Barnaby Joyce is one of a family of eight from a cattle and sheep property near Woolbrook in the southern New England.
In 2004, he was elected to head The Nationals Senate team in Queensland. In 2009, he was elected as The Nationals Leader in The Senate and became Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Water. Mr Joyce drew national headlines in 2013 when he announced his intention to resign from The Senate and return to the region of his birth to contest the Federal Seat of New England as The Nationals candidate. In September 2013, he was appointed Federal Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Leader of The Nationals with Water Resources being added to his portfolio on 21 September 2015. In February 2016, he was elected unopposed as Leader of The Nationals and was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister. He served as the leader of the National Party from February 2016 to February 2018, and was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia from February 2016 to October 2017 and from December 2017 to February 2018. In February 2018, he resigned his ministerial and leadership roles after acknowledging that he was in a relationship and expecting a child with a former staffer.
Mr Joyce was re-elected as Leader of The Nationals in June 2021 and took on the infrastructure, transport and regional development portfolios. He was deputy prime minister following a leadership spill until May 2022 when the Liberal Party was defeated at the federal election. Mr Joyce then lost the leadership of The Nationals at a party room meeting a week later. In June 2022, he became the Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the Dutton shadow ministry.
Mr Joyce is a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary, a former serving member of the Australian Defence Force Reserves, and a long term member of St Vincent De Paul.
