Barnaby Joyce 'needs to step down', Nationals MP Andrew Broad says

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/22/barnaby-joyce-needs-to-step-down-nationals-andrew-broad-leadership

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Nationals MP Andrew Broad will attempt to force a resolution of Barnaby Joyce’s embattled leadership of the National party when MPs return to Canberra next Monday for the resumption of parliament.

Joyce, who is digging in for the fight, was hit late on Thursday with Broad’s public expression of no confidence and by news, reported by the Daily Telegraph, that the Nationals had received a complaint of sexual harassment against the deputy prime minister – a complaint dismissed by Joyce’s spokesman as “spurious and defamatory”.

Senior party figures rallied around Joyce, with the party’s Senate leader, Nigel Scullion saying he retained his support, and the deputy Nationals leader, Bridget McKenzie, arguing the Broad motion could not be considered at Monday’s meeting because it wasn’t a full party room gathering.

McKenzie said MPs were “welcome to bring issues to the party room” but Monday’s meeting would be lower house MPs only, because not all senators would be in Canberra, due to the fact Senate estimates hearings were in progress.

That view was backed by the National party whip, Michelle Landry.

Joyce’s travails deepened when Broad told the ABC on Thursday he had the endorsement of his local branch in the Mallee to call on Joyce to resign the leadership of the National party next Monday.

Broad conveyed his intentions to Joyce, who rebuffed the overture, and signalled his intention to dig in.

The Victorian Nationals backbencher said Joyce’s behaviour over the past week, when he was meant to be on personal leave, was the last straw for him, and demonstrated he didn’t have his mind on the job. “He’s meant to be taking a break and he’s playing to the media.

“He needs to step down as leader of the National party and take a step back to the backbench at this time,” Broad said. “It’s about having your mind clear to do the job.”

The Victorian signalled his loss of confidence in Joyce publicly earlier on Thursday, with an aside on social media about the deputy prime minister’s character, before confirming his intentions on radio in the afternoon.

Quote from the late Billy Graham “when wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost”... telling words for the Leadership of the National Party.

Broad’s decision to force a structured internal discussion of Joyce’s leadership follows a fortnight of internal convulsions within the Nationals, including an aborted rebellion against the Nationals leader during the past parliamentary sitting week.

The Daily Telegraph has also reported that a West Australian woman has made a sexual harassment complaint against Joyce, with the party’s national president Larry Anthony confirming it had been lodged.

“All complaints are taken seriously and treated with strict confidentiality and given due process,” Anthony told the paper in a statement.

Joyce’s spokesman said the deputy prime minister had been “made indirectly aware” of the complaint and described the claims as “spurious and defamatory”. The spokesman said any allegations of wrongdoing should be referred to the police “so that the veracity of any claim could be properly tested.”

Joyce was meant to spend this past week on personal leave, but he has maintained high visibility around his electorate of New England, and conducted several media interviews, which have only served to fuel the controversy.

The rolling Joyce imbroglio will overshadow Malcolm Turnbull’s current visit to Washington, and is overshadowing the government’s attempts to talk about its agenda.

Broad said he would not be a candidate for the leadership in the event the position was spilled, and he declined to say who he would back if Joyce was toppled.

“I’m not here for any ambition and I can’t go anywhere forward or go anywhere backwards. I’m a humble backbencher but I have to sit here and think from a national interest, and whoever has to be at times the acting prime minister of Australia, which is traditionally the leader of the Nationals, they have to have their mind on the job,” he said.

The New South Wales MP Michael McCormack last week dodged questions about whether he still supported Joyce, and would put his hand up for the leadership in the event the deputy prime minister resigned or was rolled.

McCormack has been considered by colleagues as the person most likely to command majority support in the Nationals party room in the event of a spill. Despite his low public profile, he would likely command support from social conservatives within the party.

The acting prime minister Mathias Cormann said on Thursday afternoon the government “needed to move on” from the controversy which has erupted since Joyce’s marriage ended, and his new relationship with his former staffer was publicly confirmed.

Cormann said the resolution of the Nationals leadership was up to the junior Coalition partner.