Littleproud says he 'will talk' to Barnaby Joyce after Nationals resignation

Nationals leader David Littleproud has vowed to try and change Barnaby Joyce's mind after the long-time MP announced plans to quit the party yesterday.

Joyce confirmed he will not contest his seat of New England at another election and will leave the Nationals after what he said was an "irreparable breakdown" in the relationship.

Following reports One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was already courting Joyce to join her ranks, Littleproud has watered down talk that Joyce's departure is written in stone.

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"We'll be talking to Barnaby. We want to make sure that his contribution is a valued one within our party room, as everybody is," Littleproud told Today.

"We want him to stay in The National Party.

"I think he has a contribution to make between now and when he retires."

When asked if he might try and persuade Joyce to change his mind, the party leader said he would give it a crack.

But he emphasised Joyce is still a member of the Nationals.

"Well, of course, he was elected a National Party member," he added.

"He, like the other 18 members of the party room, including me, all have a voice. And that voice is important to be in the collective."

Joyce put out a statement yesterday after rumours circulated he was switching parties to join One Nation.

"My relationship with the leadership of the Nationals in Canberra has unfortunately, like a sadness in some marriages, irreparably broken down," he said.

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"The instructions that during the federal election I was not to campaign outside New England as that did not represent the views of the Nationals, then after the election being moved on for 'generational change' and just the atmospherics in the party room, where I am seated in the far corner of the Coalition in the chamber, means I am seen and now turning into a discordant note.

"That is not who I want to be."

The New England MP said his policy rift with the Nationals is largely around net zero.

Joyce has stopped short of saying whether he would defect to Hanson's conservative party.

Hanson, speaking from Joyce's hometown of Tamworth today, tried to encourage him to make the move to her party.

"Barnaby, I'll open the doors for you. Come across to One Nation," she told 9News.

"Barnaby is more aligned with One Nation than what he is with the Nationals Party."

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