{"id":46138,"date":"2019-05-02T12:10:20","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T02:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=46138"},"modified":"2022-05-02T12:57:35","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T02:57:35","slug":"will-the-real-barnaby_joyce-please-show-up-newenglandlady4-reports-on-newenglandvotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/will-the-real-barnaby_joyce-please-show-up-newenglandlady4-reports-on-newenglandvotes\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the real @Barnaby_Joyce please show up: @NewEnglandLady4 reports on #NewEnglandVotes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When federal Member for New England Barnaby Joyce cheated on his wife Natalie, many of his supporters maintained that it was a personal matter and not newsworthy<\/a>. If the only issue with Barnaby was that he had an extramarital affair, I would agree \u2014 people make mistakes \u2014 but the enduring anger isn\u2019t simply about the affair. It’s about the breach of voter trust, mismanagement, ignoring the law, and the promotion of mining ahead of rural community interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only Barnaby knows why he chose to conceal the truth from his constituents during the 2017 by-election, why he decided to publicly question his son\u2019s paternity<\/a>, and then sold any remaining self-respect for a $150,000 television interview<\/a>. But it all raises questions about who Barnaby is as a person, his ethics and values as well as lengths he will go to protect himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trumpy Barney<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The National Party was established to further the political interests of primary producers<\/a>. It eventually expanded its role to provide a voice to people who lived outside of metropolitan areas. Like the people it represents, the National Party has historically taken a conservative approach, with policies aligned to traditional family values and high ethical and moral standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barnaby Joyce was elected to the Senate in 2004 as a National Party Senator for Queensland and brought a new type of style to the National Party. In 2016 he became party leader and deputy prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He can be described as being brash, impulsive, hot-headed, a renegade, combative and lacking respect for women<\/a>. Terms such as ‘retail politics’ and populism are often used to describe Barnaby\u2019s style. In his 2016 article Barnaby Joyce is a master of panto and pork barrelling<\/a> Ed Ganon described Barnaby\u2019s style as “Trumpesque”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His spectacular fall from grace started with dual-citizenship issu<\/a>e<\/a>s<\/a> and finished with sexual harassment allegations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late 2018, the local National Party selection committee struggled to reach an agreement regarding his preselection over concerns that there could be more skeletons in the closet<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, a number of prominent rural women<\/a> expressed their anger over his lack of respect for women and his promotion of mining over the interests of primary producers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2013, New South Wales Rural Woman of the Year Isobel Knight said she \u201chad hoped the National Party would remove Joyce in the coming federal election and stand another candidate, but he had not been replaced\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt speaks of [the National party] not having the spine they need to have,\u201d Knight said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Barnaby an asset or a liability for the Nationals, especially with female voters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family values Barney<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A strong supporter of heterosexual marriage and traditional family values, Barnaby campaigned for years against same-sex marriage. A February, 2018 news article<\/a> stared : \u201cJoyce told attendees at an anti-marriage equality rally (organised by the Australian Christian Lobby and the Australian Family Association) that same-sex marriage would negatively affect his four daughters\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has been reported as saying that same-sex marriage undermined what he called a woman\u2019s \u201csecure relationship with a loving husband\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By spending years in Canberra \u201cwandering and getting closer to other women\u201d<\/a> and having an extra-marital affair with a staffer, Barnaby singlehandedly destroyed the \u201csecure relationship\u201d of his wife and that of his daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Barnaby’s hypocrisy on what he labels \u201ctraditional\u201d relationships and values point to double standards in his parliamentary record?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pesty Barney<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A Senate report<\/a> found that Barnaby Joyce\u2019s push to relocate the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) from Canberra to Armidale created widespread, ongoing negative impacts. The decision didn’t have the backing of the Liberal or National Party cabinet. APVMA personnel opposed the relocation<\/a> with a large number of senior scientists resigning. A number of experts, organisations and farm leadership bodies also expressed concern regarding the relocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An article written in 2016 states<\/a>: \u201cThe forced move of a public service agency from Canberra to northern NSW will rip more than $157 million a year from the capital’s economy as well as costing the ACT region 365 jobs\u201d. The same article went on to say that \u201ctaxpayers were to be hit with a $25.6 million bill just to move the authority from Canberra to the heart of Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce’s northern NSW electorate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These figures were included in the cost-benefit analysis<\/a> prepared by Ernst and Young for the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources in August, 2016. The analysis also said: \u201cThe economic benefits for the Australian economy associated with moving the APVMA from Canberra to Armidale are modest\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following an ABC Four Corners<\/em> episode, the senate requested the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Reference Committee conduct an inquiry into the APVMA relocation. The Committee\u2019s report<\/a> was released in February, 2019 and was highly critical of the decision to relocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same report was also scathing of Barnaby\u2019s decision to relocate the APVMA to his own electorate. Similar to the findings from the South Australian Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, this raises additional serious questions regarding his ministerial suitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free lunch Barney<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 1998, Barnaby Joyce established an accountancy practice \u2014 Barnaby Joyce & Co \u2014 in the Queensland town of St George. St George is located about an hour north of Dirranbandi, Cubbie Station and the properties Clyde and Kia Ora. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the information contained in the book The Social Life of Water<\/em><\/a> <\/em>published in 2013: \u201cJohn Grabbe has long been a major player in the National Party, Cubbie Station sponsored the election of Barnaby Joyce\u2019s senate campaign as senator for Queensland in Canberra and as leader of the Nationals in the Senate. Thus Cubbie Station has its own senator, Barnaby Joyce, a grateful recipient of donations from Cubbie and Grabbe, and a dogged advocate of Cubbie\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.@hamishnews<\/a> uncovers some fresh insights into the water buy back scandal #TheProjectTV<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/jEFeyA6SpO<\/a><\/p>— The Project (@theprojecttv) April 29, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>