Barnaby Joyce unloads on Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull
AS war broke out at the very top of the federal government, embattled Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce caught up with the latest fallout from his unprecedented attack on the PM by grabbing a copy of the Daily Telegraph’s full report this morning.
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WAR has broken out at the very top of the federal government, with embattled Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce blasting Malcolm Turnbull as “inept” in an unprecedented attack as he clings to his job.
In astonishing tit-for-tat press conferences, the leader and his deputy, who are supposed to be governing the nation in a coalition, hurled barbs at each other and exposed the deep fissures that have opened between the Liberal and National parties over Mr Joyce’s conduct in fathering a love child with his former media adviser.
Returning fire after Mr Turnbull suggested he should consider resigning as Nationals leader for his “appalling error of judgment”, Mr Joyce yesterday dug his heels in and accused the Prime Minister of causing harm with his comments.
“In regards to the comments by the Prime Minister yesterday at his press conference, with regards to that, I have to say that, in many instances, they caused further harm,” Mr Joyce said.
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“I believe they were in many instances inept and most definitely in many instances unnecessary.
“All it does is reinvest in the hurt that’s being felt by other people.
“All that is once more going to do is pull the scab off.”
Mr Joyce, who has been working to retain the support of his Nationals colleagues, said members of the party objected to “implied intervention” in their internal processes.
The PM then called another press conference to respond, emphasising his disappointment in Mr Joyce’s conduct, but not the National Party.
The tensions come in the wake of The Daily Telegraph’s revelation that Mr Joyce, 50, is having a baby with his former media adviser Vikki Campion, 32, with the scandal leading to allegations of misuse of entitlements and breaches of ministerial standards, and thoroughly unravelling the government’s agenda. Mr Joyce has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The Saturday Telegraph revealed in October that Mr Joyce was dealing with a crisis in his personal life that had affected his marriage of 24 years.
On Thursday night Mr Turnbull attempted to draw a line in the sand on the scandal, when he suggested the maverick Nationals leader had behaved appallingly, showing a “shocking error of judgment”, and would be considering his position.
“He has to consider his own position obviously. These are matters for Barnaby Joyce to reflect on. He has made a very grave error of judgment, in an area that traditionally, I suppose, has been regarded as private and personal, and you can understand the reasons for that,” Mr Turnbull said.
Listening to Mr Turnbull’s remarks, a furious Mr Joyce told colleagues he felt humiliated. He went public with his anger yesterday morning.
Mr Joyce vowed to remain as head of the National Party and said Mr Turnbull had no place commenting on its leadership. “There is nothing that we dislike more than implied intervention into the party processes of the National Party,” he said.
Mr Turnbull then denied he was trying to intervene in National Party processes, while maintaining that he had the utmost respect for the party.
He said his criticism was purely directed at Mr Joyce’s personal behaviour and conduct, and he stood by his remarks on Thursday.
Labor has accused Mr Joyce of breaching the ministerial code of conduct on several grounds, including hiring his partner in his office and a fellow minister’s office, for a conflict of interest in accepting free rent from a National Party donor who had been the beneficiary of taxpayer funds and for encouraging a free gift.
The Daily Telegraph had revealed Mr Joyce authorised the creation of two new jobs for Ms Campion in the offices of other Nationals politicians, Matt Canavan and Damian Drum.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten said Mr Turnbull should sack Mr Joyce immediately.
“What has to happen for the Australian people is the Prime Minister needs to sack his Deputy Prime Minister,” he said.
“Mr Turnbull appoints the members of his Cabinet. He should drive down to see the G-G (Governor General) and say ‘Barnaby Joyce is sacked’.
“If he’s not strong enough to do that he’s not strong enough to be in charge of this place.”
On Thursday night Mr Turnbull introduced a ban on ministers having sex with their staff, in a bid to lift the cultural standard of Parliament House.
Treasurer Scott Morrison yesterday praised the new ministerial code of conduct and said it was the “strongest position” he had ever seen a Prime Minister take on such an issue.
“This isn’t a morality binge, this is a workplace standard,” Mr Morrison said. “You accept the standards you walk by, and what the Prime Minister did yesterday clearly is, he is not walking by this.”