Joyce eyes Maranoa

Barnaby Joyce wants to get into the federal House of Representatives and he has in his sights the seat of Maranoa.
The Liberal National Party Senator for Queensland has said he will try for preselection in Maranoa, which covers his home town of St George. If he is unsuccessful here, he will take the battle to Independent MP Tony Windsor and the seat of New England, where he grew up and attended university.
“My first preference is where I live and that’s Maranoa,” Mr Joyce said.
“Obviously if you can’t get there, then it’s where you grew up and that‘s New England.
“That decision will be made by an electoral council down the track.”
Sitting Federal LNP Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott has held the seat since 1990 and said he would love to continue serving the electorate. When asked directly if he was intending to challenge Bruce Scott, Mr Joyce said he’d never been asked to.
“I will leave that to the wonderful people who have their right at an electorate council to make their vote.”
When asked about Mr Joyce’s tilt for Maranoa, Mr Scott said he was not going to give a running commentary on the issue.
“I’m a team player of a strong Coalition team and I will be spending my time and energy talking about how we can defeat this dreadful Labor government at the next election,” Mr Scott said.
“I’m absolutely committed to getting the best for the electorate and do everything I can for a change in government in Canberra.
“I’m fit and healthy and I enjoy doing the job I was elected for at the last Federal election. The party has a process of endorsement and I respect those processes.”
When visiting the area in February, the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told the Southern Free Times he could not guarantee that Mr Scott would be safe in his seat if Barnaby Joyce was to contest preselection for the next federal election.
“We are a democratic political movement and in the end, it will be up to the Liberal National Party to decide who our candidate is,” Mr Abbott said.
“I have enormous respect for Barnaby Joyce, who is doing an outstanding job as the Leader of the National Party in the Senate. I also have a lot of respect for my friend and colleague Bruce Scott, who I served in the ministry with during the Howard Government and I think we’re very lucky to have two such fine men in our parliamentary party,” he said.
It has been alleged by some media outlets that Mr Joyce’s confirmation of the move was made in an attempt to push Mr Scott, who is 69, to announce his retirement.