Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has confirmed he will recontest his NSW seat at the next federal election, amid reports some in the Nationals have scouted alternative candidates.
"Of course I am running again, the first people I would tell if I wasn't would be the electorate," Mr Joyce said.
The commitment comes just hours after a backbench Nationals MP called for his former leader to make a “crucial decision” over whether to recontest his seat of New England at the next federal election, which could come as soon as this year.
Queensland MP Ken O'Dowd, who was among the first in the party to question Mr Joyce’s leadership, urged the former Nationals leader to consider his political future.
"Over to you, Barnaby, and best of luck with whatever you decide," Mr O'Dowd told ABC Radio on Tuesday morning.
The party has been forced to respond to Mr Joyce’s explosive TV interview with Channel Seven on the weekend, which also featured his partner and former staffer Vikki Campion and their newborn child.
The couple has accused unnamed “conservatives” in the parliament of pressuring Ms Campion to get an abortion.
Mr Joyce referred to some of his colleagues as “scum of the earth people”.
Veterans affairs minister Darren Chester, also a Nationals MP, called the interview a “soap-opera”.
“I don’t think name-calling achieves anything in public life,” he said.
Ultimately it will be Nationals members in the seat of New England who will decide the pre-selection of the future candidate.
Former Nationals leader John Anderson, once the deputy prime minister under John Howard, confirmed he has been urged by some in the party to consider a political comeback.
Mr Anderson told the Australian he did not consider the approaches “serious proposals” but did not rule out a second run in federal politics.
He urged Mr Joyce to consider stepping down in the interests of his new son Sebastian.
“I would gently encourage Barnaby and Vikki to think very carefully about [Sebastian’s] best interests, to the point of considering whether they are properly served while his father is in public life,” he told the newspaper.
Mr Joyce does have supporters within the Coalition.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott said Mr Joyce had more to contribute to public life.
Nationals MP George Christensen said his colleague “still has a great deal to contribute to the nation”.
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