Dutton, Littleproud urge Joyce to take time off work to deal with personal issues

Coalition leaders Peter Dutton and David Littleproud are urging Barnaby Joyce to take leave to deal with personal issues nearly a week after he was filmed lying on a Canberra footpath after a long parliamentary sitting day.

The opposition leader and his Nationals counterpart have each spoken to the maverick MP in Canberra this week and suggested he take time off to sort himself out after a difficult period, according to two sources aware of the conversations granted anonymity to speak freely.

Barnaby Joyce in parliament on Tuesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The 56-year-old New England MP has not yet decided whether to take time off, as his critics within the Nationals rebuke him about the damage his questionable behaviour does to the Coalition while his allies urge him to hang on.

Joyce’s colleagues have become aware of another important factor – upsetting family news – that may have contributed to his actions last week, which he has also blamed on mixing alcohol with prescription medication after attending two events once the parliamentary sitting day was finished.

His father-in-law told the Daily Mail that Joyce had “some very bad family news” on the day of the incident, explaining that Joyce had lost a brother to cancer and had received similar news which affected him deeply. This masthead is unaware of the nature of the family news.

Joyce has spoken publicly about his mental health struggles in the past.

Joyce is Littleproud’s key enemy in a party perpetually wracked by leadership tensions. Some of Littleproud’s backers want the party leader to use this opportunity to kick Joyce off the frontbench, but it is unclear if Littleproud has the will or political authority to boot the party’s highest profile and arguably most energetic MP.

Joyce’s backers are wary of any moves by Littleproud to take advantage of Joyce’s misadventures to bolster his own political fortunes. They believe Joyce deserves sympathy, was harshly treated by the passerby who filmed him instead of helping him, and should not be punished politically for erratic behaviour in his personal life.

Nationals frontbencher Anne Webster, an ally of Littleproud, told colleagues on Monday that Joyce’s presence in the parliament hurt the Coalition’s standing among female voters.

Former minister Keith Pitt, an ally of Joyce, said: “Barnaby is an adult and experienced member of parliament. He said he’s made a mistake and is embarrassed. What action he does or doesn’t take is entirely up to him.”

On Monday Joyce said he had “made a big mistake”.

“I’m on a prescription drug, and they say certain things may happen to you if you drink, and they were absolutely 100 per cent right,” he said.

“I’m not looking for sympathy and I’m not looking for an excuse. I’ll just stand by that. What I said is what I said. I came back, I sat on a planter box, I fell off, and I was videotaped. There you go. What else can you say?”

Former Victorian Liberal MP Tim Smith, who resigned after he drunk-drove and crashed his car, defended Joyce against critics urging him to resign from parliament, which he entered in 2005.

“Hello, what about Bob Hawke’s behaviour?” Smith wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Can we all accept that politicians are human, and sometimes make personal mistakes?”

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