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Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with

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Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. Barnaby Joyce has defected from the

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Speaker 1: National Party and will sit in Parliament as an independent.

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Speaker 1: It's a huge move for the longtime NAT who says

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Speaker 1: the party simply doesn't allow him to properly represent his

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Speaker 1: constituents in the New South Wales seat of New England anymore.

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Speaker 1: Joyce says his relationship with the leadership of the Nationals

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Speaker 1: in Canberra has broken down and he's still furious about

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Speaker 1: not being allowed to campaign outside his seat at the

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Speaker 1: last election. Joyce was also furious about being overlooked for

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Speaker 1: senior roles in favor of younger politicians. The peak body

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Speaker 1: of Australia's gas industry has slammed the Albanese government over

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Speaker 1: its Greens backed reforms to the nation's environmental laws, claiming

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Speaker 1: the changes would entrench slow approvals and drive up energy costs.

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Speaker 1: The government's confirmed its struck a deal with the Greens

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Speaker 1: to ram through changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity

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Speaker 1: Act on the final day of parliamentary sittings for the year.

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Speaker 1: That means the government's provided key concessions to the greens

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Speaker 1: on fossil fuel projects, and environmental standards for the forestry industry.

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Speaker 1: Check out those stories live right now at the Australian

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Speaker 1: dot Com dot u and come back to the front

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Speaker 1: first thing in the morning for our close look at

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Speaker 1: Barnaby Joyce, the mercurial character of Australian politics, and what

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Speaker 1: his big move means.