Humble servant of the Nation

Barnaby Joyce, Malcolm Turnbull split in spectacular style

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Let me take you back. Way, way back to the evening of December 2, 2017. The Prime Minister and his deputy stood arm in arm at the West Tamworth Leagues Club. Joyce had just won the New England by-election by a thumping margin and Turnbull declared he was “putting the band back together.”

Ah, good times.

Alas, rock stars and politicians are, if nothing else, a difficult and unpredictable lot. Velvet Underground reformed and got halfway through a European tour in 1992 before the band’s two enormous egos, Lou Reed and John Cale, remembered why the band had split up in the first place. The two men hated the sight, let alone the creeping presence, of one another. The tour and the reunion ended abruptly, and Reed and Cale went their separate ways.

The Turnbull-Joyce combo did not come to grief because of crippling personality conflict. although it may do so at some time in the near future. But back then the band had only broken up when Joyce discovered his unfortunate New Zealand-news. We subsequently learned the High Court did not so hold and Joyce was off to a by-election that on the parliamentary numbers at least, threatened the Turnbull government’s majority.

Full column here.

1,092 Comments

  • Bella says:

    https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/george-christensen-refuses-to-apologise-for-gun-photo/

    That nutjob Christensen proves again today that he’s yet another Nat who lacks a moral code, backing up his threatening behaviour with no apology to the Greens forthcoming either.
    If this fat jerk was Muslim he’d have been locked-up quick smart then charged with possessing a firearm in public & making threats but I’m guessing this government will throw it’s protective arms around him & just make it go away.
    Turncoat’s not pleased but still can’t find a backbone.

    • Razor says:

      Why should he apologise to a to a group of people who see no problems in others putting their lives at risk to pull them down from bridges, towers etc.

      • Bella says:

        Because he used a gun and posted a clear threat on a public facebook page Razor. He may also be more than unhinged.
        The cops should be all over this guy. If he was Labor you’d be screaming blue murder & so would the Oz.
        There’s no justified comparison between Christensen and those gutsy heroes you so like to denigrate.

        • Razor says:

          1./. I would not be screaming in any hue because my sensibilities are not so offended by someone, including an idiot, having a joke.

          2./ The gutsy heroes are the people who put their lives at risk to get the rent-a-crowd mob down from the structures.

          3./. Christensen has not committed any offence. If you want him pinched get the legislation changed.

          4./. If you do the above remember the law applies equally to all including the left and some of their posts and pictures.

    • Jean Baptiste says:

      Good point Bella. He must be sailing very close to the wind in the legal sense.

      • Razor says:

        No he’s not JB.

        • Jean Baptiste says:

          We’ll see.

        • Dismayed says:

          Your man George has again exhibited the same lack of understanding of what it means to represent an electorate. To aspire to lead. His actions have and will no doubt incite further issues, hatred and goodness forbid actual attacks on individuals or groups. Some other drongo from up their will now see it as ok to threaten the Greens or other groups or individuals because George did it and faced no consequences. Talk about needing enlightenment. You again prove how fraudulent your claims are to talking about “emotional intelligence”. Your coalition have shown NO leadership to this Nation since it was elected in 2013 it has allowed freaks like your George to incite and demonise any minority you may choose to have an issue with. You and this coalition have NO idea what Leadership is about. NO Surprises.

          • Jean Baptiste says:

            Yes Dismayed. Christensen is a nasty clown. His buffoonery is calculated to disguise real malice. Whether he is fully conscious of his actions or it is vicious incitement “coming out through the cracks” is moot.
            I’m inclined to think he knows exactly what he is doing and just how far he can push it.

          • Razor says:

            It’s the law Dismayed. Nothing to do with coalitions, greens or coal. George is not inspiring anybody to do anything. Trust me the hatred of the Greens in North and Central Queensland is palpable and nothing George does can increase or decrease the level of frustration felt by thos people. The locals look at the activists from the big cities with sheer disgust. Of interest is the activists do not have the balls to stand up to their convictions and attend the towns. They sit in their little camps, mostly on our money, and engage in philosophical conversations, the consequences of which make people unemployed. What would you do if a group of people threatened your livelihood and the ability for your to provide for your children?

            • Bella says:

              Buy a handgun & publicly threaten them I’d say, now we know it’s all legal like.

            • Milton says:

              Have a lame joke with a gun in hand and get pilloried yet Green party nonsense informing Rudd etc effectively drowned thousands. No threats there, facts. The hypocrisy is umm ‘breathtaking’!!

              A fat turd in a f’book pic using an old dirty harry line making mock of what is now a proven a humourless mob.
              SHY and her arrogant idiocy, as policy, informed the q&a crowd, and will be responsible for more deaths than GC and his sense of humour.
              Silly as he may be, his simple genius brought out the censorious, conservative, fascists who, hypocritically, decide what is funny and what is not, and that perceived deaths drown out those children who have drowned.
              Yes, pro abortion.
              No, an attempt at humour.
              Selective ethics and moralities?

        • The Outsider says:

          He’s very close to being legally declared a super-moron.

  • Razor says:

    Here you go TO! This one should suit. Only 200 out of the sky rocket! Bloody bargain and all the conspiracy and self pity you can eat.

    • The Outsider says:

      ????????????????

        • Dwight says:

          How much are the real premium tickets–the ones NOT to have to listen to Hillary’s excuses?

          • Razor says:

            Hill’s wouldnt condone selling any of those Dwight. She would have to get out of her echo chamber to admit there would be a very large market.

            • The Outsider says:

              Razor, whatever you think of Hillary and the election, it’s clear the result would have been better for Hillary (although not necessarily a win) if James Comey hadn’t announced the FBI enquiry into her emails near crunch time.

              Whether Comey did the right thing is another matter. I don’t think there’s a clearcut answer as to the right time to make such an announcement.

              If you and Dwight want conspiracy theories and self-pity there’s heaps more of that happening at Camp Trump, where barely a day goes by where Trump doesn’t bemoan how badly he’s been treated and how Hillary’s in bed with the Russians re uranium.

              Even given the above, I reckon that Trump would be a much more entertaining speaker than Hillary, for Trump’s cringe factor alone.

              • Razor says:

                I like neither Trump or Hillary. To me Hillary represents the political elite and establishment. Those people look at us mere mortals as play things. It’s why I despise the EU bureaucrats and the UN as well. A whole lot of people living off the teat and achieving nothing but promoting a leftist agenda which disenpowers the individual and tries to take away some inherent rights.

                Trump is an idiot but he played to the disenfranchised and anyone whose got under the skin of those who think they no better than the average person is OK by me. If his 4years, Brexit and the rise of ON mean politicians and political parties will start governing for all and not just noisy minorities, usually left aligned, then these recent events will be worth it.

      • Jean Baptiste says:

        The man is off his head.

    • Dismayed says:

      the Xmen have less policy than the SA Libs. Nick ran on NO Pokies 20 years ago. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is one of the biggest sell outs in Politics he swings with the wind. SA Libs leader S. Marshall fresh from telling people the day before the last election “if you want SA to grow vote Labor” has now been shown saying only a strong Labor government can lead SA. This is the best the Libs have. He is Pyne’s puppet.

  • Milton says:

    I saw a headline in which a Russian curler may have failed a doping test. Surprised that performing enhancing drugs would be required in that ‘sport’. Perhaps it might have been a more mentally stimulating type drug.

    • Trivalve says:

      Something that helps him get his rocks off?

    • Boadicea says:

      The Russians have athletes with heart ailments, dementia or diabetes – that they treat with meldonium, the same drug that Maria Sharapova as caught using.
      Like the Sky cycle team boys have bad asthma apparently – Chris Froome tested to twice the permissible amount of whatever – and the ICF have done nothing about it – yet.

  • Boadicea says:

    Cripes, that Ryanair of the seas, the Carnival Legend, docked in Hobart this morning. Talk about quick turnaround.
    Unload what’s left of the passengers, hopefully sanitise the stray norovirus effectively, load up another couple of thousand budget cruisers, who want to party 24/7, and off they go. Floating germ incubators – Charles Woolley calls them.
    I hope Hobart has the riot squad on standby today.
    Bring on Winter…. seriously, if you’re contemplating a cruise go upmarket – definitely worth the extra dollars.

    • Henry Blofeld says:

      Shocking carriages of filth and vermin, Boadicea, we wont be seen on one at all. Cheers

      • Boadicea says:

        Agree HB – I’d never go near one. We’ve got one a day here at the moment, sometimes two in one day – Salamanca becomes Surfers Paradise (no intentional offence to any Qld’ers) . Another month and they’re gone – thank God.

        • Bella says:

          Boadicea, I know you’d understand that for some folks any cruise that is within their current means would be as exciting for them as a month in Europe would be for more affluent people.

          I’ve certainly not travelled a great deal but from what I have seen thus far is that having wealth does not necessarily buy class.

          • Dismayed says:

            Hear Hear Bella. Hear Hear.

          • Boadicea says:

            Unfortunately on this particular cruise, Bella, a family of 23 went around punching each other up and then abusing other passengers – ending up with an all out brawl. The second time in as many weeks that they’ve had to stopover and turf people off.
            I would think its especially more relevant that some have paid out hard earned bucks for a romantic cruise to have this sort of stuff for entertainment. A camping trip would be more fun.
            Over the wall has its moments sometimes:
            Young couple on honeymoon upset that they had had to spend half the cruise locked in their cabin because they were scared….
            Someone over there pipes up,
            “On honeymoon and you only spent half the cruise in your cabin!? How times have changed”

          • Penny says:

            Never a truer word said Bella…….having worked in the airline and tourism industry, the wealthier and the more important they thought they were, the more they demonstrated their absolute lack of class.

      • Jean Baptiste says:

        Ooh, the haughty particularity of the discerning cruisers!

    • Razor says:

      Couldn’t think of anything worse than a cruise. A prison with piss and half decent food. Stop at various ports for a 1/2hr of faux local culture then back on board. Yuk!

      • Jack The Insider says:

        Yep. I had thought about taking my wife on a cruise next year from Vancouver up into Alaska. Sounds lovely but its scarily expensive and I’d get sick of the buffet meals pretty damned quick.

        • Tracy says:

          Problem is all those people you can’t get away from too.
          Think I’m too anti-social for a cruise.

          • Razor says:

            Don’t forget other peoples children as well Tracy. 😠

          • Boadicea says:

            Yep. There’s no escape.!

          • Bella says:

            Nobody orders the passengers to mingle Tracy. In fact I was dreading the ‘group’ factor, however, those inevitable hello’s with people from so many other countries, very often turned into a fascinating & lovely conversation.
            My first helicopter flight happened at Banff over the snowy Rocky Mtns but it nearly didn’t as I was petrified. Then this guy from Portugal, who we’d just say hi to on the ship, by chance made up the fourth seat beside me in the back. He took one look at me, mockingly checked my headphones, & harness then held my hand during take-off. So grateful.
            The kindness of strangers is a beautiful thing. 🚁❄

            • Tracy says:

              Hell is an American Forces tour to Salzburg, my dad was stationed in West Germany and it was my last hurrah before I arrived here, coincidentally 30 years today🎉
              Thought it would be a good idea rather than driving to Berchtesgaden himself, not.
              The number of people on that bus who would much rather have done a cruise has scarred me for life and a few of them would have been slugging it out in Iraq a few years later.

        • Penny says:

          You also have to talk to people and be social on a cruise JTI. We went on a 3 day cruise a couple of years back and my husband hated every minute of it…..for those very reasons.

          • Jack The Insider says:

            Pretty much what Tracey said. Definitely a no then.

            • Dismayed says:

              JTI go and do an expose on a Drillship or even a Semi-Sub. when it is moving from one location to another, better food and better people. There is something about the fresh air offshore, seems to clear and refresh the mind.

              • Trivalve says:

                Beat me to it. Workboats are so much better, including the food if it’s a half decent outfit. If the dreaded MUA is involved, the food will be unbelievable. Just don’t run out of Tim Tams or they’ll stop the job!

                • Razor says:

                  Been on one for a week some years ago. It was brilliant! Food to die for!

                  Done my arse playing poker with some very skilled and shifty lads though 😒

              • Penny says:

                Dismayed….does living 27 floors up overlooking the Straits of Malacca count as being offshore? We have fantastic sea breezes, fresh air most of the time (unless they are burning off in Indonesia for new palm oil plantations) fantastic foods at the hawker markets….oh and we have Tim Tams too TV

                • Dismayed says:

                  Dr Penny, probably almost does. I have to say each time I have passed through there the smell on the water is none to pleasant. I had a Superintendent that would take us over the causeway several times week just to eat.

                • Trivalve says:

                  No, doesn’t count.

            • Lou oTOD says:

              Jack, I Have a mate who gets confused on how he is going to spend all his money. His wife decided cruising would be nice, so they’ve been on two in twelve months.

              The poor guy came back sick as a dog both times, the latest with pneumonia. Never again for him. The boats never get enough of a rest to decontaminate the bugs all the guests kindly bring on board.

            • Mack the Knife says:

              Knew a couple of country boys who went on one. Reckoned they used to hide in the lifeboats with a bunch of beers to escape from the other passengers and the crew trying to cajole them into deck activities. The emergency rations went well with the beer they reckoned.

          • Jean Baptiste says:

            On the upside, all those people who cant get away from me while I annoy the bejesus out of them. Same for Blofeld too I reckon.

        • jack says:

          they can sorta make sense in the med where you get off and look at a different place each day, without the hassle of transporting yourself between cities, but generally no.

          Wife and son and her family went on one out of Honolulu in December, i stayed put on the island.

        • Bella says:

          Just do it JTI it’s just amazing!
          We chose Holland Amerca’s MS Volendam & took in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway & Glacier Bay. You’re so spoiled with food/restaurants you could choose something different every day.
          Plenty of hours in port even if you’re adding on tours like whale watching from Juneau or choppering out to Mendenhall Glacier for a few hours of extreme sightseeing.
          You’d find me up on the foredeck every day, feet up on the rails, tucked up in blankets by the kindest deckhands, hot chocolate in hand, looking at the sublime magnificence of Alaska, humpbacks, orcas with exquisitely tiny calves & soaring eagles, just thinking to myself, how lucky am I to have this experience. Just go mate.

        • Boadicea says:

          Small ships okay Jack. It’s just the huge 2000 plus passenger people mover ones that are cramming them in at discount prices because competition is fierce.
          I think Alaska sounds great – it is expensive but very beautiful I believe.
          I used to greet cruiseliners here – but not any more after things started going downhill.
          Holland Amerika lines still okay i think. Noordam okay.
          In fact cruising overseas is probably a whole different ballgame.
          Im looking at Arctic, Scandinavian/Russian area. Small liner, (200-300 people)gorgeous scenery.
          PS: I dont think they do buffets anymore- for health reasons

  • Boadicea says:

    Never thought I’d see the day when the humble Hobart Mercury seems the more edifying read. No sign of Barnaby on the front page 😀

  • wraith says:

    Just on the Christensen shooting Greens thing. Other than just not funny, where is the man’s intelligence. We have the young in the USA begging for something to be done about gun deaths, and this is going on, with our elected reps.
    .
    Its just not on. He cant get away this time with being fat ugly and stupid. This is not a free pass anymore! Ugly people are not allowed to just say what they like, and we dont hold them to account .
    .
    Hypothetical: If some twisted individual now pulls a gun on a Greens member and shoots them (Like in the USA), will he still be laughing?
    .
    How do we get rid of these fools?

    • Dismayed says:

      He is a Queenslander they don’t do “intelligence”

    • Razor says:

      Free speech is important wraith whether we agree or not. For example you calling George fat, ugly and stupid. I might agree with you but others may not. Free country, for the moment…….

    • Bella says:

      Get rid of them? We can only dream in this case wraith…unless the cops lay charges & the Nats finally find some class & sack him.
      I’d like to know what this idiot did for a living in the real world that’s made him so terrified of greenies.
      Derryn Hinch has come out & called this the most disgusting thing he’s seen in politics & makes him ashamed to be a politician.

      • Razor says:

        Derryn is a renkowned tool……

        • Penny says:

          He may be Razor, but he’s right on this one.

        • Bella says:

          So is Christensen.
          His ‘joke’ has resulted in multiple threats of violence against the Greens now Razor.
          Are you cool with that mate? I sure hope not.

          • Razor says:

            And the Greens have never been threatened until George did this Bella? They are hated virtually everywhere outside of the inner suburbs of the capital cities. They have a smattering of support elsewhere. Violence has been threatened against them for years, particularly by those whose incomes are being threatened by their policies and actions.

          • Penny says:

            Ah Bella, it’s only against the Greens, you know they don’t count. Not sure if you saw one of the death threat received by SHY, but it was particularly violent and demeaning to her as a woman….but hey it’s only SHY.

            • Bella says:

              I’ve seen the threat SHY received Penny & I feel for her.
              I can’t believe that some here actually think he did nothing wrong.
              Stop the world I want to get off!

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    The Joyce mess gets worse daily, Mr Insider, he has to go he has lost all credibility imho as we read: “A defiant Barnaby Joyce has defended a trip away with now partner Vikki Campion, insisting she was acting as his media adviser at the time.
    Mr Joyce, who is currently on personal leave, said Ms Campion was “most certainly not” his partner when she had travelled with him to the Sunshine Coast on a commercial flight in January last year.” Bollocks Joyce, we the Voters didn’t come down in the last shower you total goose!
    https://tinyurl.com/y9jcrue8

    • Jean Baptiste says:

      I don’t know because I wasn’t there Henry, nor were you, but I must point out that simply shagging someone does not make them your “partner”.
      Sexual etiquette can be quite complicated. I recall a famous case whence an aristocratic lady cut dead the man with whom she had just had a lusty romance on an ocean voyage . He made the unforgivable faux pas of approaching her in a familiar way on disembarkation.
      ” F********g Sir, does not constitute an introduction.”

  • Dismayed says:

    I see the coalitions “direct action” regulator allowed increased emissions even though taxpayer money was spent to supposedly reduce emissions. Just another example of coalition corruption. No surprises.

    • BASSMAN says:

      The Looters have a HUGE carbon Tax…..…Hunt made the taxpayers pay so the polluters can pollute…not the polluters. This is madness was Hunt’s carbon tax when he was Minister. $660 million was borrowed in a so called ‘budget emergency’ to service 47 million tonnes of carbon abatement at $13.95 a tonne. Yes, this wasAbbott’s REAL carbon tax because WE are paying it, not the polluters as they were under Labor. “If we load the cost of compensation (which the Liberals have kept) into Direct Action, it becomes a $5.6 billion dollar impost or by extension sets a price on carbon abatement at around $120 a tonne!! The dearest in the world!!”

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