Civil war engulfs Coalition leaders and parties

The relationship between Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce is considered by colleagues to be beyond repair.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce at his press conference at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday. Picture: Gary Ramage

The Turnbull government has plunged deeper into political crisis with the relationship between Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce considered by colleagues to be beyond repair following a public war of words that threatens to undermine the stability of the ­Coalition pact.

Alarmed Nationals MPs yesterday revived a push to force Mr Joyce to resign immediately after his bitter public rebuke of the Prime Minister sent shockwaves through the government.

Several Nationals MPs told The Weekend Australian Mr Joyce’s position was untenable and demanded he step down ­before the next partyroom meeting on Monday week where they warned he could face a spill ­motion for the leadership.

Mr Joyce yesterday deepened divisions within the Nationals partyroom when he labelled the Prime Minister’s scathing comments about his personal relationship with former staffer and mother of his unborn child, Vikki Campion, as “inept”.

One Nationals MP said: “It’s time to do the honourable thing to ensure that family is put first and time is taken to address those personal issues and let the government get on with governing.

“The right action to take is for the Deputy Prime Minister to stand down. The government will be paralysed.

“Clearly this will continue to be a national and inter­national story, and that’s in no one’s interest … There is no recovery from this position for the Deputy Prime Minister.”

Another senior Nationals MP said: “The talk Barnaby represents the whole party is bullshit ... I see the answer is that Barnaby needs to step down and go.”

Several cabinet ministers ­privately said the volley of personal attacks levelled by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime ­Minister against each other over Mr Joyce’s extramarital affair with a staffer was almost without ­precedent for two leaders in office.

Nationals MP Michelle ­Landry, a supporter of Mr Joyce who holds the marginal Queensland seat of Capricornia, yesterday provided qualified support for her leader, saying “we will have our partyroom meeting the Monday after next”, and at this point he had the “support of the partyroom”. The Nationals whip said Mr Joyce had spoken out against Mr Turnbull because he was “upset and hurt” by his comments.

Supporters of Mr Joyce say he was forced to watch Mr Turnbull’s “evisceration” on television in his office on Thursday afternoon. They claimed it was a “character assassination” of their leader ­delivered without warning.

Claiming the support of his colleagues, Mr Joyce hit back, ­admonishing the Prime Minister for urging him to “consider his own position” over the love-child scandal and cautioning Mr Turnbull not to intervene in the “party processes of the National Party”.

“In regards to comments by the Prime Minister ... I have to say that in many instances they caused ­further harm,” Mr Joyce said ­yesterday. “I believe they were in many instances inept and most definitely in many instances unnecessary. I listened to it and thought that was completely unnecessary. All that is going to do is basically once more pull the scab off for everyone to have a look at.”

Mr Turnbull, on announcing his ban on sex between ministers and their staff on Thursday, ­accused Mr Joyce of a “shocking error of judgment” for having an affair with his now-pregnant ­staffer that had “appalled us all” and caused a “world of woe” for the Nationals leader’s estranged wife and daughters.

Ms Landry said she understood Mr Turnbull’s position and wanted both leaders to “get ­together, away from staff and the cameras, in a room and discuss it, and resolve it”.

“We need to get on with the job of governing this country, and going tit-for-tat doesn’t really help,” Ms Landry said.

The Weekend Australian understands the Joyce affair was ­expected to be raised at Liberal National Party branch meetings held yesterday, as party officials and MPs sought feedback on the widening love-child scandal.

Party elders from both camps have claimed there is an urgency to have the issue resolved for “the good of the government”. Mr Turnbull is due to fly to the US on Wednesday and Mr Joyce is taking personal leave for a week from Monday.

It is believed Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce spoke briefly following Mr Joyce’s comments yesterday. Mr Turnbull held a press conference in response in which he reached out to colleagues in the Nationals, telling them he wasn’t attempting to interfere with their partyroom.

“Neither I nor my colleagues have made any criticism of the National Party,” he said.

“Expressing views of disapproval or criticism of Barnaby’s own conduct is not criticism of the National Party; indeed the sentiments that I expressed yesterday, which I stand by, but I don’t need to repeat again now, those sentiments are quite consistent with those expressed by many members of the National Party itself.”

Liberal and Nationals MPs were in shock yesterday, with ­almost all those contacted by The Weekend Australian agreeing that the only course of action left was for Mr Joyce to step down.

Supporters of Mr Joyce urged him to reconcile with Mr Turnbull and get on with the job, but a growing number are losing confidence in his leadership following his decision to return fire at the Prime Minister.

Former Nationals leader John Anderson called on Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce, and the two parties, to “set aside their differences for the good of the government”.

The former deputy prime minister to John Howard called for the Nationals to “clean up their mess” earlier this week.

Yesterday he said the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister must not allow “anger, hurt or pride” to stand in the way of the Coalition.

“Publicly insulting one another locks their teams in behind them in their own bog holes and makes settlement impossible,” Mr Anderson said.

“The leaders and the parties have to recognise their responsibilities are firstly and frankly to prevent further damaging their credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of the Australian people.”

Mr Anderson has not called for Mr Joyce to resign but has insisted the Nationals must deal with the problems surrounding his leadership and warned the Liberal Party cannot interfere in the Nationals’ leadership.

Liberal Party president Nick Greiner said he had been in discussions with Nationals president Larry Anthony and that, at an ­organisational level, nothing had or would change.

While refusing to comment on the split between Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce, Mr Greiner said he and Mr Anthony had a “first-class” ­relationship.

Nationals MPs said the numbers in the partyroom were shifting following Mr Joyce’s verbal assault on the Prime Minister and argued it was possible that a spill motion for the leadership could be put. “Barnaby has been very good for our party ... but this scandal has engulfed our party, our Coalition and put the parliament on hold,” one Nationals MP said.

“If (a spill) happens, I think the numbers may well be against Barnaby ... continuing on in this belief no one else can do the job other than him is a fallacy.”

Seeking to capitalise on the ­crisis, Bill Shorten stood alongside his deputy Tanya Plibersek yesterday in a deliberate display of leadership unity and called on Mr Turnbull to sack Mr Joyce. He declared the rift between the Prime Minister and his deputy a “full-blown political crisis”.

“Quite frankly, the way these two men are behaving, neither of them are fit for the high office they currently hold,” the Opposition Leader said.

He said the leaders had ­“declared war” on each other, and “Australians have every reason to be angry and frustrated when the two most senior Australian ­leaders are not focused on anything other than their own jobs”.

Additional reporting: Dennis Shanahan, Michael McKenna