Message to John Howard about Barnaby Joyce - be alert and very alarmed about Bundaberg rum crazed Quincelanders!
Just like Joh, Barnaby is already known by his first name even before he arrived in Canberra. And unlike Joh, he got there.
The Queensland National Party - after the 1987 destruction of his Opposition leadership - must be the PM’s worst nightmare.
Senator Joyce suggested there was a certain “electricity” about the conference, perhaps arising from the opening night dinner, when bottles of Bundaberg Rum were placed on every table. It was a marvellous evening, he said, and apologies were still being made about things said under the influence. Nothing could beat the camaraderie forged in helping a colleague into a taxi, he said.
Delegates should take that spirit with them, Senator Joyce concluded, urging the Nationals to again stand up and make use of their new-found political clout.
“If you want to actually have the courage to be part of the debate, as we’ve seen with Telstra, then the party to belong to is the National Party,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is that we [the Coalition] have a majority in the upper house and it’s the National Party that has got it. You’re either with us or against us, and you better be with us or we’ll run over the top of you,” he said.
Bob Katter Jnr. must be ruing the day he left.
These rural populists might carry on as if they’re madder than a cut black snake, but the Howardians would be well advised to take the message seriously, rather than dismiss it as local posturing. Barnaby’s appearances on Lateline suggest he’s a very determined character. And - with the Nationals at a low ebb in Queensland - if he doesn’t deliver on the rhetoric, you wouldn’t rate his chances of re-election.
We’re in for more interesting times in the Senate than anticipated, I’d suggest.
Fingers crossed Deep Northern intransigence extends to IR!
My sources should be filling me on what happened behind closed doors in the next few days.
That’s THREE TIMES this thing has eaten a comment on me. Over on the right it says there are FOUR comments (now five), but the comment doesn’t display. Mark, what gives?
Im starting to enjoy Barmy Barney’s work. But then I was always a big fan of the Katt’s intra-coalition record. Aah, rogue QLD Nats with the balance of power. Pull up a deck chair and crack a XXXX. Should be worth watching,.
The Nationals shoulsd take a look at the Democrats.
They promised to reject the GST and then made a deal.
There is little support to privatise Telstra in the bush.
It will be interesting to watch what happens over the next few months, although I suspect people shouldn’t get their hopes up too high in regard to the concrete outcomes (as opposed to the theatre and controversy along the way). Also beware of unexpected twists. There is a risk once you get into trade offs that Barnaby (and co) might start trading on stuff which progressives loath - right to choose, gun laws, etc. Also, if the Govt does cave in to QLd Nats once, then other backbench Libs may get similar ideas and some of them are far more worrying on some of the extreme religious stuff they might go for.
In regard to Homer’s comment, Barnaby has specifically referred to what happened to the Democrats as a consequence of supporting the GST as an example of what happens when you let down your core constituency on a key issue - and an example of what he wants to avoid. He has used Telstra as the National’s equivalent, which may be about right. The time I spoke with him he also mentioned the Nat’s support of the gun buy back as a similar issue and said it was a key reason why One Nation got such a kick along around that time.
How this translates into how he votes - and how the Government handles it - is still hard to predict. I would guess the PM and his pals will put a lot of effort into sorting out a deal before it comes to a vote, rather than have somone cross the floow (a bit like with Petro Georgiou and co on the detention issue).
…and while the National’s state conference might have been fuelled by Bundy rum, I don’t think the negotiations or votes in the Senate will be.
(see here for a few more Barnaby thoughts - http://andrewbartlettonline.blogspot.com/2005/04/james-joyces-son-enters-senate.html)
Rex, I don’t know. Email me if another comment fails.
“you better be with us or we‚Äôll run over the top of you,” he said.
Love it! The echo of Joh himself declaring “Anyone who says the wheels have fallen off the Joh for PM campaign should watch out or they’ll get run over”
Run over with a Deen Brothers’ bulldozer, perhaps?
…in the dead of night.
”Also beware of unexpected twists.”
Never a true word spoken Andrew B, but the intriguing question has to be, who will control the trust fund? If it’s the government of the day, how do we get a guarantee that it doesn’t become some slush fund for which the National Party has given us some recent classic examples?
The proof of Banaby’s (and colleague’s) resolve not to sell out to Howard’s mess of pottage I guess comes down to a matter of simple cojones.
The national party is on its way to (per independent ex NP candidate success?) oblivion—the Telstra campaign could be their ”Ardennes” campaign—their last offensive shot.
“truer” word
Finally a National Party MP that is not kowtowing to the Liberals.
We’ll really find out when it comes to the legislative votes.
“The bush” is the “whinging farmers” to most which is offensive to most regional and rural Australians but then again personally from an Eastern State perspective I don’t consider anywhere “bush” until you get west of the GDR.
“The bush” to politicians is the minority that we can afford to ignore. It is one of the reasons the Nationals are in decline - they never speak out except on minor things and are perceived as kowtowing tot he Liberals or considered Liberal-lite (though tentative research shows they’re actually more conservative)
Read Crikey, Read the papers - it says its all about pork barrelling, extortion, whinging farmers - when all it really is, the people of this country wanting a fair go.