The thin, but nonetheless very real, silver lining of the vast tropical low that is wreaking such havoc on the government at the moment is that Malcolm Turnbull will have a far better government without Barnaby Joyce. Getting rid of this incompetent flake and slapping the Nationals back into place will be just what the Prime Minister needs to start governing effectively.
As Crikey outlined on Monday, Joyce is a walking disaster. Everything he touches is a debacle. The current catastrophe of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is down to Joyce’s truculent refusal to do anything in water policy that didn’t pander to his irrigator mates — including making sure the states took their responsibilities seriously. In parliament, he is literally incoherent about his “new” portfolio, infrastructure, reflexively talking about another colossal Nationals waste of money, the inland rail, even when asked about Tasmanian projects. Politically, Joyce has mishandled every aspect of the revelations over the last week.
Worse than that, Joyce and his colleagues have been a deadweight on Turnbull, a significant part of the forces that have prevented the Prime Minister from fulfilling even a fraction of the expectations of moderate Liberals and progressives. On marriage equality, energy policy, climate action, foreign investment, the Nationals under Joyce have been a malignant force of reaction that have crippled Turnbull.
If Joyce is removed, the Nationals will still be in the Coalition. Tony Abbott will still keep trying to wreck the government. The right of the party will still need to be placated. Turnbull’s PMO — hung out to dry yesterday by the PM on that “not his partner” nonsense — will still be awful. But the Nationals will have no political authority. They are responsible for most of the drama that has beset the government over the last eight months, and none more so than the blithering incompetent Joyce. Freed of him, Turnbull can treat the Nationals as the junior partner they are and assert himself more effectively and with greater competence.
ROTFL You’re ever the optimist Bernard.
I’m afraid merely getting rid of Joyce will have bugger all effect on the stinking pile of ordure that is the Turnbull Govt.
Surely it could only get better with Barnaby gone, it couldnt get any worse.
Faulty logic I fear Phil…one missing turd in a bucket of turds does not make the bucket any more attractive..!!
*monkey paw curls up a finger*
Dead wrong, Bernard. Maybe if he had acted decisively the minute the “jobs for the mistress” issue was first known about, then he might have come across as a strong leader. Instead, his mealy mouthed, semantic nonsense about when Joyce’s mistress was officially his “partner” is turning this debacle into a repeat of the Bronwyn Bishop or Godwin Grech debacles. I expect that Malcontent’s personal standing will start heading towards the same territory the Coalition languishes in in the polls.
I think the Bishop example is quite instructive. Abbott defended her chopper ride claim for so long that he lost all credibility and it was not long after that Trumble replaced him. If Trumble is not seen to be taking action he’ll go the same way.
You are right Marcus. If any PM let a prat like Joyce put it over him like this one has, then he is a useless bag of prevaricating shit. Imagine a Keating doffing a forelock to the bunsh of bastards stumbling behind Turnbull. As for BK; wakey,wake You!
Turnbull is totally disgusting with or without Barnaby Joyce. Every time we say it couldn’t get any worse , it does !! His levels of incompetence are how we got to this place.! He couldn’t govern effectively. Julia Gillard had worse enemies inside and outside. Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbot ?? But she still governed effectively even if it was a her own expense . The difference she wanted to govern for us , he is all about Malcolm Turnbull .
Totally nailed it, Di. Malcontent cares about one person only……Malcontent. It’s all about him keeping the top job, at any price…….even $1.75m
Spot on Di.
Gillard puts all her PM successors to shame in the policy and legislative stakes. Managed to run a minority government effectively and got the job done in spite of all the opposition from within her own party as well as the appalling misogynistic, unprecedented treatment from the Abbott opposition and the disgusting, shameful treatment from the media and assorted radio shock jocks. Can you imagine what her situation would have been if she was tainted by anything like the Right Honourable Beetrooter is facing. Notice how quiet those shock jocks have been lately too? As for Turnbull, enough contributors have already expressed the waste of space he has proven to be.
People forget that Gillard had not one, but TWO hostile Houses to contend with – not the 1-sycophantic/1-ambivalent combo Malware has. And she still holds the record for average bills passed per day, of any prime minister (for a rusted-on Keating fan to say all that, feels better than you might think).
And we’re meant to feel sorry for a PM that has it all (1friendly/1″meh” Hose combo, and a press-pack sucking his cock) and it STILL goes tits-up.
LOL. Very well put.
Very indeed!
I told you a few weeks ago Bernard there are millions of voters across the country who viscerally hate Turnbull, there’s no coming back from that, preferred prime minister is a load of shit, they always prefer the incumbent, maybe they just poll thick’eads
BTW, the Nationals will still be the difference between the Liberals holding government & being in Opposition……so, no, they cannot afford to treat them as a “junior partner”, even if Joyce ends up on the backbench…..where I feel certain he will join his mate Abbott in undermining the PM at every opportunity.
Spot on, Marcus. The underlying assumption in Bernard’s thesis is that the Nationals will be chastened by the demise of Barnacle. Good luck with that! They will still hold enough stick to beat Malcolm with because what spine he does have is, resting precariously on the thinnest majority. Arguably, it could get worse with Barnacle’s enthusiasm for holding a grudge (second only to Abbott’s and Rudd’s). Together, they could make it much worse for Malcolm.