Barnaby Joyce lashes out on-air during interview with Karl Stefanovic
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has blown up on-air during an interview with Karl Stefanovic, launching a fresh tirade against the Greens.
Barnaby Joyce has launched into a furious on-air rant during an interview with Karl Stefanovic, telling him how he and others are living through the “nightmare” that is the recent bushfires.
Speaking on 2GB radio yesterday, the former deputy PM told Stefanovic he was at his parent’s house in the New England area attempting to protect it from an approaching bushfire.
Stefanovic asking how bad the fires were in the area prompted a blunt response.
“Yeah. How bad do you want it to look? It’s the same for a lot of people. I don’t expect any special sympathy,” Joyce said.
“This is a nightmare for so many people. I am looking at it right now. I can see the fire and it’s scary as all s**t.”
He lashed out at the Greens over the party’s stance on backburning and land clearing, claiming it is stopping people from protecting themselves.
“We’ve got to get on top of this s**t. We’ve got to get on top of this crap where there is all this bureaucracy that stands in the way of people keeping their place safe,” he said.
“We are just absolutely sick of people that have got nothing to do with our bloody life telling us what to do.
“There are people that have been killed, there are people that have been hurt. It’s not pretend for us. It’s not like fluffing your feathers in the senate and showing what a smart little person you are.
“This is our life, we actually live this s**t.”
Stefanovic pointed out that a few councils could also be putting residents in danger by now allowing dangerous trees to be cut down.
Joyce agreed, saying that when these trees fall down it could potentially stop people being evacuated in bushfire situations like the ones being experienced now.
When asked why The Nationals hadn’t secured better land clearing powers, Joyce said he had no idea and it’s “not my problem”.
“Our problem right now is to try and deal with this fire. Our problem right now is to try and keep people safe,” he said,
“The problem for me right now is to try and make sure my parent’s house is safe.”
He added: “My problem right now is to stop these deads**ts driving up our road rubbernecking.”
Things turned tense when Stefanovic questioned Joyce over comments he had made suggesting two people who died in the bushfires were “most likely people who voted for the Green party”.
He has been slammed for the “vile” remarks made on Sky News Tuesday morning, however Joyce said he was misrepresented.
When Stefanovic asked if he regretted the comments, Joyce stumbled over his words for a few seconds before abruptly saying he had to go and ending the call.
On Tuesday morning, Mr Joyce told Sky’s political reporter Kieran Gilbert that more resources were needed for hazard reduction.
“I acknowledge that the two people who died were most likely people who voted for the Green party, so I am not going to start attacking them. That’s the last thing I want to do,” Mr Joyce said.
“What I wanted to concentrate on, is the policies that we can mitigate these tragedies happening again in the future. That’s where I’m going to focus.”