Member for New England Barnaby Joyce has not committed to recontesting the Nationals leadership, despite saying in April it was his intention to hold onto the position if possible.
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Fronting up to media on Sunday morning in Tamworth in north east NSW, following the Coalition's election loss, he was cautious when asked whether he would stay as the Nationals' figurehead, even though the party held onto all 16 of its seats.
"I'm just going to wait and give the party room the privilege and not ventilate it publicly," he said.
"We've got people at this point in time that we don't know whether they've been elected or not, and I'm not going to start campaigning or doing anything like that, I'll let things settle."
Regardless of what role he will have for the next term of government, he will be "going in to bat" for rural Australia. He also said it was his intention to give the Nationals a bigger voice in the Coalition, given it will boast a higher percentage of the party room following the loss of many Liberal seats.
He took no responsibility for the suite of inner-city Liberal seats that fell to 'teal' Independents and The Greens across the country.
"I'm in the Nationals, and we got swings to us. The Liberals fight Liberal battles, and the Nationals fight Nationals battles."
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It's a bittersweet time for Mr Joyce, who won his seat comfortably and is again set to claim more than 50 per cent of the primary vote, but will now sit in shadow cabinet for the first time as an MP.
He acknowledged that would be a challenge for him but said he would continue to fight for local projects, and is urging Labor to pay close attention to the regions.
"I'll be making sure people see the validity of what we're doing here in the New England and that people understand it's right you have safe roads, it's important you grow your water infrastructure, and you have the appropriate communications."
The Tenterfield Bypass, University of New England Tamworth campus and Dungowan Dam are still among his major focuses, he said. Although he admitted to be concerned the latter of those would now never see the light of day.
Mr Joyce stopped short of admitting the increased Labor vote in the electorate - set to be the highest since the 1990s at almost 20 per cent - was an indication more people were keen for a change in the region.
He congratulated the local candidate Laura Hughes on her efforts, but hinted the increased vote was largely down to more publicity and volunteers this time around.