Barnaby Joyce has long been a national embarrassment and should quit politics without delay
The long and sorry saga of Barnaby Joyce in national public life should be brought swiftly to a close.
Joyce – captured on video lying on his back on a Canberra street late at night shrieking obscenities into his mobile phone – should resign from parliament and focus on his health.
His life of rolling scandal should no longer be tolerated.
Those who serve in national public life, as representatives of the Australian people in the supreme lawmaking body, must adhere to elementary standards of public behaviour.
Nobody expects their politicians to be saints but Joyce has long fallen short of even the most basic expectations for those paid by taxpayers to work in the national interest.
His latest public humiliation, after drinking alcohol while on medication at several Parliament House functions, should be the last straw.
The sight of a former deputy prime minister and Nationals leader flat on his back, in suit and tie, talking on his phone is nothing short of a national embarrassment.
Joyce’s former media adviser, now his wife, Vikki Campion, deployed a classic political strategy of deflection as soon as the video became public. Rather than filming her husband sprawled on the street, she said, the person with the phone camera should have asked if he needed help.
Yet Joyce did not ask for help or look like he needed it, chatting away on the phone to her, and has not said he was injured.
In truth, this public display of drunken behaviour is entirely the fault of Campion’s husband. It cannot be explained away by an unforeseen combination of medication and alcohol.
Nor can it be claimed that he just fell off a planter box as if it were an unlucky accident. And the idea of blaming the person who filmed it is chutzpah on steroids.
This is a test for Nationals leader David Littleproud and Liberal leader Peter Dutton, who should remove Joyce from the Coalition frontbench and advise him to leave parliament. It is not a personal matter for Joyce to decide how best to handle it. It is about the standards Littleproud and Dutton accept as leaders of the Coalition from members of their own team.
It is obvious that Joyce dreams of returning to the Nationals leadership. The minor Coalition partyroom has long been divided. It is extraordinary how among such a small group the animosity is barely concealed. There are personality clashes, differences on policy and competing ambitions. Littleproud needs to muster the courage to take a stand against Joyce.
The great Nationals leaders of the past – John McEwen, Doug Anthony, Tim Fischer – would be wholly appalled by Joyce’s behaviour and would never tolerate it as leaders of the party. It is a sign of how far the Nationals have fallen.
It is impossible to imagine a McEwen, Anthony or Fischer, let alone Arthur Fadden or Earle Page, making apologies for Joyce in their ranks.
Dutton should not wash his hands of this either. He cannot simply say it is a matter for the Nationals. Dutton is, after all, the leader of the Coalition, of which Joyce is part. Dutton leads the bigger party and that, historically, matters. Robert Menzies was not afraid to tell McEwen he would not allow several Nationals to serve in his cabinet and McEwen accepted this.
Joyce is the opposition spokesman for veterans affairs. Who would know? He has not caused a ripple shadowing that portfolio. He rarely cuts through with anything related to this policy responsibility yet maintains a high public profile waxing lyrical about all manner of issues on morning television.
This latest imbroglio is far from an isolated incident. There have been claims of sexual harassment, affairs and drunken behaviour littered throughout Joyce’s life. His ministerial career is one of very limited achievement and his contribution to national public policy debates is negligible. He has made videos railing against the government while he was in government that make no sense.
Last week we were reminded in the compelling ABC TV documentary Nemesis of Joyce’s secret affair with then staff member Campion.
Joyce lied to Malcolm Turnbull’s face when asked if he was having an affair with a member of his staff. And he is still incensed by the so-called bonk ban that was implemented to prohibit repeat behaviour. When it was revealed that Joyce and Campion were having a child, they both demanded the media respect their privacy. Fair enough. That was until they accepted a large sum of money from the Seven Network for a tell-all television interview. On national TV they revealed all and were rewarded financially for their frankness.
In August 2018, I read Joyce’s memoir, Weatherboard & Iron. Again, he turned his back on a promise to “keep private matters private” when offered an advance and royalties. This book was tragedy writ large. He wrote about his marriage break-up and affair with Campion, and acknowledged concealing both from the public because it was part of the political game.
It was troubling to read that Joyce was often depressed, angry, drank too much and pursued women. He conceded his life at home “was a lie” and his life in Canberra made him “ashamed”. Joyce revealed that he climbed Canberra’s Red Hill late at night and prayed for redemption at “a special rock”. I wrote that the book revealed Joyce to be a sad and silly figure who was deeply troubled.
He may now be a different man but there are echoes of that former life. Joyce is now remarried with a young family. That is where his focus should be.
For the Nationals members who are usually socially conservative, their patience must be at an end. Joyce ceded any integrity or credibility long ago. He has no future in politics. It is time for his colleagues to tell him that hard truth.
Joyce has always been unfit for national public office. He has demonstrated this again and again with poor public behaviour. He is clearly not a well man.
He would do himself, his family and all of us a service by recognising this and quitting parliament.
How long must we endure this debasement of our politics by a man so utterly unworthy of public trust and responsibility?
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