Friday, March 29

Barnaby Joyce drops out of ABC’s Insiders as Labor says his role as deputy prime minister is ‘untenable’ | australian news


Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has revealed he has offered his resignation to Scott Morrison while publicly apologizing for calling him a “hypocrite and a liar” in a leaked text message.

Joyce told reporters on Saturday that Morrison had rejected her offer to resign as deputy prime minister during a phone call earlier this week after Joyce learned screenshots of the text were being distributed.

In the message, dated last March and written before he returned to leadership of the Nationals, Joyce wrote that he did not “get along” with Morrison, saying: “He is a hypocrite and a liar from my observations and that is for a long time.” … I have never trusted him, and I do not like the seriousness with which [he] turns the truth into a lie.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said on Saturday it was now “untenable” for Joyce to continue as deputy prime minister, saying Joyce had been in the same cabinet as Morrison for half a decade when he sent the text.

ABC Insiders’ Sunday morning political talk show also announced that Joyce had retired of a scheduled interview with the program. Home Secretary Karen Andrews would take her place.

Joyce told reporters on Saturday that “I never expected [the text] end up in the public realm” and said his views at the time were based on “assumptions and comments” from a deputy.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the government was
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the government was “obsessed with its internal hatred and dysfunction”. Photograph: Steven Saphore/AAP

Joyce said: “I offered him my resignation and he did not accept my resignation. And that, in itself, is a statement of a person of greater character. That’s not one of a person of any form of revenge or a sense of retribution.”

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Joyce accepted that the appearance of the text harmed the prime minister, saying “you don’t apologize for things you don’t think will cause harm.”

He did not elaborate on what prompted the text, but said “whatever it was, it was wrong because it was never from a conversation that I had with the prime minister, because I was never in a job that had a conversation with the prime minister in that stage.”

Joyce claimed that since becoming deputy prime minister in July 2021, Morrison had “shown competence” in negotiations within the Coalition and had “honored all agreements” with the Coalition’s junior partner.

The text had been sent by its original anonymous recipient to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, Joyce said.

On Friday night, Morrison did not say an offer of resignation had been made, but said in a statement that he had accepted Joyce’s apology immediately.

He said: “I understand that Barnaby was in a different headspace last year, both professionally and personally, and I know he doesn’t really feel that way anymore. Relationships change over time. Politicians are human beings too. We all have our weaknesses and none of us is perfect.

Parliament is scheduled to return on Tuesday. Albanese told reporters that Joyce’s text was “extraordinary” and said the government was “obsessed with its internal hatred and dysfunction.”

He said that Joyce’s role at Morrison’s side was now “untenable” and rejected Joyce’s suggestion that their most recent relationship had changed his opinion of the prime minister.

“That was after Barnaby Joyce had served in the cabinet for over half a decade alongside Scott Morrison… The idea that this was just a flippant comment is simply untenable,” he said.

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The emergence of the explosive message comes just days after a text exchange between former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and a current federal minister during questions at the National Press Club was revealed.

Berejiklian had described the prime minister as a “horrible, horrible person” and the unnamed minister said that Morrison was a “fraud” and a “total psychopath”.




www.theguardian.com

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