A leadership spill, political overthrow and a Coalition rift: The political week that was, in pictures

It’s been a tumultuous week in national politics.

It began with a new Deputy PM 

A leadership spill within the Nationals resulted in the second coming of controversial leader Barnaby Joyce.

Yes, the same man who wants to build a coal-fired power station in Central Queensland despite the Coalition’s aim for a net-zero emissions target by 2050.

Dumped Nationals leader Michael McCormack, who remained the nation’s deputy prime minister until Joyce was sworn in on Tuesday, had the unenviable task of having to sit in the Prime Minister’s chair come Question Time despite having been sacked by his own party.

Not everyone was happy with the move

Victorian Nationals MP Anne Webster issued a warning before the spill, saying many in the party would be wary of Joyce’s return to the nation’s second-highest political office.

As the news broke, regional women spoke out, dubbing the new leadership “a backwards” step by the National Party.

All overseen by a PM stuck in quarantine 

After visiting the UK for the G7 summit, with a bit of a “personal” trip on the side.

Tuesday was an early start

Cue song: Pompeii (“But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like you’ve been here before?”) by Bastille.

Joyce was sworn in by the Governor-General, for the second time in his parliamentary career.

Then UNESCO threw a curve ball on its Great Barrier Reef listing

And the government got its hackles up.

Wednesday, the Nats made a play on water

A bold move by the National Party to split from its Coalition partner and try to rewrite the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was ultimately defeated in the Senate and later the House.

Then hit the mid-week hump

When the week’s feather-ruffling became evident.

Chaos aside, for some it was play on

Just another week on the Hill for the Nationals.

And it’s happy families once again