Nationals tip short honeymoon if Barnaby joins Hanson

Following weeks of speculation, the New England MP on Thursday announced his resignation from the rural party to sit as an independent.

He confirmed he was "strongly considering" making a return to the Senate and teaming up with Pauline Hanson in One Nation amid a breakdown in his relationship with current Nationals leader David Littleproud.

Mr Joyce could eventually replace Senator Hanson in the upper house, Redbridge Group director and former Victorian Labor strategist Kos Samaras said.

He said it was unlikely Mr Joyce's resignation would have any significant long-term impact on his former party.

But the pollster said the coalition was facing an "existential challenge" among voters which required difficult and complex solutions.

"If One Nation starts to permanently drag support from the Liberal Party, but also the National Party, we could see a situation where it starts to be competitive in the lower house, in regional areas," he told AAP.

Given Senator Hanson's poor retention rate of elected representatives, questions are being raised about the potential political marriage's longevity before it has even begun.

Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack, who Mr Joyce unsuccessfully challenged in 2020 before eventually bringing down a year later, had some doubts.

"That'll be an interesting sort of clash of heads between two very much out there people in Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce. Is there enough room in One Nation for those two?" he told reporters.

"That remains to be seen."

Earlier this week, Senator Hanson wooed Mr Joyce in her parliamentary office over a dinner of steak - seared on a sandwich press - pasta, salad and berry pie.

While the pair appeared to be hitting it off, Senator Hanson has more often than not fallen out with other One Nation representatives.

In the federal parliament, Malcolm Roberts remains the only long-term One Nation senator not to have defected from the party Senator Hanson started and that up until recently bore her name.

Former Liberal adviser David Gazard, now director of DPG Advisory Solutions, said Mr Joyce joining One Nation would be "the greatest train wreck of all time".

"They are two figures that both want to lead and they won't back down," he told ABC News.

"Barnaby is about Barnaby and Pauline is about Pauline."

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie told ABC News she hoped Mr Joyce did not join One Nation, saying it was a party of protest and he would be unable to deliver political change there.

Australian Associated Press