Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce splashes $32k on eating out

DEPUTY Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has splurged $32,000 of taxpayer funds wining and dining agricultural industry contacts at top Australian restaurants.

Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce. Picture: Kym Smith

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DEPUTY Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has splurged $32,000 of taxpayer funds wining and dining agricultural industry contacts at top Australian restaurants.

Many high-end functions were to feed the Agricultural Industry Advisory Council, which meets several times a year across the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has spent thousands wining and dining. Picture: Jack Tran

One of the most expensive dinners was held at swanky Pier One Hotel in Sydney in August 2015. The function, for the Red Meat and Cattle Partnership between Indonesia and Australia Partnership on Food Security, cost $4620 for a three-course meal and $880 for wine.

Labor’s WasteWatch spokesman, Matthew Keogh, hit out at Mr Joyce for “wining and dining around the country”.

“While it’s legitimate to make sure that people who are advising government are fed, you don’t need to be spending the world on it,­” he said.

A spokeswoman for Deputy PM (pictured) denied the food bills were too high. Picture: Dylan Robinson

A March 2016 networking function and three-course dinner at the Quality Hotel Powerhouse in Armidale, again for the Agricultural Industry Advisory Council, cost $2691 in meals and $2377 in alcohol.

Guests ate grilled chicken breast or braised country fresh lamb shanks for mains.

Mr Barnaby’s spokeswoman denied the bills were too high.

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Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce shows support for the nation's struggling primary producers.

These figures include the costs of hosting conferences, international meetings, meetings of ministers from around Australia, vets and biosecurity officials as well as industry stakeholders over several years,” she said.

“The Department of Agriculture is responsible for organising the functions and have been expected to do so in a prudent and cost-effective manner since Mr Joyce became Minister for Agriculture.”