn\u2019t a wake-up call for conservative politics, what is?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cI\u2019m only facing the reality of what I\u2019ve been trying to point out for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Boyce pointed to the result in the state seat of Callide in 2017 when One Nation secured 25.6% of the vote compared to his 33.4%. At the 2020 state election, he was endorsed by Pauline Hanson after making clear his rightwing credentials, and his primary vote rose above 57%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe point is, Central Queensland is quite happy to vote One Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cattle farmer, who was first elected to the federal seat of Flynn in 2022, was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2022\/may\/26\/new-coalition-mp-was-founding-member-of-club-promoting-climate-science-denial\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">founding member of a club<\/a> formed to promote climate science denial, and previously described blackouts as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2025\/apr\/16\/coalition-mp-colin-boyce-told-climate-science-deniers-blackouts-a-big-political-opportunity\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cbig political opportunity\u201d<\/a>. In January, Boyce also announced a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2026\/jan\/29\/colin-boyce-nationals-leadership-challenge-furious-cattle-farmer\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tilt at the Nationals leadership<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Boyce said that he did not attend an election night gathering for Nationals candidate in Farrer, Brad Robertson, but had been at polling booths in the lead-up to the poll.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He was with former Nationals\u2019 leader and now One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce in Albury on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Joyce said he would never encourage Boyce to leave the Nationals, saying \u201cit\u2019s like being divorced \u2013 it\u2019s completely and utterly your choice\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"><strong>\u201c<\/strong>The vast majority of our members were in previous political parties, the vast majority of people who voted for us voted for someone else at the last election, the idea that people corral to one form of view, I don\u2019t know, people should really do a little bit of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2016\/feb\/26\/john-maynard-keynes-legacy-80-years-on-economics\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Maynard Keynes<\/a> thinking,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Farrer byelection saw the Liberal party\u2019s primary vote down more than 30% after the long-term incumbent Sussan Ley resigned after she was rolled as leader to make way for Angus Taylor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Nationals recorded a primary vote just shy of 10%. The seat has been in Coalition hands for the past 76 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Boyce has previously ruled out leaving the Nationals, telling<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2026\/jan\/28\/colin-boyce-nationals-leadership-challenge-littleproud#:~:text=In%20the%20Sky%20News%20interview%2C%20Boyce%20denied%20he%20was%20moving%20to%20One%20Nation%20but%20said%20he%20had%20seen%20a%20surge%20in%20support%20for%20the%20rightwing%20party%20in%20his%20central%20Queensland%20seat.\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Sky News in February<\/a> that he would not be moving to One Nation, despite acknowledging the surging support for the rightwing party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThere is a huge surge up here [for One Nation],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThere\u2019s lots of people say to me, you know, you should join One Nation and so forth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThat\u2019s not happening for me, I am a member of the LNP [Liberal National party]. I am obligated to do the best I can for the LNP and, indeed, the National party in Canberra.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nationals MP Colin Boyce is considering shifting to One Nation after the Farrer byelection saw the Coalition\u2019s vote&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":786309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-786308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116549761728064777","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}