Joyce vows to defy 'guy' ban

Barnaby Joyce has a message to David Morrison: Sorry, but Australians aren't going to stop calling people "guys".

The straight-talking deputy prime minister has vowed to defy call from the Australian of the Year to stop using gender-specific terms.

Words like "mate" are just part of the Aussie lexicon, the Nationals leader argues.

"I'm going to continue using 'fellas', I'm going to continue using 'guys', I'm going to continue using 'ladies'," Mr Joyce told reporters in Rockhampton on Thursday.

"I'm not going to go home to mum and say, 'Hello parent-type person, how are you?'"

Mr Joyce was in the marginal seat of Capricornia, held by Nationals MP Michelle Landry on a 0.8 per cent margin, to pledge funding for an expanded car park at the local hospital.

The announcement was made by the side of a busy road which, as the deputy prime minister learnt, can be a tricky background to sell your message with tooting horns and rowdy drivers.

As Mr Joyce was spruiking the benefits of the upgrade, a man on a lawnmower found himself inadvertently crashing the media event with a roaring motor.

Like a deer in the headlights, he stopped as the deputy prime minister turned around to check where the noise was coming from.

But it also gave him the opportunity to test his Morrison-lexicon-defiance.

"How you goin' mate?" Mr Joyce asked.

The groundsman nodded - and stood there waiting patiently in the background for another 15 minutes when the press conference finished.

Mr Joyce caught up with him later to offer his thanks.