Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce may have been in the nation's beef capital at the same time, but they had no time to jointly chew the fat in front of the travelling press pack.
The prime minister spruiked the strength of the coalition partnership as he addressed the chamber of commerce alongside his deputy in Rockhampton on Wednesday.
Mr Joyce also played down any tensions after members of his Nationals team created headaches for inner-city Liberals by distancing themselves from the coalition's net zero emissions commitment.
"I am leader of the party that exclusively represents regional Australia. We don't have to be in each other's pockets," the Nationals leader told reporters at a livestock exchange in Rockhampton.
"The prime minister will be in Sydney - I don't say: 'I want to be at every announcement we're making in Sydney'."
The deputy prime minister was in the regional city to announce $400 million funding to seal more than 450 kilometres of roads for critical beef transport corridors, as well as $5 million to upgrade the Central Queensland Livestock Exchange.
Entering the yard in the passenger seat of a semi-trailer, Mr Joyce was keen to highlight what the government was doing for the local economy and regional Australians.
But the former Queensland senator who switched to the NSW seat of New England in 2013 was dogged with questions about intra and inter-party unity, with attacks against Labor disunity being one of the most run lines from the deputy pm's playbook.
Mr Joyce maintained the executive arm of government, which includes himself as deputy prime minister and the LNP member for Capricornia Michelle Landry who sits in the outer ministry, all agree with the emissions policy.
Tensions appeared between the two coalition partners after Nationals senator Matt Canavan said the government's net-zero emissions by 2050 target was "dead", leading to a backlash from moderate Liberals facing tough challenges from cashed up, pro-climate independents.
Mr Morrison insisted the Nationals and the Liberals continued to have the "most enduring, honest political partnership in our country's history, and (the) most successful".
"Barnaby and I have a very strong working partnership. We lead two parties - and they are two parties - and we respect each other's parties and we respect each other's leadership," he told the Capricornia Chamber of Commerce.
Ms Landry, who sits in the Nationals partyroom, holds the seat of Capricornia on a more than 12 per cent margin after an 11.5 per cent swing in 2019.
The seat used to be considered marginal but Labor suffered heavily in 2019 after the Bob Brown-led anti-Adani mine convoy received critical backlash from rural Queensland voters.
But Ms Landry told AAP she doesn't consider her position safe and continues to campaign as if it hinges on a 0.5 per cent margin.
"It's a volatile seat. I'm quite prepared that it will drop back a bit - it was the biggest swing in the country last election," she said.
"I continue to work hard for the electorate. I have delivered for the electorate, my office works hard, and we have a lot of support from the government. So I have done everything I can do."
