Barnaby Joyce spent up at mate Greg Maguire’s hotel

Barnaby Joyce has faced new questions over government payments of more than $5000 to a hotel owned by a close friend.

Quality Powerhouse Hotel in Tamworth owned by businessman Greg Maguire.

Barnaby Joyce has faced new questions over government payments worth more than $5000 made to a hotel owned by his close friend and businessman Greg ­Maguire, who last year gifted him six months rent free in an Armidale townhouse.

Labor used question time to ambush Mr Joyce over payments made by the Agriculture Department when he was minister on March 31, 2016, to the Quality Powerhouse Hotel in Tamworth.

Documents provided by the department show it forked out $2691 to cover three-course meals — including “smoked Thai beef salad”, “braised country fresh lamb shanks” and “sticky date pudding” — for an Agricultural Industry Advisory Council networking ­dinner attended by Mr Joyce and his wife, Natalie.

The cost of drinks — including Stony Peak’s Sparkling, Shiraz Merlot and Chardonnay — set taxpayers’ back $2377.50, with Labor asking Mr Joyce whether his office had “played any role in selecting his close friend’s business” to hold the function.

Mr Joyce was forced to take the question “on notice”, saying he was not aware of any payment but later said decisions “in the vicinity of $5000” didn’t generally cross his desk when he was the minister.

Mr Maguire owns the Quality Powerhouse Hotel in Tamworth and another motel in Armidale by the same name. The former hotel has hosted federal and state government forums, events and dinners, including the AIAC dinner Mr Joyce hosted.

GRAPHIC: The Armidale venue

The secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Daryl Quinlivan, issued a statement shortly after question time saying the Powerhouse Hotel was selected “in line with our procurement guidelines.”

“The details of the costs were provided to the Senate legislation committee on 28 April, 2016, as part of our usual reporting process on AIAC events,” he said.

The Labor attack on Mr Joyce followed revelations in The Weekend Australian that Mr Maguire gifted Mr Joyce a $550-a-week townhouse in Armidale late last year following the Nationals leader’s marriage break-up.

The relationship between Mr Joyce and Mr Maguire became the subject of intense parliamentary scrutiny yesterday when Mr Joyce contradicted his mate, saying he never asked for the home or the rent-free deal.

Mr Maguire told The Australian on Monday he was approached for help. “He asked me because we are mates and he knew I had property around town,” he said.

“This apartment was empty at the moment and there is no way I would have said no.”

Speaking in the parliament after Labor moved a motion urging Mr Turnbull to sack him, Mr Joyce said: “I did not approach him (Mr Maguire). He made the ­approach to me when I was not a minister.”

Mr Joyce officially moved in on December 3 — after his by-­election but before he was sworn back in as a minister — but he also used it during the by-election.

Mr Maguire, an influential businessman and long-time friend of Mr Joyce, has a property portfolio worth at least $25 million in the federal electorate of New Eng­land and in two coastal NSW towns, which includes two hotels, holiday homes and pastoral leases.

He has been a keen player in federal politics for at least two decades and started his empire with a jeans store. The seat of his cattle company Powerhouse Pastoral Pty Ltd is in Nundle, southeast of Tamworth, where Mr Maguire owns more than $10m worth of land.