Barnaby Joyce’s Resignation Rejected by PM; Victoria Reports 41 C0VID Deaths, QLD 21 and NSW 18; Anti-Vaxxers Protest in Canberra
By Graham Readfearn and Caitlin Cassidy
Joyce is asked if things will be awkward in parliament next week with the PM, and whether the text will damage the upcoming election campaign.
Obviously you’d say that the optics of it is for others to decide. But no, the first call I made on becoming aware of this text becoming public was to the prime minister.
I think that the election campaign will be based on a clear decision. It’s going to be the Nationals and the Liberals in a working relationship, or the Greens and Labor in a working relationship. And the Australian people will make that decision on whether they want the Greens and Labor running the country, or they want the Liberals and the Nationals running the country.
And off he goes.
Joyce says the PM has honoured “every agreement” he’s had with him, which is why he trusts him, despite calling him a liar as a backbencher.
Asked if the text will be damaging to the prime minister, particularly on a week he has also been described as “horrible, horrible”, Joyce says well, of course:
Obviously, you wouldn’t be apologising for it if you didn’t think that there was something wrong with it. But what you have to do is make amends for it. So you don’t apologise for things that you don’t think cause harm.
Should people trust the PM?
“Yes,” Joyce says, “they should”.
You should always base something on fact. And I base that on the fact that in the most difficult of times, the pandemic, the geopolitical situation that Australia is in in our region of the world, in negotiations with the Coalition, he’s showed competency, and also he’s honoured every agreement. Every agreement that I’ve had with him. There’s not one word of it that he hasn’t stuck to.
A reporter asks what the comments – that he was a “hypocrite” and a “liar” – were about specifically.
Joyce says “whatever it is was, was wrong” because it was never from a conversation he had with the PM.
I was never in a job that I had a conversation with the prime minister at that stage. So what you’re basing it on is based on what you read in the paper. And what you read in the paper, you know better than I do.
Does he trust Scott Morrison now?
“Yes,” Joyce says, “I do”.
Barnaby Joyce says text calling Scott Morrison a liar was ‘based on assumptions – not fact’
A reporter asks Joyce why he felt the PM was a hypocrite and a liar. Why did the text get sent to Brittany Higgins?
Joyce says the message was based on assumptions, not fact, and he thinks he told the person who sent the message not to forward it on to Higgins.
I didn’t send it to Brittany Higgins. I sent it to another person who forwarded it on. In fact, I think that I said to … never to forward it on. Your views from the backbench are based on assumption and commentary, not on a one on one relationship. And basing something on commentary is a flawed process. Dealing with someone one on one in the hardest job in the nation is something entirely different. To actually be in a room with a person when you’re dealing with such things as Aukus, the pandemic, how we make our nation a stronger place, gives a vastly greater insight than your life totally at the back of the chamber. And so, it was based on assumptions – not fact.
Joyce says the fact the PM did not accept his resignation is a “statement of a person of great character”.
That is not one of a person of any form of vindictiveness or a sense of retribution. Really, the issue in regards, no doubt you’ll ask, ‘What is your views?’ and, ‘why did you say it?’ … and therefore they are basing something on assumptions and commentary, not the proper process. The proper process of analysis is done by a court. And that process is now afoot, and so I shall not be offering any commentary on a legal process.
Joyce goes on to say the Australian people have “no real interest” in some of the intrigues of Canberra, like the deputy prime minister calling the prime minister a liar, presumably.
What they’re interested in is their future. What they’re terribly concerned about and interested in is such things as what China and Russia are agreeing to at the moment.
PM rejected Barnaby Joyce’s resignation over text calling him a ‘liar’
Joyce:
I want to apologise to the prime minister. Last year in March, I was approached by a number of people to help them. I did. And … that assisted in a legal process that is now afoot. However, I should never have written the text that I did. I certainly never expected the text to be forwarded on. And I don’t blame anybody but myself, but I never expected it to end up in the public realm. But it would not have ended up in the public realm had I not written it, so the fault is mine.
My view from the backbench about the prime minister is based on assumption and commentary, not from a one on one working relationship. And from a one on one working relationship, I found a man who has honoured every agreement that he’s made with me. And who I have noted has honoured every agreement that he’s made with others from both sides of the political fence. When it came to light a couple of days ago, I rang the prime minister immediately. I apologised. He accepted my apology. I offered my resignation and he did not accept my resignation.
Barnaby Joyce is speaking now, issuing an apology to the prime minister.
He says he should “never have written” the text that he did and never expected it to be forwarded on and end up in the public realm.
But it would not end up in the public realm if I hadn’t written it, so the fault is mine.
NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is speaking now from Sydney airport.
He was just rudely interrupted by a flight announcement (“this was always going to happen”, he muttered), but he’s talking about business investment into Rex which is expanding the airline’s services across Sydney and regional NSW.
We’ve always had strong financial foundations in this state. The strongest economy in the country. And importantly, as part of that, it’s working with the private sector to drive that investment so that will create more jobs for the people of our state and this commitment today from Rex is a sign of confidence in the New South Wales economy. It’s a sign of confidence that will drive opportunity and prosperity for the people of our state for decades to come.
This investment today will also include an expansion for call centre, Rex’s call centre in Orange. Also a flight simulator, as well as other expansions right here at Sydney airport. Sydney is Australia’s tourism capital. And importantly, this investment will ensure greater tourism opportunities for regional New South Wales.
With 59 lives lost in NSW and Victoria alone, it is worth reading, if you haven’t already, Tory Shepherd’s piece on Sue Rees, who survived cancer but died in hospital as Australia’s Omicron wave took off.
As Australia’s death toll grows, we know very little about who has died. Daily press conferences reveal the rising number, often accompanied by the disclaimer that those who died had “underlying conditions”.
Sue would have hated being a statistic, her daughter says:
She always hated taking off her clothes, her pearls, her brightly coloured tops … if you dress the same as everyone else, they stop talking to you as an individual with a personality and start treating you like a two-dimensional cardboard cutout.
She got caught up in a system where she was just treated like a number and no one could see who she was. When you’re in those hospital gowns you just become one of thousands. Faceless, soulless, you’re just a nobody.
Victoria records 41 Covid deaths
Victoria’s case numbers are also in.
There have been 7,810 Covid-19 cases reported in the past 24 hours from rapid and PCR tests.
Sadly, there have been 41 lives lost overnight.
