Barnaby Joyce fires up in Question Time as he fights for his political future
EMBATTLED Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has unleashed during Question Time, launching an extraordinary attack on Labor leader Bill Shorten as the pressure on him to resign continues to build.
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EMBATTLED Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has launched a fiery attack on Labor in Question Time amid growing calls for him to resign.
In a shouted response to a Labor question - that drew shouts of disbelief from Opposition ranks given the calls for Mr Joyce to resign as Nationals leader over the scandal surrounding his affair with a former staffer - he said Labor leader Bill Shorten was “holding on to his job by the skin of his teeth”.
The Nationals leader let loose in Parliament today after the third day of Labor questions relating to his position and his partner Vikki Campion’s appointment to two highly-paid roles in other Nationals MPs offices last year.
Mr Joyce’s crack referenced speculation Mr Shorten was facing his own leadership challenge from Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese.
In a shouted response to a Labor question about a house in Armidale, Mr Joyce said:
“I am aware of the fact that the member for Maribyrnong, the Leader of the Opposition, is holding onto his job by the skin of his teeth.”
He threw in references to Labor’s ties with Eddie Obeid, its failure to deliver budget surpluses, and ties with the Australian Greens.
Mr Joyce was also grilled over his previous remarks urging young homebuyers to move to regional cities if they couldn’t afford to live in capitals.
It came after a question about a declaration on his interest register that referred to living rent-free for six months at a townhouse in Armidale owned by his friend, multi-millionaire Greg Maguire, after the New England by-election and the breakdown of his marriage.
Mr Joyce said he had declared the tenancy, even though there was no need for him to do so as it was a gift from a friend.
He defended his comments on decentralisation.
Prior to Question Time, Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie admitted Barnaby Joyce’s affair has had a “mixed” reaction from voters as new claims emerged about the Deputy Prime Minister’s military record.
Ms McKenzie broke her week-long silence today to back Mr Joyce as party leader as tensions mounted between the National and Liberal parties today over his refusal to step aside.
She told Sky News she felt some “unease” as a woman over the situation, and admitted some voted felt an “uncomfortableness”, but declared Mr Joyce was the best person to lead the party and deliver results for Australians.
Ms McKenzie described his behaviour as “very human” but said she did not wish to comment further out of respect to his wife and daughters.
She blasted Nationals MPs who were “talking a big game” to media today about a push within the party to remove Mr Joyce as leader, saying talk of a “delegation” urging him to step down was misleading.
“Barnaby Joyce has the full support of the party,” she said.
Asked in a media scrum at Parliament House after the interview if Mr Joyce’s actions passed the “pub test”, Ms McKenzie said she thought: “A lot of people in pubs would actually understand that issue.”
She also said every comment to her office today had been in support of Mr Joyce.
Ms McKenzie said Mr Joyce’s former staffer and now partner Vikki Campion “absolutely” deserved to be appointed to roles in fellow Nationals offices last year.
Meanwhile, the ABC reports today Mr Joyce’s office has acknowledged overnight there is a discrepancy between his official biography and his Australian Defence Force record.
Mr Joyce’s reportedly advised the Parliament initially that he was in the Army Reserve from 1995 to 2003. The dates reportedly appeared on the Parliament House website for 12 years.
His defence force record shows he served four years and 10 months from 1996 to 2001.
After questions from the ABC last night, Mr Joyce’s office reportedly requested his official biography to be changed to reflect that he served from 1996 to 2001.
PARTY TENSIONS
A war has broken out between Nationals and Liberal MPs over the Barnaby Joyce affair scandal as the Deputy Prime Minister refuses to step aside.
Senior Liberals have declared the issue needs to be resolved as “swiftly as possible”.
The news comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed again today that Mr Joyce will be acting Prime Minister when he travels overseas next week.
In response to a query from Opposition leader Bill Shorten in Question Time today, Mr Turnbull also again confirmed that he retains confidence in his Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Shorten also asked in Question Time if Mr Turnbull had “suggested to the Deputy Prime Minister that it’s time to resign?”
The Prime Minister’s response was so brief it was inaudible in the chamber. Mr Joyce responded to questions from Labor in Question Time on his portfolio of infrastructure.
Labor stepped up its Question Time attack on Mr Joyce today. Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus asked the Deputy Prime Minister directly if he would resign if Nationals MPs were holding “crisis talks” and considered his position “untenable”.
Speaker Tony Smith ruled the question out of order.
Earlier, Maverick Queensland MP George Christensen slammed Liberal MPs for calling Nationals members, urging them to dump Mr Joyce as leader, as the scandal over his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion continues to damage the government.
Mr Christensen confirmed to The Australian this morning that “individual” members of the Nationals had approached Mr Joyce about his future with the party.
But Mr Christensen told the publication the agitators did not have the numbers to force Mr Joyce out.
Aussies HATE pollies talking about themselves. Yet some MPs are talking about ousting Nats leader after week of bad news, doing more damage to Nats & govt than anything else. More Libs in on it than Nats. Barnaby stuffed up. He apologised. Move on. There's real issues to discuss.
— George Christensen (@GChristensenMP) February 13, 2018
A petition to demand removal of him from his New England seat has received almost 7000 votes in five days.
Genevieve Cheatham’s petition calling for Mr Joyce to resign or Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to push for his resignation had received 6900 signatures on change.org as of this morning.
“Barnaby Joyce must resign. We do not want him to represent us as Deputy Prime Minister of Australia,” Ms Cheatham posted.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop confirmed she is prepared to act as Prime Minister next week, when Malcolm Turnbull heads to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump, if Mr Joyce takes personal leave.
“More harm is being done politically by people in the Nationals and inappropriately in the Liberal Party who are trying to execute Barnaby,” Mr Christensen told The Australian.
“I cannot believe that people are fathoming, one week into a problem, they are talking about going and politically executing the greatest asset that the National Party has, and I have got to say that the Turnbull government has,” he said.
Mr Christensen said there were only about four or five MPs pushing for Mr Joyce to step down.
Senior Liberal frontbencher Mathias Cormann told reporters in Canberra today the issue needed to be resolved as “swiftly as possible”.
MORE: Malcolm Turnbull rejects calls for MP sex ban
“Obviously this past week has been an obstruction, that is no secret,” the Finance Minister said.
“The Australian people don’t want us to be talking about our own personal affair, they want us to be talking about how we plan to secure more jobs, higher wages and better opportunities for them to get ahead.
“So it is important that we find a way to move on from this as swiftly as possible.”
Liberal MP Alex Hawke, the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, echoed his sentiments.
“The issues that are within the Nationals are best to be resolved by the Nationals as quickly as possible,” Mr Hawke told Sky News.
Sky News reports several Nationals MPs approached Mr Joyce last night urging him to reconsider his future as National Party leader.
They were reportedly told he needed time to consider.
Sources have also told The Courier Mail that Mr Joyce has indicated to those closest to him he is considering taking personal leave next week to avoid being Acting Prime Minister while Mr Turnbull travels to the US.
Ms Bishop confirmed this morning she would change her plans to be in the United Kingdom next week if she was required to step in as Acting Prime Minister.
Speaking from Kuwait, where she is attending a meeting on efforts to defeat ISIS, Ms Bishop told ABC she had received no requests from the Prime Minister to remain in Australia at this stage.
Ms Bishop is next in line to step into the role as deputy Liberal leader.
“I am returning to Australia from Kuwait but I do have plans to be overseas next week as Parliament is not sitting,” Ms Bishop said.
“If circumstances change, then of course I would change plans but that’s not my understanding and indeed the usual procedures apply.”
Ms Bishop said she retained confidence in Mr Joyce.
“I’m not aware of any actual evidence that Barnaby Joyce has misused taxpayer funds, I’m not aware of any plans for him not to be available next week,” she said.
Two senior Nationals, Michelle Landry and David Littleproud, have not rejected reports this morning that Mr Joyce may take leave next week.
“Well, we need to see what happens,” Ms Landry told reporters at Parliament House.
“Let him have personal time to sort this out. It is stressful. Marriage breakups are a very stressful thing to go through.”
Both Ms Landry and Mr Littleproud backed Mr Joyce to remain as leader, while playing down reports a delegation from the National Party will confront him about his future as leader.
“He’s there to stay,” Ms Landry said.
“Obviously there’s been a lot of conversations going on but I believe he has the support of the party room.”
In a staunch defence of his leader, Mr Littleproud, who was appointed Agriculture and Water Resouces Minister in December by Mr Joyce, told ABC radio: “Let me say if people believe that Barnaby Joyce has broken the law, well they charge us. Otherwise, leave him and his family alone.”
“If there’s any wrongdoing, they should put up or shut up and let him and his family enjoy the privacy that every other Australian enjoys.”
The Daily Telegraph reports Ms Landry attended a dinner held at Canberra’s Thai Chiang Rai restaurant on Monday night along with Nationals Darren Chester, David Gillespie, Andrew Gee, Damian Drum and Kevin Hogan where the group discussed the situation in their party.
Nationals backbencher Ken O’Dowd confirmed today there was discussion about confronting Mr Joyce about his leadership within the next two days.
“I heard there is going to be someone who goes across to see him,” he said this morning. “He’ll probably need the advice and someone needs to tell him where the party stands at this stage.
Mr O’Dowd rejected suggestions the party did not have any strong candidates waiting in the wings to take over as leader.
“We’ve got 20 people in the National Party room, a lot of capable guys there,” he said.
“If it comes to the point, we would find a good leader.”
Meanwhile, former Nationals leaders Mark Vaile and Warren Truss believe the scandal is threatening the Turnbull government and want their party to resolve the crisis.
Mr Vaile, deputy prime minister under John Howard, told Fairfax Media that the fallout from Mr Joyce’s affair with Ms Campion was “now getting to the point where it is affecting the government”.
Mr Vaile said his party had a responsibility “to the national interest first, the government second and the party’s interests third”.
When asked if he thought Mr Joyce could survive, he replied: “I don’t know”.
“The gift of the leadership is something those members of the Nationals vote on — it’s their gift to give it and take it away,” he said. “They must resolve this.”
Former Nationals leader Warren Truss said the matter needed to be resolved “constructively and quickly”.
Mr Truss told the ABC on Tuesday night that a decision about whether Mr Joyce continued to lead the Nationals was a matter for his parliamentary colleagues, but that his ability to lead had been “diminished”.
The Australian reported that Nationals MPs, including Andrew Broad, Keith Pitt, Luke Hartsuyker and leadership contenders Michael McCormack and Darren Chester held crisis meetings in parliament yesterday as The Australian was told that Mr Joyce had lost the numbers to ring-fence his leadership.
Mr Broad, Mr Pitt and Mr Hartsuyker were considering approaching Mr Joyce and asking him to resign.
National Michael McCormack denied he had had any meetings about replacing Mr Joyce, while Mr Chester said the controversy was “a distraction and a problem for us”.
It’s understood party officials were warned Mr Joyce’s affair with Ms Campion could be an issue in the New England by-election before the High Court even ruled him ineligible over citizenship issues on October 27 last year.
The Australian reports a NSW Nationals executive meeting discussed whether there was a relationship and if it would affect Mr Joyce’s candidacy in the by-election.
Meanwhile, Labor is understood to have run polling on focus groups on whether to raise the issue of Mr Joyce’s private life. The Australian reports voters emphatically rejected the move.