‘Don’t write me off’: Hanson scoffs at suggestion Joyce about to lead One Nation

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has declared she is not going anywhere and rubbished suggestions Barnaby Joyce is about to take over from her as the boss of the conservative minor party.

In interview on Sky News on Wednesday evening, the 71-year-old acknowledged she will quit politics one day, declaring: “I’m not that stupid, I haven’t got an ego that big!”

“My attitude is if someone can do a better job than I can, fair enough, but don’t write me off at the moment,” she said.

This masthead revealed on Friday that Joyce was in talks with One Nation about joining the party, prompting speculation that he could succeed Hanson at its helm after running for a NSW Senate seat. The former Nationals leader confirmed he would not stand again for his northern NSW seat of New England at the next election but has been coy on his future plans.

Host Chris Kenny then put it to Hanson that Joyce was a significant enough national figure to carry the leadership load when she retired one day, prompting the One Nation leader to say “Well, it’s all open, isn’t it?” and she left the door open to the 58-year-old Joyce, or someone else, taking over from her one day.

“Whoever proves themselves, I mean, can make a good leader for the party and make sure that we’re getting our policies and what we want to do for the Australian people and represent them and make the other political parties accountable ... that’s all down the track.”

Hanson confirmed she had held discussions about the two-time Nationals leader jumping ship and teaming up with her in the party she co-founded, One Nation.

“I spoke to him last Sunday...it was, we had a phone hook up. After all this hit the media and, you know, saying that he’s going to come across and be leader of the party. It’s not going to happen, Chris, he’s not going to be leader the party,” she said.

Before their most recent conversation, she added, the pair had last spoken six weeks early when parliament was last in session.

“I’ve made the offer to Barnaby. I know he’s disgruntled with the National party. I know he’s passionate about getting rid of net zero,” she said.

“He has to make that choice himself, to finally make the decision, is he going to come across to One Nation?”

Joyce declined to comment. He has not yet formally quit the Nationals nor joined One Nation, with all options still on the table.

“Once I’m out of the Nationals, I’m a free agent. I can do whatever I wish then,” Joyce told Nine-owned radio station 2GB on Monday.

Hanson recently visited Tamworth, a Nationals’ stronghold in Joyce’s seat, to open a new One Nation branch in the regional city and she has said that he would be welcomed into the party fold with “open arms”.

Joyce has long been at odds with Nationals leader David Littleproud, who replaced him after the 2022 federal election loss and then dumped him from the frontbench after the 2025 election loss, and has been agitating for the Liberal and National parties to dump their support for Australia to have net zero emissions by 2050.

A review is currently underway into Coalition policies, including support for net zero, but Joyce has already introduced a private member’s bill called the “Repeal Net Zero Bill” that would scrap a range of climate change-related laws.

Joyce said in a letter to branch members last Saturday that he would not stand for his seat of New England at the next election, due by mid-2028, and that he was now free to consider his options, which include the option of standing for One Nation, potentially for a NSW Senate seat.

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