The Federal National party and the Liberals are doing their best to make life as difficult as possible for National Senate leader Barnaby Joyce [pictured].
In today’s Australian page 4 there is a huge headline and article Joyce eyeing a return home.
QUEENSLAND Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce is prepared to challenge popular independent federal MP Tony Windsor in the western NSW seat of New England
The suggestion that Joyce should run against Independent MP Tony Windsor is madness. Tony Windsor is very popular and a great bloke who works hard not only for his electorate, but rural & regional people in general. If Joyce does pull Windsor on he will lose.
No doubt that is what his fellow National Party and Liberal colleges are hoping will happen. Joyce gone, problem solved, back to business as usual.
Barnaby wouldn’t stand a chance against Tony Windsor – Jesus Christ himself would be forced to preferences if he stood against Windsor in New England.
A terrific article by respected political commentator Scott Steel gives us an informed urban view of the goings on within the National party. Read the whole article here. Some of the juicier extracts from the article on Crikey – pollytics:
In one of the funnier stories of political aspiration filling the silly season vacuum, Barnyard wants a Reps seat, no Nat wants to give him one – but most Libs seem to be pretty keen on getting him out of the Senate.
Barnaby represents what is probably the final chance for the Nats to avoid oblivion by taking over the leadership, positioning the party toward a much more independent line and doing something profound in Nats circles – actually representing the interests of their constituents.
With such a widespread view in the electorate of the National Party being little more than convenient fools for the Libs (witness the way strong rural independents have been slicing their way through National Party heartland), there is no other National Party member in Parliament that could credibly change that perception or get away with such a huge repositioning .
He then goes onto which rep seat Barnaby should be looking at. As I’ve said previously, it has to be Maranoa. I’m still of that opinion expressed here , here and here.
After those 3 articles I had a call from Maranoa MP Bruce Scott’s office to advice that he already had the party endorsement for the next federal election and would be standing as the National Party candidate for the seat.
Maranoa is the obvious choice – it takes in his base town of St George and he has a strong local following – but sitting member, tired has been and the epitome of everything that is wrong with the National Party, Bruce Scott [pictured], is channeling Charlton Heston’s greatest NRA convention moments and giving Barnyard the “from my cold, dead hands” spiel.
I suppose that’s to be expected, old Nats like Bruce Scott think Lower House seats come with life membership options.
So, rather than the 65 year old Bruce Scott actually doing the most constructive thing he’s ever done in his political career – retire and give the younger Barnyard a chance to save the Nats from oblivion and themselves – he appears to be hell bent on keeping a rare, super strong National Party seat that should be used for developing the party leadership, all to himself.
Steel then cuts lose on senator Ron Boswell who is the one that suggested that Barnaby should take on Tony Windsor in New England:
Ron Boswell [pictured]- another National Party anachronism and traitor to the living standards of rural people everywhere –
either had an acute bout of arsehattery or flicked the bird to Barnaby by suggesting that if Joyce wants a Reps seat, he should take on the electoral powerhouse and Independent Member for New England, Tony Windsor.
Windsor and Boswell don’t much like each other; Boswell represents to Windsor everything that is wrong with the Nats – a coalitionist lickspittle that is too eager to sell out the interests of rural people for a façade of government influence and personal gain via promotion to the front bench in a Coalition administration.
Then Steel gives some advice of his own to Barnaby:
His best hope is to start stacking branches in Maranoa and boot out that useless has been Bruce Scott – which also wouldn’t harm the wider electoral perception of the Nats in the process.
If Barnyard culled some dead wood in his own party first, it could only help him in his pursuit to change the face of the Nats to make them appear more independent.
Well done Scott Steel, I could not have summed the situation up better myself. I have nothing personal against Bruce Scott. but as I printed in a previous article:
As one staunch National party member said to me just recently when discussing the issue,
‘Bruce is a really nice man, but he’s had his go, time to move over and let someone else have a shot – especially if it’s Barnaby‘.
If Bruce won’t stand aside, someone in the Party needs to ‘tap him on the shoulder.’
So that’s what Senator Joyce is up against. He has more to fear from those in his own party and the Liberal party than he does from anybody in Labor. Don’t get me wrong, my sources within the Labor party tell me that they ‘fear’ Barnaby more than anybody on the conservative side of politics. They’d love to see him gone, but perhaps not as much some of those from his own side of the benches.
It’s time for the National Party branch in Maranoa to take matters into their own hands, – for the good of the party and rural & regional Australia.
Have Your say!
January 15, 2009 at 9:05 pm
But I doubt that the answer is to abandon the capacity to fly about the State as a Senator and even the possibility that you may draw one or two new Senators in an election. If your visit to the lower house retained only your job then no purpose would have been served.
Right now Barney has a rising profile, a need to garner support from a wider group of people, both inside the remnants of the National party and through the wider community, perhaps even inter state, but most of all he is able to push his agenda widely to see if it will have the support of the electorate.
Barney should continue to make waves, while he organises support for a new group of representatives who he can trust to extend the power he is gathering.
It will be a numbers game in the end and he will need to be well supported in that very game.
Good Luck Mate
January 15, 2009 at 9:03 pm
So Boswell wants Barney to commit political suicide. I’m not at all surprised; Bos we all know your games and we know where you come from philosophically and it certainly is not from Barney’s corner.
Tony Windsor, Bob Katter, Fiona Nash and Barney all come from the Old National party philosophically, and the others, we probably should not mention the names one by one, suffice to say those who would do away with Barney are from the other side.
Perhaps this is the National party’s final battle and to alter the direction will certainly require grassroots appeal, but just how to harness this appeal behind a political movement which can stand the test is not clear. Maybe a new generation of activism needs to form up, perhaps the National party frame can do the job, just how much of it is left, it must be registered Federally, which of course begs the question of which body will preselect Senate candidates from QLD.
I imagine the Maranoa Divisional Council is puzzling over how to deal with the need for renewal and the impossibility of finding someone new and on the same side as …the power brokers, perhaps Corrish the ex NFF bloke would do it.
January 15, 2009 at 9:36 am
Senator Joyce is a potential powerhouse and these reptiles certainly have reason to fear him. He displays no sign of self interest and arrogance and is clearly a genuine representative of his constituency. One rarely sees a politician of this calibre and with the departure of Senator Harris from Qld I hadn't expected to see one for some time.
The ability of a nation to feed itself is one of the prime examples of national soveriegnty. For a parliament of vipers to actively pursue policies to destroy the nation's food producers is sheer stupidity, a dereliction of duty or wilful betrayal of future generations of our people.Australians can no longer afford to just sit and gripe about the situation. We're losing food producers every week, our manufacturing sector is on it's knees and we have a parliament full of global village loving lunatics prepared to sell away our sovereignty for less than 30 pieces of silver.
The efforts the establishment go to to silence the likes of Senator Joyce is a fine example of their intent.
January 15, 2009 at 11:11 pm
'a nation to feed itself is one of the prime examples of national soveriegnty '- that is the thing – many on BOTH SIDES of government do not want national soveriegnty they want internationalism – that is what we and Barnaby are up against . – What is at stake is the imposition of a global neo-liberal economic
agenda with NO CONSULTATION of the people at all.
Rudd and Turnbull keep on mentioning 'the international community' that is what they want for us – not a national identity – small farmers and small buisness in this country and politicians like Barnaby who care about them can go die.
January 15, 2009 at 5:15 am
A terrible state of affairs – we live under a dictatorship – if he doesn't go peacefully I really do believe his life could be in danger. He is standing in the way of the carbon trading scam that the central banks are forcing on us. Labor , Liberals and traitorous Nationals want farms to turn into coal mines, tree plantations or national parks, Today I heard farms in the Wimmera are to turn into tree plantations for carbon offsetting. – as land prices fall they will keep trying to force farmers into the city. Maybe Barnaby and many of us who support him should start a new party – WE BADLY NEED A VOICE or it will be terrible for the next generation.
January 15, 2009 at 5:15 am
"An urban view" – you'd be surprised.
I might live in Brisbane because of economic necessity, but I grew up in Oakeshott country and still call it home.
January 15, 2009 at 5:34 am
G'day Scott,
Ah that partly explains why you are one of the few political commentators who thoroughly understand the dynamics of the National Party. Mate great article, you are right on the money.
Well done. Cheers – your Agmate – Steve