FED:Barnaby may take on Windsor at election

AAP General News (Australia)
04-18-2011
FED:Barnaby may take on Windsor at election

SYDNEY, April 18 AAP - Colourful Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has been approached by
colleagues to run against key independent Tony Windsor at the next federal election -
an offer he'd be "foolish" not to take, he says.

The Queensland senator has told the Nine Network that he would consider taking on Mr
Windsor in his central NSW seat of Tamworth and moving to the lower house, after being
sounded out by key coalition political figures.

"Of course I would consider it - I'd be foolish not to," the Tamworth-born, Queensland-based,
opposition spokesman for regional development told Nine.

Mr Windsor holds Tamworth by a healthy margin of 21.5 per cent, but with a voter backlash
expected after his 2010 political deal with Prime Minister Julia Gillard to help Labor
form a minority government, the seat may be in reach of the Nationals.

Senator Joyce said his pre-selection for Tamworth wasn't locked in.

"The only decision I can make is whether I'd be open to going there and I said I would be.

"It's like going to Kate and Will's wedding - you wait for the invite, you don't just
decide to turn up."

The Nationals senator denied mounting a personal campaign against Mr Windsor.

"It's not the case of taking on a certain person," he said.

"It's not about a personality issue, it's about trying to deliver the best policies,
the best outcomes and give the best representation."

The plans to parachute Senator Joyce into the lower house seat come after a Neilsen
poll published on Monday showed the coalition had opened a 56 to 44-point lead against
Labor.

Mr Joyce, 44, was first elected as a Nationals candidate to the Senate in 2004.

He is an accountant based in St George in southwest Queensland.

If he won the seat of New England he could be expected to challenge Warren Truss for
the leadership of the Nationals.

AAP ab/klm/nb

KEYWORD: JOYCE

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.