Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has taken an extraordinary swipe at Barnaby Joyce, after the backbencher announced he was eyeing a return to the top job.
Mr Joyce revealed on Monday that he would run for the position again should there be a 'spill,' while arguing that the Nationals were not 'married' to the Liberal Party.
Mr McCormack hit back at the former deputy's comments this afternoon saying he understood what it took 'to have a successful marriage.'
'I understand when you have a marriage that it's a two-way relationship,' he told reporters in Queensland.
'I understand that, I understand what it takes to have a successful marriage.
'You don't always get what you want but you have to work together to build better outcomes for your family.'
Barnaby Joyce
His barbed comments were an apparent swipe at Mr Joyce's failed marriage after his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion (pictured) was revealed in 2017
His comments were ostensibly aimed at managing tensions between the coalition partners over energy policy, but also in reference to Mr Joyce's failed marriage after his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion was exposed in 2017.
Mr Joyce and Ms Campion have remained together since and the two are now expecting their second child.
He was previously married to his wife of 24 years Natalie Abberfield, with whom he has four daughters.
Earlier, Mr Joyce sensationally claimed he remained 'the elected deputy prime minister of Australia' and would feel no guilt in returning to lead the National Party if Mr McCormack was rolled.
'I am not going to call a spill, I am not looking for numbers,' Mr Joyce told ABC Radio National.
'If there was a spill, the position is vacant, I am the elected deputy prime minister of Australia, so I'd have no guilt at all
