Barnaby Joyce sent to sell ‘toff’ Turnbull to the regions

SOME Queensland voters think Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is a “bit of a toff” - so the LNP have called in their bush whisperer to win them over.

BUSH whisperer Barnaby Joyce will arrive in Queensland today to shore up regional voters unsure about “toff” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Dispatched by Coalition strategists, the Deputy Prime Minister will pick up the campaign baton in Petrie to hit the hustings with marginal seat holder Luke Howarth.

Mr Joyce admitted yesterday the marathon eight-week campaign would infuriate and bore voters.

Down-to-Earth Barnaby Joyce will visit the regions, where Malcolm Turnbull is regarded by some as “a bit of a toff”.

Loved by many in rural and regional Queensland for calling a spade a shovel, Mr Joyce will meet with business owners before sinking a beer with locals during a politics-in-the-pub function north of Brisbane.

He will then hit the “wombat trail” — the nickname given to the Nationals’ election campaign — where he will meet with two candidates.

It is understood polling shows that while Mr Turnbull is popular in inner-city seats, some in regional areas regard him as “a bit of a toff”. It is believed Mr Joyce, the MP for New England who used to be a Queensland senator, can speak the language of a regional voter.

Mr Joyce told The Courier-Mail he would not shy away from his cut-through vernacular, because “that’s who I am”.

“I always reserve the right to go the vaudeville to get my message across,” he said, adding that people in pubs and in fishing clubs heard him loud and clear when he wanted to speak to them.

“There are times when you have to grab that energy.”

Barnaby Joyce has warned the election campaign will infuriate and bore some voters. Pic: AAP Image/Sam Mooy

Asked yesterday about the gruelling campaign, Mr Joyce said: “It is going to absolutely knock the stuffing out of all of us.

“It is going to infuriate, bore, send people crazy, ultimately.”

But he said Queensland was “a very important state for us”.

“Quite a number of our candidates are in Queensland and the state has one of the greatest capacities to benefit from our economic plan to generate jobs and growth,” he said.

The theatrics of the one-time accountant come a week after he revelled in announcing that the Australian pest fish carp would be killed off by a herpes-like virus.

A spirited speech on the Government’s “Carpageddon” plans to rid the pest drew raucous laughter from colleagues and gained the policy attention in the New York Post and BBC.

Mr Joyce said that was no accident.

“How do you get cut through on a $15 million announcement on the day before Budget when one of your colleagues has already made the announcement?” he said.

“It doesn’t matter what you do, if I want to make an announcement, I will.”

Mr Joyce is expected to make three-day jaunts across the country to sell the Coalition message in the regions, with his own battle against former New England MP Tony Windsor keeping him tied to his NSW seat for much of the campaign.

Mr Joyce snatched the seat in 2013 after Mr Windsor’s surprise retirement but faces a tough fight to keep it.

His deputy Fiona Nash will take his place on the wombat trail, with other high-profile Nationals. Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester was in Herbert yesterday.

Mr Joyce, who declared the wombat was “filled up and ready to go”, said the Government had already laid the foundations of its plan for the country and would soon reveal the rest of the plan.

“Once the house starts being built, people say, ahhhh that’s what you were doing,” he said.

He said voters should be asking: “Are their best days ahead of them or behind them?”

Originally published as Barnaby Joyce sent to sell ‘toff’ Turnbull to the regions