Barnaby Joyce’s tendency to self-destructive behaviour has rarely elicited anything other than a wry smile and blokey indulgence from his colleagues in the Nationals — those MPs who now, hilariously, are complaining that people filmed a drunken Joyce lying on a Canberra footpath rather than helping him. The standard you walk past is the standard you accept, perhaps — and Nationals MPs have been walking past Joyce’s antics for two decades. Indeed, they chose him to lead them despite the problems with alcohol, the unresolved accusations of sexual harassment (accusations he denies), and the very public marriage breakdown.
The Canberra footpath incident has now placed at least a pro forma question over Joyce’s continued position on the Dutton frontbench. What, exactly, is Joyce’s position on the frontbench? He’s shadow veterans’ affairs minister — something few if any people outside Canberra would be aware of.
A key reason for that is that, as a shadow minister, Joyce is apparently uninterested in his work.
Since the election more than 18 months ago, Joyce has asked just three questions in Parliament of Labor’s Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh.*
And while media releases aren’t a particularly accurate guide to the quality of a frontbencher, Joyce has issued just 23 media releases on veterans’ issues in his entire time as shadow minister — or around one a month. His own website includes far more releases on his own electorate — fair enough — but also Joyce opining on regional Australia (portfolio responsibility: Bridget McKenzie), the road toll (also McKenzie) multiple media releases on the Voice referendum (portfolio responsibility: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price), and net zero (now deleted — portfolio responsibility: Ted O’Brien).
In fact, carbon emissions, and protecting the industries that produce them, is Joyce’s main focus in opposition: attending rallies to attack renewables, going on Sky to attack renewables, backing a motion to remove net zero from his party’s platform, going on Sky to attack renewables again, telling Parliament in September the Coalition’s commitment to net zero by 2050 had an “untenable” cost, attacking net zero on Sky in July, trying to undermine leader David Littleproud over net zero, going on Sky News again to attack renewables, going on Sky yet again to tell Andrew Bolt how terrible net zero is, doing videos about the “mad fantasy” of renewables.
Renewable energy, and fighting it, gets Joyce far more enthused and energised than his day job of speaking up for veterans.
And a distracted shadow minister couldn’t come at a worse time for Australia’s veterans. The defence and veteran suicide royal commission is slowly wending its way to a conclusion later this year. In September last year, royal commissioner Nick Kaldas gave a remarkable speech at the National Press Club in which he savaged the Department of Defence. “We’ve heard contemporary lived experience accounts of abuse, assault, bastardisation, bullying, harassment, discrimination, misogyny — and physical and sexual violence within the ADF,” Kaldas said. He feared that “the defence hierarchy is simply waiting for this inquiry to end so that it can go back to business as usual.”
Kaldas said his commission has found no evidence the department “is prioritising the mental health and wellbeing of its people in a sustainable way, nor does it seem to be responding adequately to the pressing issue of suicide and suicidality in its ranks with any sense of urgency”. And the Department of Veterans’ Affairs had an “adversarial culture” that was re-traumatising veterans.
It’s hard to think of a more important time in veterans’ affairs in a generation, yet Joyce is off literally tilting at windmills in his crazed determination to prop up fossil fuels. Imagine if he’d devoted half of his Sky interviews to speaking up for veterans.
Regardless of his alcohol intake, or the other behaviours readily dismissed as “Barnaby being Barnaby”, Australia’s veterans are owed the Coalition taking its obligations to them seriously. And that would start with replacing Joyce.
*The original version of this article stated about Barnaby Joyce that “He’s asked just 34 questions on notice — a key mechanism for obtaining information from the government for the opposition.” This is incorrect. We have been advised that, since his appointment to the role of shadow veterans’ affairs minister, Joyce has asked, not 34, but 87 questions on notice, 71 of which were related to the Defence/Veterans portfolios. This in fact makes Joyce one of the more prolific users of questions on notice on the opposition frontbench, and Crikey is happy to correct the record.
Do our veterans deserve better than Barnaby? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
From Guardian Australia yesterday: “It’s pretty rough when people are walking past somebody who might need support,” Dutton said.
“I understand a chalk mark has been drawn on the footpath. It could only happen in Canberra where all those Greens and Labor staffers are.
I live in Canberra. We also have Liberal party staffers here. We have recently seen footage of some of them drinking themselves senseless in some of the bars and clubs around town.
Some of whom then cop a yooog taxpayer gift and swan off to buy a chateau in the south of France.
Don’t you love Dutton. As if any Liberal staffer would walk over to a large, rambling, cursing drunk, on his mobile, obviously not in any danger, and offer him assistance. Imagine that Dutton saw a Greens member in similar state. Would he offer assistance? No, he’d film it, hand it over to Sky After Dark, and make as much political milage out of it as he could. Or he’d look around for witnesses, and then go the boot if none were present.
He needs more than a chalkmark, a plaque like the one allegedly at Engadine McDonalds honouring Scotty’s “mishap” would be fitting.
“It’s pretty rough when people are walking past somebody who might need support,” Dutton said.
Yet the previous government, of which he was a member, did that constantly through Robodebt and likely has selective blindness to the homeless.
It’s interesting looking at the UK reaction to their post office scandal and the 900+ lives ruined by Horizon – an automated software system – with polling suggesting it will bring down the government (not sure they needed any extra help) – and comparing that to Robodebt – similar individual impacts (financial ruin, reputations destroyed, suicides etc) – but impacting millions rather than hundreds of people. Perhaps we need a mini-series….(if only we had a media network independent enough to screen it)….
Yes. What we get instead is the bizarre ABC fantasy series Total Control. Or Darby and Joan.
“It’s pretty rough when people are walking past somebody who might need support,”
They weren’t walking past ‘somebody’. They were walking past Barnaby Joyce. There’s a difference.
Correct me if I misinterpreted the content of this story – About BJ being Shadow Minister for Veterans Affairs and his poor performance in the portfolio. Rather than about the only link he may have with Veterans an attraction to consuming mind numbing self prescribed treatment.
The comments currently here are about his performance in the street. Veterans do have a lot of issues with DVA the dealing with them can cause them to take their lives or at the very least indulge in the drink. The royal commission was to expose the issues at the roots of DVA administration of entitlements and support or the lack there of.
There have been many hours of collection of information for this Royal Commission and the Veteran Community would like to see some actionable recommendations.
For the record Shadow or Otherwise the ongoing revolving door of the Minister for Veterans Affairs has been just that a stepping up or off point to a political step up. Until they take it seriously more veterans will die from the neglect of appropriate services or support.
Unfortunally, our politicians are all care and no responsibility. Love to bask in the glory of battle but in denial of the human wrecks that come home to their families.
On the other hand those who survive feel obliged to support their relevant campaign as to be anti war would be a failure to support mates that may not have made it or suffered physical and or mental injury.
Or politicians have a lot to answer for.
Can someone please explain why The Media call BJ “ Australia’s best retail politician” ? I’ve always wondered .
Trump presents as quite stupid. Bleach, he thought that China paid his tariffs, the juvenile name-calling. You wouldn’t elect him as form captain. Would you? But the appeal of Trump to a significant proportion of the US electorate seems to me to say that they are comfortable with dumb. He speaks their language. What he says does not require analysis, and often defies it. I think that that must be the appeal of Joyce. He’s such an obvious dill, bottom of the class. How could anyone vote for him over Tony Windsor? Answer: he’s one of them. His voters probably find lying on the footpath endearing. How to help them to not vote against their own interests is the critical political marketing question.
There’s a line from a Randy Newman song called ‘Rednecks‘. “He may be a fool, but he’s our fool.” That’s Barnaby Joyce to his voters. Like Trump, the more nonsensical and incompetent he becomes, the more he’s loved.
How do you know that you’re a redneck? When you have got six brothers and they are all called Bubba.
Because he is fungible and can be bought retail?
He speaks his mind, such as it is.
But then, I’ve never understood why Scomo was considered a brilliant campaigner.
Remember Joyce whining that he couldn’t live on a backbenchers salary. To shut him up Morrison sent him on a drought research tour of the country. Of course Joyce made a meal of it by claiming almost $700,000 in expenses for the nine months. A reasonable portion of which would likely have found it’s way into his pocket. And at the end of it, all all he had to show was a short text message to Morrison. A blowhard pseudo farmboy with a suspiciously clean hat.
Couldn’t live on a backbenchers salary, and didn’t want welfare payments for other Australians to rise…or free health care to those in need, or subsidies for renewables to make everyone’s lives better, or….you name a benefit that isn’t based on BJ’s self-interest….and he’s against it.
Former accountant ffs. Ex private school, of course.
“Remember Joyce whining that he couldn’t live on a backbenchers salary.”
Abbott got a full page spread from one of the Dailies with that line back in the day.
I didn’t know he was the Shadow for Veteran’s Affairs. In my opinion probably only doing the job for the extra pay rather than being invested in it after reading the article. Who can remember him whinging about losing his ministerial salary years ago and life being tough on a backbenchers salary of approx $200K.
I still haven’t forgotten his opposition to making the Gardasil vaccine free for girls and women to prevent them from getting the HPV which causes 70% of cervical cancers. His reasoning was that it would promote promiscuity and being a family man he couldn’t vote for it. Say no more!
I knew Abbott opposed it being made available and that was an abuse of his power as Health Minister at the time, but then Abbott has a habit of thinking he knows what’s best for everyone else, which is why he made himself Minister for Women and took charge of indigenous affairs. I didn’t know that Barnaby opposed making it free. Does he realise that HPV also causes oral, penile and anal cancers in men? Did he oppose it being free for men? I wonder how he’d feel if we charged men for prostate investigations.
Apparently he did not oppose it for male according to this article. Go figure!
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/barnaby-joyces-other-betrayal-20180209-h0vurf.html