‘No place’: Anthony Albanese calls for Barnaby Joyce to be sacked over “bullet” comment

Anthony Albanese has called for Barnaby Joyce to be sacked from the frontbench after he suggested voters should put “a bullet” into the Prime Minister.

Anthony Albanese has called for Barnaby Joyce to be sacked from the frontbench after he suggested voters should put “a bullet” into the Prime Minister.

The former deputy prime minister issued a half-hearted apology for the metaphor, but Mr Albanese said the analogy between voting with firing a gun was “completely unacceptable”.

Speaking today in Canberra, he called on Peter Dutton to remove him from the frontbench.

“That is completely unacceptable,” the Prime Minister told Sky News, in an early clip of an interview to be broadcast later today.

“It’s a test for Peter Dutton. Peter Dutton has had four reshuffles, he should have a fifth. And Barnaby Joyce should go.

“And this is the sort of language which has no place in any part of Australian society, let alone in public life and here you have a guy going to a rally calling for action, using analogies of guns, bullets, magazines, and ‘goodbye’ to three members of the government. What does this bloke have to do to lose his job?”

It comes after Mr Joyce told protesters at a rally to “get ready to load that magazine”, put a “bullet” into the government and say “goodbye to Albo” at the next election.

The comments were slammed as inappropriate and dangerous in the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump.

Mr Joyce made the comments during an offshore wind protest. Picture: Supplied

The shock remarks occurred at an offshore wind protest and involved Mr Joyce likening the election to “a bullet.”

“And the bullet you have, is a little piece of paper,’’ Mr Joyce says.

“It goes in the magazine called the voting box. It’s coming up. Get ready to load that magazine. Go good by Chris (Bowen) Good bye Stephen (Jones). Good by Albo.”

“And when they see that, you know what? All of a sudden they will let you into your office for a quick meeting.”

Sunrise host Natalie Barr confronted Mr Joyce on the footage on national television this morning, extracting an apology of sorts.

“Barnaby, do we need to be using bullets in the lead-up to an election?,’’ she said.

“Well, the ballot paper is the weapon you have. It shouldn’t be a bullet. It should be a ballot paper. It’s a ballot paper and ballot box,’’ Mr Joyce replied.

“My best line down there is this idea that wind towers … are environmentally beautiful. It’s like saying, you know, the fertilised capacity and the beautiful dog turd on your lawn in the middle of the morning works as well. Dog turds on your environment there, absolutely disgusting. Nobody wants them.”

Barr then interrupted again suggesting the issue was the language, using the word “bullet”.

“That’s the issue people don’t want. They’ve had an assassination attempt in the US. Do you think it’s a good to use that word,’’ she said.

Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten urged Barnaby Joyce to apologise.

“I think if he had his time again he shouldn’t be using the metaphor of bullets and magazines,’’ Mr Shorten said.

“There’s enough words in the English language. I wouldn’t have used the floating dodo that you did then. Barnaby, sometimes in politics, mate, we speak first and because our passions take over. Smartest call here would be just to apologise for using that metaphor because we’ve had the Donald Trump assassination.”

“Here we go. I apologise for using that metaphor. I’ve done it on Sunrise,’’ Mr Joyce replied.

Mr Joyce apologised for the remarks. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Barnaby Joyce’s remarks follow a warning from Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw of rising threats to MPs in recent years.

“In the past four years, reports of harassment, nuisance, offensive and threatening communications against Australian parliamentarians have increased by 160 per cent,” he told parliament.

Commissioner Kershaw said the force had devoted additional resources to ensuring parliamentarian’s safety.

“More activities and events in 2023 attracted a heightened level of security risk, which required the implementation of additional resources and risk treatment,” he said.

“As of March 31, we recorded a 35 per cent increase year-on-year from 2023 relating to parliamentarians’ movements assessed as a significant risk or higher.”

Labelling the reported risks against MPs and senators as a “threat to democracy”, Commissioner Kershaw added that plans were already afoot to plan for the next federal election which is due by May 2025 at the latest.

“For Federal parliamentarians here today … if you feel unsafe or need advice, please contact the AFP’s Security Protection Diplomatic Liaison team,” he said