Barnaby Joyce’s honour sacrificed at the altar of political survival

The revelation that Barnaby Joyce was indeed a New Zealand citizen, shook me to my core. Picture: AAP

When Malcolm Turnbull ridiculed the Greens over the resignations of Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters he chortled over the carelessness he believed was apparent in the fact that neither of them knew they held joint citizenships of another country.

The Prime Minister looked just a little silly when Matt Canavan’s situation was revealed. Rather than take the truly principled position taken by the two Greens senators, the PM wanted it both ways. Canavan would stand aside from cabinet but would not resign from the Senate.

As I wrote on Monday, abandoning his principles is becoming more and more common with our PM, but even I wasn’t prepared for what happened in the House of Representatives on Monday.

The revelation that contrary to his assertions a few weeks ago when interviewed by Patricia Karvelas on Sky News, Barnaby Joyce was indeed a New Zealand citizen, shook me to my core. Here was the No 2 in the political hierarchy of my country caught out in a situation analogous to the two Greens, Canavan and One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts. Surely, I thought, he would have to stand aside from cabinet like Canavan.

Like the Greens, I knew he should resign, but with the government sitting on a gossamer-thin majority of one, I figured that in the ethics-free zone engulfing our PM, there would be no room for an honourable resignation by his deputy. Watching question time on Monday I really felt for Joyce. He is a decent man and he could not hide his embarrassment. His discomfort was obvious but that is inevitable when you sacrifice your honour at the altar of political survival.

Christopher Pyne has no such problem. He is first and foremost a politician who revels in parliamentary shenanigans. Tony Burke delivered a withering speech which tore all of the flesh off this flimsy, fake disgrace of ­allowing Joyce to keep going as if the matter of his joint citizenship were a mere inconvenience.

Burke’s contribution was one of the best parliamentary performances I have ever witnessed and it was followed by a typical Pyne response. Dripping with insincerity and with scorn oozing from every pore, Pyne had nothing relevant to say. Mind you, he did point out the hypocrisy of both sides of the house by reminding us of Labor’s defence of Craig Thomson, which involved the propping up of the minority Gillard government when every number really counted.

That the Thomson and Joyce situations were too far apart in the facts to be spoken of in the same breath didn’t stop our Christopher.

Of course he was only following on from the PM, who declared in question time that the High Court would definitely find in the government’s favour.

His confidence should have been shattered when professor Anne Twomey, one of the top constitutional experts in the nation, told us she thought Barnaby was on shaky legal ground.

This drama will go on day after day for months unless Barnaby listens to his heart and his conscience and stands aside.