Canberra is not to blame for Barnaby’s poor choices

DESPITE what the former Deputy Prime Minister would have us all believe, when it comes to wandering political eyes, it’s not distance that causes the problems, writes Terry Sweetman.

EARLY last century there was an Irving Berlin ragtime song with a chorus that went: “Everybody’s doin’ it; Doin’ it, doin’ it.”

What they were doing was dancing, although you never quite know what’s hidden in the lyrics from those days.

But if you were to hum that refrain in Canberra these days, a disturbing number of people would conclude that what “everbody’s doin” is extramarital sex.

Certainly, the online response to Barnaby Joyce’s travails in February confirmed that many people are prepared to believe the worst of our politicians and their staff when they’re in the national capital.

It was so red hot that, with uncharacteristic charity, I tweeted: “Interesting in the feedback how Barnaby’s moral delinquency is morphing into ‘all pollies are shaggers and drunks’.

“Unless there’s evidence, let’s stay focused and stop further demeaning our political system.’’

But, with the inevitability of gravity, some people couldn’t help feed the public and media appetite for prurience.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash famously went so low as to tell a Senate committee she would “name every young woman in Mr Shorten’s office of which rumours in this place abound’’.

“You want me to start naming them? You want me to starting naming them for Mr Shorten to come out to deny any of the rumours that are circulating in this building now for many, many years,’’ she asked Labor’s Doug Cameron.

Cash later suggested her unhinged threat was only hypothetical and it was in tune with Government attacks on “two-faced” Shorten himself.

Through his own actions former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has pulled the relationships of countless politicians and Canberra employees into question. (Pic: Mick Tsikas)

Noted reporter Malcolm Farr: “It was a vicious and unwarranted threat which, even though not carried out, has already aroused grubby speculation about all women who have worked for Bill Shorten.’’

Cash withdrew the claims with the unconvincing rider: “If I’ve offended anyone.”

Oh, she offended lots of people and she also added to the layers of mistrust over our Parliament and our politicians. And now Joyce, whose relations with one-time staffer Vikki Campion made the morals of Parliament a talking point, has added his mite to that willingness to believe the worst.

In another poor-fella-me interview, Joyce seemed to blame the peculiar hothouse conditions of the Parliament for infidelity and marital breakdowns, presumably including his own.

“Canberra is a weird place,’’ he said, which was about as far he might have gone with general approval.

But, he continued: “It’s like a big old boarding school up on a hill ... and we should be allowing partners as much as possible to be there as well.

“Otherwise you have this dysfunctional dichotomy where you have one life in Canberra, another life at home ... (and) after a decade it just does not work and things fall apart. I don’t want that to happen again.”

If that’s not a cop-out, I don’t know what is.

The majority of politicians remain faithful to their spouses or partners, and it’s an insult to suggest otherwise. (Pic: Kym Smith)

And I don’t know what it means to the hundreds — thousands, maybe — who are forced to live part of their in the political ant nest of Canberra.

I know what it meant to Tony Windsor, former Member for New England and bitter of foe of Joyce, who tweeted: “Barnaby Joyce’s comments suggesting MPs marriages will not last longer than 10 years in Canberra is an insult to the many who have had successful marriages ... just because he wants to establish some form of rentaroot agency for MPs should not cast grey shadows on others.’’

Coarse but correct.

There are plenty of pollies and staffers who have found themselves in the wrong beds over the years, some of them notoriously ministers and prime ministers. But I’m sure the vast majority remain faithful to their spouses or partners (or at least they’re not caught) and it’s an insult to suggest otherwise.

It’s not separation that causes the problems; it’s the temptation in the form of attractive opposites, inflated allowances, alcohol, over confidence and bloated egos.

The same temptations face most people, whether it’s 9 to 5 in the office, away on business trips, or hunkered down for seminars or corporate “bonding” games.

Some yield, some don’t. The fault or the virtue lies with the individual, not the circumstances.

And, for heaven’s sake, there can be few organisations that spend so much money (our money) on easing the pain of separation through grotesquely generous travel provisions and other perks.

Joe or Jill from Energex should be so lucky when out on the road.

Joyce thinks the answer is to reverse the ban on MPs hiring and working with family.

“Politics is a family business,’’ he bravely called. “You should allow family members to work in the business to make sure you can do the very best job for your electorate.”

A family business? Not while we’re paying the bills.

Originally published as Canberra is not to blame for Barnaby’s poor choices