Scott Morrison said he ‘easily’ forgave Barnaby Joyce after scathing texts

Scott Morrison has spoken out after scathing text messages sent by Barnaby Joyce calling the prime minister a “hypocrite and a liar” were leaked.

Insisting he could “not care less” about what others send around in texts, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he “easily” forgave Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce for calling him a “liar”.

Speaking after attending the i4Give Day memorial service in Sydney, which commemorates the children killed in the Oatlands crash in 2020, Mr Morrison said “no one is immune” to criticism, but how a person responded was more important.

“Politics is a brutal business,” Mr Morrison said.

“If you can’t accept and understand each other’s frailties, and be forgiving in those circumstances, then frankly, that says a lot more about you than it does about others.

“That is what my faith has always informed me to do.

“What people send around in texts, I frankly could not care less about.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “no one is immune” to criticism. Picture Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire.

Mr Morrison said politicians could feel and say things, get “angry” or “bitter,” just like “anyone else”.

“That’s all of us,” he said.

“Human frailty, it’s real. We all share it. We all live with it. And we all need to be more understanding of it.”

Mr Joyce confirmed he sent messages scathing of Mr Morrison, calling him a “hypocrite and a liar,” in March after the texts were leaked on Friday.

The messages, in which Mr Joyce said he “never trusted” Mr Morrison, were sent to an unnamed third party to pass on to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.

Mr Joyce had been due to appear on ABC’S Insiders program on Sunday morning, but was replaced at the last minute by Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, who sought to play down the texts.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce apologised for the texts. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Ms Andrews said though she’d had a “couple of robust discussions” with Mr Morrison, he had always been “respectful and willing to listen”.

“I haven’t found him to be anything but decent and respectful to me,” she said.

Ms Andrews said Mr Morrison has held the top job during a “particularly difficult time” in the pandemic.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley also pushed back at suggestions there was a concerted effort to undermine Mr Morrison’s leadership, saying the Liberal team was “united”.

“I reflect often on how positive the unity is with us,” she told Sky News.

“As a minister that has sat in three cabinets with three prime ministers … this is the most united cabinet table I have sat at.”

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said Mr Joyce was in a “pretty dark place” when he sent the text messages, and was “blaming a lot of people for what had put him on the backbench at the time”.

“(Mr Joyce has) addressed that, he offered his resignation, Scott Morrison’s been big enough to not accept that and to say we should all focus on the main game for Australians, which is precisely what the government continues to do,” he said.

But the resignation offer itself has become a source of unhappiness among some Nationals members, who have privately shared their dislike of the implication a Liberal prime minister had a say in the leadership of the junior Coalition partner.

The text leak occurred only days after it was revealed former premier Gladys Berejiklian allegedly called Mr Morrison a “horrible, horrible person” in messages sent to an unnamed senior Liberal minister.