Barnaby Joyce could be replaced following Vikki Campion affair
A WAR has broken out between Coalition MPs over Barnaby Joyce as the Deputy Prime Minister refuses to step aside, while Julie Bishop says she’s prepared to act as PM next week.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A WAR has broken out between Nationals and Liberal MPs over the Barnaby Joyce affair scandal as the Deputy Prime Minister refuses to step aside.
Senior Liberals have declared the issue needs to be resolved as “swiftly as possible”. Maverick Queensland MP George Christensen has slammed Liberal MPs for calling Nationals members, urging them to dump Mr Joyce as leader, as the scandal over his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion continues to damage the government.
BARNABY JOYCE’S AFFAIR: HOW IT HAPPENED
BARNABY JOYCE: I’M DEEPLY SORRY
SUSIE O’BRIEN: MORAL HYPOCRITE BARNABY JOYCE MUST RESIGN IMMEDIATELY
Mr Christensen confirmed to The Australian this morning that “individual” members of the Nationals had approached Mr Joyce about his future with the party.
But Mr Christensen told the publication the agitators did not have the numbers to force Mr Joyce out.
Aussies HATE pollies talking about themselves. Yet some MPs are talking about ousting Nats leader after week of bad news, doing more damage to Nats & govt than anything else. More Libs in on it than Nats. Barnaby stuffed up. He apologised. Move on. There's real issues to discuss.
— George Christensen (@GChristensenMP) February 13, 2018
A petition to demand removal of him from his New England seat has received almost 7000 votes in five days.
Genevieve Cheatham’s petition calling for Mr Joyce to resign or Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to push for his resignation had received 6900 signatures on change.org as of this morning.
“Barnaby Joyce must resign. We do not want him to represent us as Deputy Prime Minister of Australia,” Ms Cheatham posted.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed she is prepared to act as Prime Minister next week, when Malcolm Turnbull heads to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump, if Mr Joyce takes personal leave.
“More harm is being done politically by people in the Nationals and inappropriately in the Liberal Party who are trying to execute Barnaby,” Mr Christenson told The Australian.
“I cannot believe that people are fathoming, one week into a problem, they are talking about going and politically executing the greatest asset that the National Party has, and I have got to say that the Turnbull government has,” he said.
Mr Christensen said there were only about four or five MPs pushing for Mr Joyce to step down.
Senior Liberal frontbencher Mathias Cormann told reporters in Canberra today the issue needed to be resolved as “swiftly as possible”.
“Obviously this past week has been an obstruction, that is no secret,” the Finance Minister said.
“The Australian people don’t want us to be talking about our own personal affair, they want us to be talking about how we plan to secure more jobs, higher wages and better opportunities for them to get ahead.
“So it is important that we find a way to move on from this as swiftly as possible.”
Liberal MP Alex Hawke, the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, echoed his sentiments.
“The issues that are within the Nationals are best to be resolved by the Nationals as quickly as possible,” Mr Hawke told Sky News.
BARNABY ON THE BRINK AS NATIONALS LEADER
Yesterday Nationals MPs said they had been inundated with correspondence from angry voters about Mr Joyce’s affair with former media adviser Vikki Campion.
A series of crisis meetings were held as those pushing for change tried to figure out how to avoid a bloody coup and instead persuade their leader to “do the right thing” and resign.
A senior government source said Mr Joyce no longer had the support of the party room, but he was refusing to accept that his time was up.
Nationals MPs tried unsuccessfully to speak to him about his position this week. Ominously for Mr Joyce, Nationals said he was quickly losing his Queensland support base.
Mr Joyce’s predecessor, Warren Truss, told the ABC on Tuesday Mr Joyce had “undoubtedly been diminished” by the affair, and that the matter had to be resolved quickly.
But one Joyce supporter said those wanting him gone were “utterly selfish opportunists”.
Nationals MPs wanting a change are pushing for an orderly transition to Veterans’ Affairs Minister Michael McCormack.
Mr Joyce apologised to his Coalition colleagues on Tuesday morning, telling them “every political career has a time of trial” and he was determined to work through it.
One MP said: “(Mr Joyce) has never been someone who gives in easily. He’s wanted this job all his life and he won’t go lightly.”
A Liberal MP close to Malcolm Turnbull said the Prime Minister was deeply unimpressed by Mr Joyce’s behaviour: “What people forget about Malcolm is, he is a little bit pious — he doesn’t like this sort of thing.”
The Herald Sun understands a handful of MPs visited Mr McCormack in his ministerial office yesterday.
He has strong support across the party in three states, and when Mr Joyce became leader, was the preferred candidate of several MPs known as the “anybody but Barnaby group”.
Sources close to him said it would not be in his character to challenge and he would likely only accept the job if Mr Joyce resigned.
They had watched Mr Joyce’s handling of the affair “in horror” and no longer trusted his judgment or that of his closest advisers.
Queensland backbencher Ken O’Dowd, whose seat of Flynn is one of the most marginal Nationals seats, said the political jobs that had been created for Ms Campion had “got under people’s skin”. He said: “I’m not predicting that anything’s going to happen today but if it does there’s going to be a lot of guys with their hands up, and I might just be one of those.”
Mr Joyce yesterday made an emotional apology to his wife and daughters and Ms Campion for the “unwanted public intrusion into what is an intensely private matter”. And he denied he had breached the ministerial code of conduct.
HOW IT ALL UNFOLDED
June 2016
Vikki Campion goes to work as media adviser on Mr Joyce’s New England campaign for the 2016 election
August 2016
Begins working in his office. That same month she and former fiance John Bergin call off their November wedding
December 2016
Reports that Mr Joyce’s chief of staff Di Hallam seeks his approval to have Ms Campion transferred out of office
February 2017
Ms Campion and Mr Joyce photographed in Sydney bar together
April 2017
Ms Campion is transferred to Resource Minister Matt Canavan’s office as a media adviser working in a social media and digital role
June 2017
Mr Joyce and his wife attend the Midwinter Ball at Parliament House together
July 25, 2017
Ms Campion leaves Mr Canavan’s office after he resigns from Cabinet over his Italian dual citizenship and returns to work in Mr Joyce’s office temporarily
August 14, 2017
Mr Joyce refers his dual citizenship case to the High Court. Ms Campion is understood to have been transferred to Damian Drum’s office in late August
October 27, 2017
Mr Joyce ruled ineligible to sit in parliament for holding dual citizenship — his campaign for the New England by-election officially begins two days later. Ms Campion reportedly takes stress leave
December 2, 2017
Mr Joyce wins the New England by-election
December 7, 2017
Mr Joyce confirms he has separated from his wife during the same-sex marriage debate. Ms Campion’s employment in Mr Drum’s office ends in December. She and Mr Joyce move into an Armidale property provided rent-free by businessman Greg Maguire
January 2018
Mr Joyce and Ms Campion holiday in north Queensland and NSW north coast
February 7, 2018
It is revealed Mr Joyce has moved in with Ms Campion, and the couple are expecting a child in April. Since then, Mr Joyce has confirmed Ms Campion is now his partner
February 13, 2018
Mr Joyce denies Ms Campion was his partner when she worked in Mr Canavan’s office
‘Angels’: Hero Coles workers save mum’s life
A mother of three has opened up on how her life was saved after she suddenly collapsed while doing a routine supermarket shop.
Wildlife and traffic fears over music festival
Wildlife advocates fear a weekend music festival in central Victoria will endanger native animals including rescued joeys.