Opinion: Barnaby Joyce’s call to reverse family hiring rule is a bit rich

BARNABY Joyce and Vicki Campion’s new baby is just a week old but already it seems the former deputy prime minister is flailing about in a blind fog of severe sleep deprivation, writes Paul Syvret.

• Barnaby: Family jobs ban ‘insane’

BARNABY Joyce and Vicki Campion’s new baby is just a week old but already it seems the former deputy prime minister is flailing about in a blind fog of severe sleep deprivation.

How else do you explain his politically tin-eared call for allowing MPs’ to hire family members to work in their offices?

Politics, he said, was a “family business”, and banning family members from suckling at the same taxpayer teat as elected MPs was “insane”.

“They will make a better contribution to that office than most other people.”

This, of course, from the man whose now partner and mother of his newborn son was his former media adviser — but apparently not “partner” in the strictest legal sense of the word. This was the woman who, as Joyce’s marriage was not surprisingly going the way of the Chernobyl disaster, was shuffled off to two other high paying ministerial jobs as the rumours swirled.

Now the man commonly referred to as the “Beetrooter” is suggesting that we hark back to ancient Rome and enshrine nepotism in our Government.

“You have one life in Canberra and one life at home … things fall apart, and we should be making changes to make sure families stick together as much as possible.”

Barnaby Joyce said the ban on MPs employing family members was ‘insane’. Picture Kym Smith

Here’s a tip Barnaby, if you keep your trousers zipped up, and your hands to yourself, you might find that things on the home front are less likely to “fall apart”.

No-one forced you into a political career. That was, like everybody else in the Parliament, your choice, and one you have reaffirmed numerous times over the past 13 years by standing for re-election.

If the demands of Canberra were placing too much of a strain on your marriage, you had the option of bowing out and putting family first.

And that does not mean getting the taxpayer to foot the bill for members of the Joyce clan to join you at the public trough.

If you want to work alongside your wife or other family members then maybe start your own business and employ who you damn well like.

And what of the obvious conflicts of interest that can arise?

How do you handle the resentment that may swell in the workplace over a family member being promoted ahead of someone else?

How do you handle dispute resolution in your office between, say, your partner and another employee?

Just how far does the favouritism extend?

Barnaby, it’s time for a cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie down. Preferably in your own bed.