Andrew Bolt: Barnaby Joyce turns kumbaya Left into vicious hypocrites

Labor MP Anika Wells says she wants politicians to be nicer, but when it comes to Barnaby Joyce she shows the Left are just vicious hypocrites.

Something about Barnaby Joyce turns the kumbaya Left into vicious hypocrites.

Take federal Labor MP Anika Wells.

In her maiden speech to Parliament, Wells told politicians to be nicer: “We can strive to disagree without being disagreeable. We should model the way for Australians to debate complex issues.”

Yes, please! Aren’t we sick of this toxic culture of abuse?

But contrast what Wells said then with what she did last week, when Joyce was resurrected, and again became our Deputy Prime Minister.

Wells in Parliament abused Joyce as a “root rat”, presumably because – like many Labor politicians – his first marriage broke down and he’s now remarried.

I didn’t realise Labor, the party once led by Bob Hawke and Bill Shorten, had become so sanctimonious about men who broke their marriage vows. But is shouting “root rat” how we debate this complex issue?

Alas, Wells had not finished. She also tweeted a picture of Joyce smilingly pushing one of his young sons out of the official picture of his swearing-in, with this jeering caption: “Women problem? What women problem?”

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

I thought it was an absolute no-no for politicians to attack each other by dragging in their children, but maybe Wells is more in touch with the new morality.

After all, columnist Andrew Hornery, of Sydney’s Left-wing Sun-Herald, also sneered at “Barnaby ‘family values’ Joyce”, likening his challenge to recover his reputation to that of “one-time jailbird Harry M. Miller, disgraced businessman Rodney Adler” and “crooked cop Roger Rogerson”.

Wow. Joyce’s once-turbulent love life and his divorce puts him in the company of crooks and even a killer like Rogerson?

Or is this angry new morality of the Left just a weapon to be used against conservatives, and conservatives only?

Nor are these the only examples of Joyce inspiring critics to behave badly.

Victorian Nationals MP Steph Ryan sniped that Joyce’s “previous actions didn’t really make him eligible for the top job”.

But what “previous actions”? This seems a reference to a woman accusing Joyce three years ago of sexual harassment, which Joyce denied.

The Nationals investigated, but could reach no findings, and the rest of us have never been told what Joyce is alleged to have done.

It is an allegation without details and without public evidence – yet this is now thrown at Joyce?

No wonder I find his haters more scary.