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Speculation is rife former New England MP Tony Windsor is set to re-enter politics. But where?
Mr Windsor has scheduled a press conference in Canberra for 10am Thursday.
While Mr Windsor is keeping his own counsel, Fairfax Media has confirmed he will declare himself a candidate for the regional NSW seat of New England at the next election.
Meanwhile, Nationals' Senator John Williams has suggested Mr Windsor's return might not necessarily be in the expected house.
"I would not be one bit surprised if he didn’t run for the senate,” Senator Williams said.
Tony Windsor to run against Barnaby Joyce?
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is in for a dog fight to retain his seat, with popular former independent Tony Windsor set to declare his intention to re-enter politics.
Mr Windsor, one of the crossbenchers who backed Julia Gillard to govern during the hung Parliament over Tony Abbott, held the seat for 12 years until he retired in 2013.
When he stepped away he gave Mr Joyce a clear run to move from the Senate to the House of Representatives.
Mr Joyce holds the seat with a margin of more than 19 per cent.
In September, Fairfax Media revealed Mr Windsor was contemplating a tilt for his old seat, encouraged by seat-specific polling conducted by the CFMEU that found Mr Joyce would be under extreme pressure if he entered the race.
he polling suggested Mr Windsor would have pulled close to 38 per cent of the primary vote if an election had been called in August last year and favourable preferences could make New England a knife-edge contest.
Mr Windsor could not be contacted on Wednesday morning.
His camp is braced for a big-spending campaign by the Deputy Prime Minister, who counts business titans like Gina Rinehart and Harold Mitchell as friends.
But local issues will determine the race for New England, including the government's approval of the giant Chinese-owned Shenhua Watermark coal mine on the Liverpool Plains inside the electorate.
Mr Joyce broke ranks with his cabinet colleagues in July, saying the "world had gone mad" when his government approved the open-cut mine in the middle of one of Australia's richest agricultural regions.
Mr Windsor said last year: "He's getting away with it in some quarters but he's done nothing to ensure the scientific examination of the water effects other than to invite [Environment Minister] Greg Hunt to have a look at it."
In response, Mr Joyce has already sharpened his lines about Mr Windsor being a hypocrite on the coal mine issue. The independent sold his farm to Whitehaven Coal.
Another potentially damaging issue for Mr Joyce is the loss of a lucrative Defence contract with BAE Systems, the former British Aerospace, which operates a flight training college in Tamworth.
Air Force training is being moved from Tamworth to Sale in Victoria at a cost of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the New England electorate.
Mr Joyce was flying on Wednesday morning. He has previously said the "wonderful thing about democracy" is that anyone can run and he would welcome the challenge posed by Mr Windsor.
