Barnaby Joyce text attacking Scott Morrison leaked in second ambush on PM

Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce says he offered to quit after an embarrassing text leak that revealed he called Prime Minister a “hypocrite and a liar”.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has confirmed he offered to quit after an embarrassing text leak that revealed he called Prime Minister Scott Morrison a “hypocrite and a liar”.

Mr Joyce fronted media in Sydney on Saturday morning – having already apologised to Scott Morrison – confirming that the Prime Minister had rejected his offer of resignation.

The Saturday Telegraph exclusively reported that Mr Joyce had offered his resignation to Mr Morrison, but that Mr Morrison had not accepted it.

“I want to apologise to the Prime Minister,” a contrite Mr Joyce told a press conference on Saturday morning.

“Last year in March, I was approached by a number of people to help them. I did. And that assisted in a legal process that is now afoot,” he said.

A contrite Barnaby Joyce today. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

“However, I should never have written the text that I did. I certainly never expected the text to be forwarded on.

“And I don’t blame anybody but myself, but I never expected it to end up in the public realm. But it would not have ended up in the public realm had I not written it, so the fault is mine.

“My view from the backbench about the Prime Minister is based on assumption and commentary, not from a one-on-one working relationship.

Deputy Prime Minister enters today’s press conference. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

“And from a one-on-one working relationship, I found a man who has honoured every agreement that he’s made with me. And who I have noted has honoured every agreement that he’s made with others from both sides of the political fence.

“When it came to light a couple of days ago, I rang the prime minister immediately. I apologised. He accepted my apology. I offered my resignation and he did not accept my resignation.”

Sources said that Mr Morrison rejected the offer because the Prime Minister knew “Barnaby’s opinion of him had changed dramatically.”

The the message was sent last year to a supporter of alleged sexual assault victim Brittany Higgins

“I and Scott, he is Scott to me until I have to recognise his office, don’t get along,” the private message said.

“He is a hypocrite and a liar from my observations and that is over a long time.

“I have never trusted him and I dislike how he earnestly rearranges the truth to a lie.”

Barnaby Joyce and Scott Morrison in federal parliament. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The text comes days after disparaging comments made by former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian about Mr Morrison were revealed in a leaked exchange ­between her and a federal government minister.

In those messages, sent during the Black Summer bushfires, Mr Morrison was portrayed by Ms Berejiklian as a “horrible, horrible person” and by the unnamed Liberal minister as a “psycho”.

Those revelations consumed the news cycle this week and the fact they were claimed to be leaked by a member of Mr Morrison’s cabinet highlighted simmering Liberal Party tensions ahead of the looming federal election.

The newly surfaced private text was sent to a group advocating for Ms Higgins after she came forward in February 2021 with allegations she was raped by a staffer in the Parliament House office of then-­Defence Minister Linda Reynolds.

Sent on March 22 last year, the text instructed the third party to “Tell BH” of Mr Joyce’s views on Mr Morrison. Ms Higgins has since emerged as one of the country’s leading victim rights advocates, alongside former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, who has been an outspoken critic of Mr Morrison.

The group supporting Ms Higgins had approached Mr Joyce for help in ensuring proposed government changes to the Freedom of Information laws did not restrict public scrutiny of complaints about parliamentary behaviour.

It was reported on Friday that Ms Higgins showed Mr Joyce’s text exchange to the Sydney Morning Herald after he called on the person who leaked Ms Berejiklian’s messages to identify themselves.

Mr Joyce, who returned to the deputy prime ministership from the backbench last June, personally and privately apologised to the Prime Minister this week about the text message.

Both men said their relationship had improved since the time it was sent.

Mr Morrison said that he had “immediately accepted his apology in good faith”, and admitted the pair’s relationship had at times been strained.

“I understand Barnaby was in a different headspace last year, both professionally and personally, and so I know he genuinely no longer feels this way,” Mr Morrison said in a statement.

“Relationships change over time. Politicians are ­human beings too. We all have our frailties and none of us are perfect.”

Barnaby Joyce said he had apologised to the PM for the texts. Picture: NCA/Gary Ramage

Mr Morrison and Mr Joyce said they now shared a strong alliance.

“Since coming to the role of DPM, it is fair to say that we both positively surprised each other,” Mr Morrison said.

“We were never close before this and never pretended to be. But in these roles we have really found our rhythm, as we have ­concluded AUKUS, settled our climate change policy and continued to fight the pandemic.”

“While the text message was supposed to be private, what I said in that message was wrong; and I have unreservedly apologised,” he said.

“It is common knowledge that in the past the Prime Minister and I had not ­always seen eye-to-eye.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese in Dulwich Hill today. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

“But I have worked ­extremely closely with the Prime Minister over the last seven months since I returned to the role of Deputy Prime Minister; and the Prime Minister is a person of high integrity and honesty in what is possibly the most difficult job in the nation.”

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said today it was untenable for Mr Joyce to continue to be Deputy Prime Minister to Prime Minister Morrison.

“This isn’t a government, it’s a shambles, it’s a shambles full of dysfunction and disunity,” he said.

“It’s a shambles which isn’t looking after the interests of Australians because they’re obsessed by their internal hatreds and their disfunction.