Barnaby Joyce claims One Nation ‘one of the gayest parties in Australia’ as former candidate’s comments surface

The spectacle of Barnaby Joyce calling One Nation "one of the gayest parties in Australia" is the kind of rhetorical contortion that would make a politician's spin doctor wince. On one level, it's classic Joyce — a deflection dressed as a joke, designed to change the subject from an uncomfortable truth about his new party's grassroots. But on another level, it reveals a genuine political dilemma: how does a party built on socially conservative values, with a candidate base that occasionally produces views like "same-sex attraction is a mental illness," reconcile itself with the shifting sands of public opinion on LGBTQ+ issues? The comments from the failed WA candidate are "highly offensive," as Joyce rightly noted. But the deeper question isn't whether Joyce condemns them — he does, and he should — but whether such views are outliers or symptoms. One Nation has historically drawn support from a demographic that holds traditional views on marriage and family. The party's leadership has been careful, at the federal level, to avoid overt homophobia in its official messaging, but the candidate pool is a different matter. When a party's own candidates express views that the MP defending them calls "highly offensive," it raises questions about vetting, culture, and the authenticity of the party's inclusive rhetoric. Joyce's own trajectory is worth noting here. Having left the Nationals — a party that, for all its conservatism, has largely accepted same-sex marriage since the 2017 postal survey — he now finds himself in a political home where the floor is more unpredictable. His defense of One Nation as "one of the gayest parties" is, in part, an attempt to establish bonafides both within his new party and with the broader electorate. It's a risky gambit: to the conservative base, it sounds like capitulation; to LGBTQ+ advocates, it sounds like a punchline. Source: [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/12/barnaby-joyce-one-nation-paraminder-singh-homophobic-comments-ntwnfb) At its core, this story is about the gap between a party's brand and its base. One Nation wants to be seen as a mainstream populist force, not a fringe outfit. But every time a candidate's offensive comments surface, the brand takes a hit. Joyce's response — a joke, a deflection, a denial — is the standard playbook. Whether it works depends on whether voters see the humor or the evasion. Poli Split readers will have to decide for themselves whether Joyce's "gayest party" claim is a genuine sign of change, or just another layer of political spin.