Sharri Markson: Barnaby Joyce has strangled the Turnbull govt
THE Prime Minister has lost confidence in his Deputy PM and a future partnership between the pair is now untenable, writes Sharri Markson.
Opinion
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Through selfishness, arrogance and a head-in-the-sand insistence he has done nothing wrong, Barnaby Joyce has strangled the Turnbull government and hijacked its agenda.
It would seem there is one rule for Joyce, and another for every other Cabinet minister, public servant and corporate executive in Australia — as Turnbull alluded to at his extraordinary press conference yesterday afternoon.
Let the sex ban slapped on ministers not distract from how Joyce has behaved while occupying the second most powerful political role in the country.
Joyce has denied multiple claims he breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct: for encouraging and accepting a gift of free rent; by having his partner work for fellow minister Matt Canavan and himself; by a conflict of interest whereby he accepted a freebie from a mate who he had given business to from his department.
There’s also the creation of two jobs for his girlfriend — an allegation that has seen Roman Quaedvlieg sent to Siberia, even though in the case of the Border Force boss, the allegations haven’t been proven to be true.
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In Joyce’s case, it appears to be a slam dunk. He had a private conversation with Matt Canavan about hiring Vikki Campion. No one else was interviewed for the role.
It was a newly created job on a higher salary — a job Canavan didn’t have in his office before or after Campion filled it. This happened twice.
While others from Canavan’s office took redundancy, Campion moved to Damian Drum’s office where he has said she was his highest paid member of staff and came on as a second media adviser — even though the Nationals Chief Whip already had one.
These are special favours for his now-pregnant girlfriend. And who signed off on all this? Not the Prime Minister, but Joyce himself.
Bank executives, subject to strict new behaviour rules courtesy of Scott Morrison, are shocked at this loose behaviour which is not only condoned but defended at the highest levels of the Turnbull government.
And that’s before we mention the claims against Joyce of drunken behaviour towards women when the Nationals were in Opposition.
The Daily Telegraph interviewed one highly respected community figure this week who claimed she had her bottom pinched by a drunken Joyce at a bar after the Rural Womens’ Awards in 2011.
A second woman, an academic and former director of the now defunct peak body for galleries, the Collections Council, told Michelle Grattan she also had her bottom pinched by Joyce at a 2009 or 2010 cocktail party at Parliament House.
Plus there’s the claim that an ABC board member confronted Joyce about his conduct. The board member had no comment to make this week, while Joyce has vehemently denied he pinched anyone’s bottom.
Then there was the event that started this entire saga. Joyce, the man who had positioned himself as the beacon of conservatism, campaigning for family values, has left his wife of 24 years for a former staffer he has impregnated.
Yet, if you listen to Joyce and his spin doctors, he is the victim and it’s the media that’s at fault for maliciously pursuing him.
In his interview with Leigh Sales, in the same breath he said he was sorry, he also said how upset he was for the public attention.
“I failed, and I’m obviously incredibly sorry about that, but I’m also, like other people, incredibly hurt that private issues get dragged into the public arena,” he said.
Joyce said the word “private” about 30 times.
It’s a telling point. The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia has steadfastly refused to answer questions from the media about his conduct.
Julia Gillard, for all her faults, was known to hold a press conference where she would exhaust the press gallery’s questioning.
But Joyce won’t face the music. Day after day he has refused to respond to simple questions from this newspaper and other journalists.
Simple questions such as what dates did your girlfriend Vikki Campion work for Canavan, Drum and what date did she go on stress leave?
Why won’t he answer them? He is hiding from scrutiny. FOI requests have been rejected.
Instead, Joyce sent his female deputy Bridget McKenzie — who he once called a “nice bit of kit” — out to face the full force of the press pack to defend him.
This conduct is simply unacceptable.
Joyce’s authority, two days ago was, as Warren Truss said, diminished. Now it is beyond repair — along with his conservative credentials.
Cory Bernardi and Pauline Hanson will be laughing all the way to the polling booth.
Political journalist Niki Savva said yesterday: “Joyce has trashed whatever moral authority he had as leader. He has gone from being funny to a national joke (the beetrooter). He can’t live that down, or credibly sell any other government message — be it on religious protections, family values, misuse of taxpayer money or even housing affordability.”
Turnbull’s new standard banning ministers from having sex with staff members, preventing a power imbalance and misconduct, is appropriate, modern and reflective of the values he personally holds.
As will be evident on 60 Minutes this week, Turnbull has had a lifelong business and romantic partnership with wife Lucy and is blind to gender when judging a person’s performance.
Yet he should have referred Joyce for an official investigation by Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Martin Parkinson, as he has done in the past with other ministers accused of breaching the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
It was telling Turnbull has not expressed confidence in Joyce to remain as leader. Instead, he has publicly told him he should reflect on his position while he is on personal leave next week, calling his conduct “appalling”.
The Prime Minister has lost confidence in his Deputy PM. He has not allowed him to lead the country in his absence.
A future partnership between the pair is now untenable.