Barnaby Joyce’s gripe with surprise text message from Mike Cannon-Brookes

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has revealed he received an unexpected text from a high-profile person – and he has a gripe about it.

Barnaby Joyce has revealed he received a surprise text message from Mike Cannon-Brookes after the tech billionaire became AGL’s largest shareholder.

But the Deputy Prime Minister has taken a swipe at the way the Atlassian founder signed off in the message – saying it shows he is “entitled”.

Mr Cannon-Brookes has said he would use his new 11.3 per cent stake in AGL, announced on Monday evening, to steer the company towards a clean energy future instead of burning coal for what could be another two decades.

Following the major development, Mr Cannon-Brookes texted Mr Joyce.

A copy of the text message shows that Mr Cannon-Brookes starts off friendly, talking about his investment firm Grok Ventures acquiring the new stake in AGL.

“DPM – Hope you’re well,” it begins.

“Just wanted to let you know first that I’ve acquired more than 11 per cent of AGL shares, making Grok the largest single shareholder.”

He then writes about his plans to vote against splitting AGL’s heavy-emitting assets out into a new business.

The proposed demerger needs the support of 75 per cent of AGL shareholders at the June meeting.

If it were to happen it could allow the production of coal-fired power until the 2040s.

“We’ll be voting against the demerger and will be encouraging all shareholders to do the same,” Mr Cannon-Brookes informs Mr Joyce.

Barnaby Joyce has spoken about receiving a text from Mike Cannon-Brookes. Picture: Newswire/Gary Ramage

“Keeping the company together and accelerating the transition away from coal assets is the best path forward for AGL and for the country.”

He then says he is “happy to discuss further”.

“My team will send your office some additional info,” he writes.

But Mr Joyce took issue with the way that Mr Cannon-Brookes signed off – just a simple mcb, without his full name.

He said he had never seen Mr Cannon-Brookes’ number before.

“Well, I got a text message and it was just signed off mcb,” Mr Joyce told reporters on his campaign on Tuesday afternoon.

“I don’t know, I was thinking … my crazy brother, maybe he believes he’s like JFK, that he’s just this famous guy who doesn’t actually need to give his full name.

“Because he’s just so cool.”

Mr Joyce said he believed Mr Cannon-Brookes was out of touch due to his wealth.

“What he’s going to do?” he asked.

“He believes that with his wealth he can butcher the Australian electricity system.

“And that’s all right if you’re a billionaire, but that’s not all right if you live in the weatherboard and iron (a reference to poor rural towns).

Barnaby Joyce accused to the billionaire of being out of touch. Picture: Mock up

“That’s not all right if your power prices are a large section of what you have to pay as an essential good.

“It might be all right if you’re a very rich guy living a very lucky life in the eastern suburbs.

“It might be all right if you’ve got multiple billions and billions of dollars.”

Mr Joyce then referenced his middle name Thomas: “So Mr MCB, this is Mr BTJ saying that is not OK.”

Mr Cannon-Brookes has argued that he wants to deliver cheap, reliable and clean energy to families and it is a critical time to transition to renewables.

“By not transitioning fast enough away from fossil fuels, the board has presided over AGL’s value plummeting to the tune of about 70 per cent in five years,” Mr Cannon-Brookes said.

But Mr Joyce disagreed.

Barnaby Joyce said this sign off showed how ‘entitled’ Mr Cannon-Brookes was. Picture: Mock up

“We don’t just go out and butcher what we’ve got because that hurts people,” he said.

“And getting a text from a phone number I’ve never seen before in my life signed off mcb just goes to show how entitled they believe they are.”

Mr Joyce said he wanted to focus on projects like the $5bn Hells Gate Dam in Queensland’s far north to produce hydroelectricity.

Originally published as Barnaby Joyce’s gripe with surprise text message from Mike Cannon-Brookes