Ian Macfarlane Blocked From Defecting To The Nationals

Liberal National Party power brokers have decided the party won’t support Ian Macfarlane’s defection to the Nationals.

Despite winning strong support from party members in his Toowoomba-based seat of Groom on Sunday, the wishes of rank-and-file members were ultimately superseded by the need to maintain the “stability” of the federal coalition, LNP President Gary Spence said.

Mr Macfarlane emerged meeting with the LNP executive in Brisbane to explain he had met with LNP President Gary Spence and accepted today’s decision.

“Mr Macfarlane made it clear he wanted to come across to the National Party”.

“Obviously I believe the people of Groom made a very strong decision the other day about their wishes”.

“Obviously I felt I had more to offer regional Queensland and regional Australia, that has not been the view of the LNP and I accept that”, he told reporters. “I’ll be now taking some time over Christmas and having the holiday that I planned and I’ll be making an announcement in the New Year”.

He dismissed the suggestion he had miscalculated the party room jump.

He said the LNP executive were concerned about doing the right thing by the rank and file members of Groom but also had to consider the party’s best interests over all 30 seats.

Deputy Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce was disappointed with the decision by the LNP executive.

But Macfarlane’s efforts to reclaim his lost place in the ministry prompted Liberals to accuse Macfarlane of trying to “game the system” by engineering his return to the frontbench as a National, just two and a half months after he was demoted to the backbench.

Sky News understands the LNP State Executive rejected Macfarlane’s defection to the Nationals, 14 votes to 12.

“I felt that this was the only way I’d be able to continue to be an effective voice in my electorate”, he said.

Mr Macfarlane was dumped from cabinet when Mr Turnbull deposed Tony Abbott as prime minister in September.

Queensland MPs are automatically members of Liberal-National Party, but in Canberra are expected to align with either the Liberal or National parties.

In a brief press conference after the meeting, Spence told reporters the LNP state executive “anguished over the decision”.

Reports say Mr Macfarlane is now expected to retire from Parliament at or before the 2016 federal election.

Speaking to media after today’s lengthy meeting, Mr Spence declined to say what the final numbers were in the vote on Mr Macfarlane’s proposed defection to the Nationals but conceded it was “very close”. “We never touted for business”, he said.