What was One Nation’s new poster boy doing in Horsham on Sunday night?

It is Sunday night in Horsham - population about 20,000 - and a former Deputy Prime Minister is working the room, leaning over tables, making small talk, ever hopeful of convincing the punters to buy what he’s selling.

The venue is Horsham Golf Club, and the former Deputy PM undertaking the grip’n’grin is Barnaby Joyce.  

Retail politics, regional style: Fresh from delivering a 12-minute speech on stage - the opening address for the Across Victoria Alliance conference - Joyce is now doing what he has done so expertly for around two decades: schmoozing, listening, opining, hoovering up votes. 

The crowd, sated by a dinner of burger patties, sausages, butterflied chicken thighs, baked potatoes, salads, mousse and meringue, is keen to circle in Joyce’s orbit, lining up for group photos.

Country conference or misinformation festival: Premier Jacinta Allan labelled the conference a “misinformation convention” and state opposition leader Jess Wilson withdrew from the event due to “scheduling conflicts”, leading Joyce to question whether she was “bullied out” of attending.

Creators of the event say it is purely an opportunity for fatigued frustrated farmers to have their concerns heard.

How we got here: Four years have passed since Joyce - twice - was a heartbeat away from the prime ministership. 

Back then (2016-18 and 2021-22) he was a National, but since then he’s lost government, lost favour with his political colleagues, had a prize-winning dummy spit, quit his party and joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

Hence his appearance in rural Victoria on a Sunday night in front of an audience of about 200 people.

Why here, why now? Joyce is here because three state elections are due in the next 13 months (South Australia in March, Victoria in November and NSW in March 2027), to be followed in about two years by the next federal election, and One Nation is in a purple patch with conservative voters.

• The federal polls show One Nation’s vote has skyrocketed from about 15 percent in December 2025 to about 25 percent in February 2026, and is seeping from the key stronghold of Queensland down through NSW and into Victoria. 

Former ABC election analyst Antony Green told the National Account last week that One Nation’s 25 percent national first-preference vote would likely be concentrated in rural and regional seats.

And if Joyce can help One Nation win lower house seats in Victoria, it will increase the chances of the party eclipsing the Liberal and National Coalition in both votes and seats. 

Did someone say Balance of Power?

The message lands: To attract votes One Nation and Joyce are focusing on immigration, energy and climate. Their language is blunt and simplistic.

Joyce’s speech in Horsham covers the move to One Nation, the Coalition’s “marriage problems”, and the absence of Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and Victorian opposition leader Jess Wilson at the event.

He condemned the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund and expressed his eagerness for more coal-fired power stations in Australia. 

One picture, a thousand words: The audience at the Across Victoria Alliance conference is mostly aged 45 to 75. It is noted during the Joyce dinner and Monday’s events (held in a church) that the crowd is not young. The sea of blue checkered shirts, in all hues, shades and patterns, becomes a running joke.

While no one explicitly declares allegiance, the laughter at jokes aimed at Jacinta Allan and applause for the Coalition (both former and current MPs in attendance) suggest a clear ideological lean to the right.

Tickets are priced at $160-$260, depending on dinner packages.

After the headline act: On Monday morning Victorian Nationals leader Danny O’Brien and Liberal upper house opposition leader Bev McArthur take the stage.

Panel discussions with farmers, researchers, insurance brokers, charity organisations and mayors filled the rest of the program into the afternoon.

The church is modern, and were the speakers not stood in front of a tall wooden cross, you could mistake the venue for a performing arts centre.

The allure of yesteryear: This concept of nostalgia is key to One Nation’s pitch. They promise a return to a simpler time, when coal was king, scientists kept to themselves, men were men, and we all just got along. 

It is, of course, a mirage. A vista viewed through rose-tinted glasses. But it’s an enticing one to many of those in attendance, and here in Horsham on a Sunday night Barnaby Joyce is making sure they know he sees them – and has the answers.