Ex-Nats leader John Anderson lashes out over Eden Monaro debacle
National Party elder John Anderson has slammed John Barilaro and Andrew Constance for their bickering over the Eden Monaro debacle, saying he is ‘profoundly disappointed’ by their behaviour. It came as Mr Barilaro refused today to comment four times on whether he disparagingly called Mr Constance an unpublishable expletive.
NSW
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National Party elder John Anderson has slammed John Barilaro and Andrew Constance for their bickering over Eden Monaro, saying he is “profoundly disappointed” by their behaviour over the upcoming by-election.
It comes as the Deputy Premier refused to comment four times on whether he disparagingly called Mr Constance an unpublishable expletive starting with C. Mr Constance cited the expletive-laden remark, revealed by The Daily Telegraph, as the reason he bowed out of the Eden Monaro by-election.
Mr Anderson, a former Deputy Prime Minister and respected Nationals figure, has now weighed into the shambolic spat involving the Nationals’ NSW leader, the state Transport minister, and the Deputy Prime Minister for the first time, lashing out at the “self-centredness” of Mr Constance and Mr Barilaro.
“It comes at a time when we (are) asking Australians to be more mindful than ever of others,” Mr Anderson said.
“The reality is that pulling our country ... out of the mess of COVID-19 will require every one of us to revert to the old question posed by (President) Kennedy - ‘ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’.”
“I’m profoundly disappointed by the self-centredness that’s been on display this week in relation to Eden Monaro,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
The comments - lobbed at both Mr Barilaro and Mr Constrance - come amid growing unease in National party ranks about the state leader’s behaviour.
Mr Barilaro was this morning repeatedly pressed by 2GB host Chris Smith over The Daily Telegraph’s story that the Deputy Premier had used the word “c--” to describe the Transport Minister in a private exchange with another MP.
Asked if by Smith “did you call him the c-word”, Mr Barilaro said: “Andrew and I have had a conversation that’s private I’m going to leave it at that”.
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Asked, ‘did you call him the c-word to someone else’, Mr Barilaro said: “I’m not going to comment on that, the week’s come and gone”.
Asked again, “so you didn’t use the c-word?”, Mr Barilaro replied: ““I’m not confirming or denying, I made no comment around what was.”
Mr Barilaro did, though, go on to say he did not leak a string of texts to Sky News which showed him blasting Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack over a claimed lack of support for his own tilt for Eden-Monaro.
He said the texts that had been publicly circulated were not wholly accurate. “Those messages that were printed, the style of message was actually not exactly what was sent…what’s been depicted in the public eye is multiple messages, not all the message,” he said.
Meanwhile, Premier Gladys Berejiklian refused to comment today when asked whether she would reprimand Mr Barilaro over his behaviour.
But she claimed her decision to strip Mr Constance of his role as Leader of the House was to allow him time to focus on bushfire recovery in his electorate, not a punishment for Mr Constance’s 24 hour failed bid for the federal candidacy of Eden-Monaro.
“He indicated he wants to spend his time in his community and he has a very big portfolio in Transport so it stands to reason that he no longer have that responsibility,” she said.
“He has indicated himself he wants to focus on recovery in his electorate. His electorate has been absolutely damaged by the bushfires. Understandably whatever spare time he has outside of his transport portfolio he wants to spend in his community.”
Ms Berejiklian has put all her ministers on notice, with a wider reshuffle expected once the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is over, sending a warning to misbehaving ministers and telling members of her government to focus on their electorates, not themselves.
“My expectation is that all of my colleagues … continue to keep their head down and work hard,” she told The Daily Telegraph.