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:

    Watching livestream Q&A Frydenberg waffling his total fabrication of the facts on energy prices whilst sticking the boot into SA. Of course.
    What a stooge he is. If only he could see the avalanche of angry emojis across the screen during his rhetoric.
    Chris Bowen excellent off the cuff tonight, had JF’s number in spades.

    • Dismayed says:

      Disgraceful lies continue from Frydenberg. He along with Barnaby prove all that is wrong with the coalition and its supporters.

  • Milton says:

    I’m beginning to think the coalition is not the libs and nats but Malcolm and Luce. She may well be running the country. No one else is.

  • Dismayed says:

    Tax cuts? in the US to date $171 billion has gone into stock/share buybacks and Executive remuneration. $6 billion to workers. Some have even had pay rises from the minimum wage to $8 per hour. That is before you consider the $ $trillion$ or so dollars a year it will add the deficit over there already.

  • Carl on the Coast says:

    Dismayed says: Feb 19 10.26am – “dont defame me Carl ….. you really are a delicate petal …. get someone to roll you back into the hospice …”

    I’ll put it to you gently Dismayed seeing as how you get all hot and bothered when someone may take objection to some of your comments they consider to be controversial. Regarding the present issue at hand, ie. your cynical, uncharitable reference to the disabled folk in our community as a means for you to deliver a crass, smart-arse comment, you’re apparently oblivious that it may well strike a nerve with some folk who are intimately involved as carers for many of their waking hours. When it’s brought to your attention as being inappropriate, you characteristically attempt to slither out from under as per usual. You exhibit as not having an empathetic bone in your body, and as for upstairs – Sheesh!

    When someone offers a gentle murmur of dispute you fly off the handle, but only behind the protection of your keyboard. But that always the way with blowhards, eh?

    Your earlier off-hand, thoughtless comment at 1.58pm on 17 Feb (which did not pass unnoticed by a number on here) re those struggling country folk who were reported to have suicided as a result of a knee-jerk Labor government policy is another example of your miserable, misguided attempt to sneer at those who you consider to somehow be your arch-adversaries.

    I suggest you take a personal urgent audit of your present stock-in-trade and discard your collection of negative, rat-baggery that has infected many of your offerings. And remember the attempted use of the “defame” card is a no-no.

    If you need a hand don’t hesitate to give us a shout. If you can’t give us a shout then at least try a smile every now and then, mate.

    • Dismayed says:

      cotc. Stop your constant whingeing. You want to come and have a go at me then claim to be a victim when I return serve. You epitomise the cons always hard done by, victimised pissing and whingeing ways..Your latest pathetic attempt again proves you should stay out of the kitchen. You cannot handle forthright discussions.
      Who are you to decide what is Appropriate or not? It is tutt tutters like you with your blatant hypocrisy that keep people like me Dismayed. You have NO right to tell anyone to conform to your outdated narrow minded view of the world. You continue to prove all that is wrong with people of your ideology.

    • Boadicea says:

      Nicely put, Carl.
      What I find offensive is the (deliberate) implication that old people are stupid and useless to society and are used as a means to insult.
      I know some wonderful elderly people who are as spritely as they were 70 years ago – maybe just not as mobile, but still having a lot to offer to society.
      I listened to the wonderful Tasmanian artist, Max Angus, give a speech to a packed room down at the art gallery on the occasion of his 100th birthday. It was amazing – so inspiring He died not long ago at 102 years and was painting until the day he died.,
      Abuse of the elderly is a big topic at the moment. Must be a conference on somewhere. Both radio and TV coverage.
      Dismayed will be old and lonely one day – if that’s not his situation already. It’s called karma.

      • Carl on the Coast says:

        Cheers Boa. Our comments obviously dont compute with you know who.
        I believe another great Australian artist in the late Lloyd Rees has a gallery dedicated in his name in Tassie.

      • Jean Baptiste says:

        Lordy lordy Boady, you could find an implication on a ping pong ball.
        We all love old people but it’s old battleaxes like you who give them a bad name sometimes.

    • Jean Baptiste says:

      Too short Carl. Way to short. I thought you were jus getting a head of steam up, and then phutt, it was finished. I’m not complaining, I fully understand you doddery old geezers knock up easily. But you left me begging for more.
      A most inspiring piece littered with good advice. I for one, humbled and contrite will be re-assessing how I operate, not only here but in all aspects of my daily life.
      I can now share with you a confession that the Pacifist Buddhist Vegan life I have been leading just hasn’t worked out leaving me unfulfilled and empty, but reading your letter fills me with the hope that I can move on.
      I feel better now. Bless you, old mate.

      • Boadicea says:

        Good to hear you’re on the road to reform, JB. 😉

      • Penny says:

        Nothing wrong with a Pacifist Buddhist Began life JB, just ask the guys in Myanmar. However I just wish people really understood the real meaning of karma. Most people think it means “you’ll get yours in the end” and it doesn’t.

        • Penny says:

          Vegan….dammit

          • Not Finished Yet says:

            And there I was thinking you meant Bogan.

          • Carl on the Coast says:

            Yes Penny, there’s also chap on here who would do well to take heed of what you suggest re the real meaning of karma and achieving liberation.

            He appears to not even have a clue as to how to obtain the knowledge of ‘self’. He’s certainly not engaging in normal activities (whether wittingly or not) when he openly disparages the plight of societies’ vulnerable and infirm as a means to bolster and embellish his already jaundiced messaging on here. Especially when only a simple civilised exchange of views would suffice. And there’s no way one could consider he’s anywhere close to attaining full enlightenment, given the vitriol that permeates many of his posts.

            Yes I think he needs to destroy a hell of a lot of karmas before he’s liberated. But I won’t hold my breath, it’s not a journey for the faint hearted.

            • Jean Baptiste says:

              Silence you superstitious old prattling peasant croaking your quaint mores out of your rectitude.
              As the son of the Buddha, Maja Rin returned to Earth appointed the new spiritual leader I command you to stop bewitching the masses with this crazy old nonsense about enlightenment and karma. Your pontifications about what is or was normal has no more currency than a crack full of yak fat. You are no more liberated than an old marmot and your spirituality is no more than an illusion.
              If you keep clapping with one hand you will end up as blind as a bat. Go and make me some rice beer.

              Shanti. Unless I say otherwise.

          • Perentie says:

            Yes, big difference. Vegans come from the planet Vega, Begans from the planet Bega, made of cheese. Say sorry to any offended Begans.

        • Jean Baptiste says:

          That’s right Penny, and you cant tell them you know.

          “Began” inspired me , I’m going to be a Buddhist Bogan. About time those bloody Buddhists had their New Messiah event. Watch out Dali Lama theres a new kid on the block.

          • Jean Baptiste says:

            4 dozen profiteroles and 2 kilos of chocolate for lunch. I need to put on 125 kilos in 6 months.

          • Penny says:

            Well JB, it all depends on what definition of karma we want to adhere to, is it the Hindu one, the Buddhist one, Sikh, Tao? Of course there are so many definitions and quotes from famous people, but the one I like the best comes from Kurt Cobain, which goes something like…”if you are a bad person, you will come back as a fly and have to eat poop”…..very succinct I thought.
            I also am glad that I have inadvertently contributed to your latest inspiration….to be a Buddhist Bogan. You will of course be a reclining Buddhist Bogan I presume

            • Jean Baptiste says:

              Ah grasshopper, a fly may be the happiest in the universe. There is always plenty of poop.
              I may compose a song listing the varieties, in the style of and to the tune of “English Country Garden?”
              I wonder what Kurt Cobain has come back as? Ooooh! Lets not go there!

    • Mack the Knife says:

      I see he has been quiet about the Adani mine lately. How about the conflicting views in this piece? Chief of the bruvvers reckons reckons any opposition to the mine will expose Labor Qld politically, awww, poor things, they seem a bit confused.

      https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/19/bill-shorten-says-theres-a-role-for-coal-and-adani-mine-just-another-project

      https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/19/labor-mp-says-adani-mine-would-displace-jobs-and-sabotage-paris-targets

      • Dismayed says:

        MTK the Adani scam is still a scam. Are you happy to have billions of taxpayer dollars funding a company that will never pay tax in this country? The Coal industry has been stating for some time the adani scam would cause jobs losses in other regions. As I have stated from the outset the coalition support is all about a couple of seats in QLD. Another swing and a miss by you. No Surprises.

        • Jean Baptiste says:

          So! We’ll get taken to the cleaners. That’s what we do, it’s a cherished Aussie tradition.

        • Mack the Knife says:

          It was not a swing and a miss Cyclops. You whinge about all and sundry, but if the Laborites had any backbone, they would oppose the Adani mine. They can’t, because the Labor Govt in Qld supports it, and the CFMEU would support anything, and I mean anything at all that might give a few bruvvers a job. If kicking your grandma meant a CFMEU member had to direct traffic around it, they would support it.

          • Dismayed says:

            mtk. you have been knocking yourself over for years swinging and swinging and missing and missing and are yet to even get close to laying a glove anywhere. By posting facts to try and open your eye is hardly whinging. I really am starting to get bored with your ridiculous efforts. Try reading something before you come in and take another wildly inaccurate swing. try harder dinosaur you are letting the team down. No Surprises.

      • Boadicea says:

        I had to check the date of the article.
        I really thought he would wait until after the Batman election before becoming pro Adani.

      • Dismayed says:

        MTK get someone to explain the graphs in this link to you. Bowen basin coal production ill drop by 30% if the adani scam goes ahead. 10 other mine projects or expansions will not go ahead if the adani scam does. Wake up for the sake of Australia.
        https://tinyurl.com/y7tmcg9o

        • Razor says:

          Crap. The coal goes straight to India to supply their own needs. This coal is surplus to what is already being produced for other markets. They are now looking overseas. The other miners are just trying to cash in and supply the surplus if Adani doesn’t go ahead. I wouldn’t be surprised if another mine doesn’t open up to sell the same coal to Adani.

        • Mack the Knife says:

          You really have no comprehension do you? I OPPOSE THE ADANI MINE, AND SO SHOULD LABOR, SHORT-ON AND EVERYONE WITH HALF A BRAIN. I GUESS THAT EXCLUDES OUR CLUELESS LABOR GOVT AND THEIR CFMEU PARTNERS IN POLITICAL STUPIDITY. Is that plain enough English for you Mr. Speedreader no comprendo?

          • Bella says:

            It’s plain enough for me.
            Good man.

          • Milton says:

            Not sure that will get within the roustabout’s bonce, Mack. on the off chance that it did I doubt our patient would be capable of a response of his own, dependent as he is on party central. still, i’m pretty sure that his “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” response to HK Jack’s gentle and generous effort to inform and enlighten, proves that he is awake to his shortcomings, even when asleep.
            Ignore that turd, Mack. The win against a loser is no win at all.

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    “Well may we say God Save the Queen, but nothing will save the Leader of the National Party”, to paraphrase Gough, Mr Insider. I loved Gough, such wonderful days from my youth when I truly believed in Politicians, unlike now, except for POTUS Trump who can do no wrong. Do wish Australia was the 51st State of the USA then we could do away with the rabble we have in Canberra and hang off POTUS Trump’s every morning Tweet.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpJD0nSxN94

    • BASSMAN says:

      Whitlam left Fraser zero net govt debt…only 2 PMs ever did this. He was NOT a wrecker as the bloke who died on the job made out.

    • Penny says:

      Agree totally with the first part of your post Henry, but well you know I’m pretty sure, in fact I’m sure I’m sure , that I sure don’t want to be part of the USA, no matter how inspiring your pinup President Trump may be.

  • Dismayed says:

    wow. almost 5 to1 coalition “advisers” Costing the Nation $hundreds$ of millions. This is a disgrace. This is the worst government in the Nations history with more advisers than any in history and we get this embarrassment of a Government. The right and conservative have proven even with jobs for all their boys and girls and the media acting as apologists for them they are hopeless. Thankfully the Nation only needs a1% swing at the next election to start the recovery.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/barnaby-joyce-affair-political-advisers-cost-too-much/news-story/1ab32a113962bcf470853d09bf6b5c5d

    • jack says:

      if you read the article you would see that the growth in the number and cost of advisers has been put in place by both parties, including your buddy Jay in SA.

      In fact the numbers and costs have been been marching ever upwards at least since the mid 1970s.

      You might remember that, Gough was PM. A brother in law of mine was the electorate officer for a Labor MP. They had one in those days.

      • Dismayed says:

        442 federal coalition government advisers, 95 for the opposition and minor parties. SA JAY has been overseeing the largest infrastructure program the state has seen, he has managed to convince investors from all over the globe to invest into SA. SA lead the Nation in 2017 in Private Investment. The state is in Surplus. The state has one News provider that has been running a misinformation campaign consistently he has also had to combat the federal government lies on energy. Wake up.

  • Dismayed says:

    I see Tas. and QLD continue to import power from the NEM due to insufficient generation while SA continues to export power into the grid as it done all year except for a couple of hours on days when it was 43 degrees.

  • Milton says:

    You’d a thunk that at some stage someone would have taken Barnaby to one side and told him to get his affairs in order.

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