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

  • Tracy says:

    Hmm, “sources” close to Joyce and Campion are claiming that he was in a loveless marriage and had no sex for five years.
    Way to go Barnaby, let’s humiliate your wife a little bit more that’s if she can possibly feel more humiliated than she already is.
    Don’t know who’s advising him on his PR, they’re not worth the money.

  • Boadicea says:

    well JB, on your advice I decided to give Peter Hawken a miss. After all it’s just going to be graphs going ballistically northwards on a PP presentation, warming oceans, plastic bottles etc etc etc. Too depressing – I’m over all the hate that is permeating our world these days
    So instead I went on a solitary 15k walk on the mountain. Never saw a soul, sat next to a gorgeous waterfall with just birdsong for company . Chicken soup for the soul. Nothing quite like walking alone – and I feel the need to do these things before the rampant tourism that is happening here f#@ks it all up.
    At the moment we are lucky here in paradise to be able to do that just 10mins from home.

  • Uncle Quentin says:

    Jack, a good read in the SMH on the career of Michael ‘‘Mouse’’ O’Connor an ace Victorian detective with many a scalp on his belt.

    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-mouse-that-roared-20180222-p4z18r.html

    • Jack The Insider says:

      Sylvester writes a lot of these. They’re interesting to a point and in this case very good but for mine he is too close to the cops to be objective in a general sense. He jumped all over the Denis Ryan case after the event and was the only journo allowed to witness the formal apology VicPol made to Dinny which annoyed me greatly. Of course it wasn’t his call. He was invited along because they expected he wouldn’t ask the questions that needed to be asked. Before that Sylvester rang me and I told him journo to journo how serious this was for VicPol as it struck at public confidence in a way the more usual forms of police corruption did not. I got the distinct feeling he couldn’t wait to get off the phone.

  • Tracy says:

    Well the Forestville exclusion zone has finally had some rainfall today, the first in I don’t know how long.
    Canberra has obviously had more

  • BASSMAN says:

    Mr Trump told Friday’s White House press conference he would “love” the Australian Navy to join US freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea.

    Oh now wouldn’t he just luuurrrrvvveee dat! The REAL reason for Malcolm’s trip was payback for the asylum seeker deal which Trump wanted no part of . So Turnbull was told during his visit that we must sign up to any wars Trump declares and also any dancing he wants us to do in the South China Sea or elsewhere. That was the cost of the asylum seeker deal.

    Bloody hell we are one of the only countries in the world where ONE MAN (The PM) can take us to war. When O when are we going to have a law that says ALL houses of parliament must agree if we go to war. 16yrs of war is enuff…pull out now and save billions. It has cost us $40billion since Howard took us to the Middle East. There goes our infrastructure money up in smoke.

    • Carl on the Coast says:

      You a DFA plant BASSY, or have you just got your snotty nose up against the outside window?

    • Henry Blofeld says:

      Good heavens BASSMAN, Australia and the USA have been Military allies for 100 years starting with the Battle of Hamel in France in 1918 when we fought alongside US Infantry. Since then fellow we and the US have stood side by side in many Military actions and if it wasn’t for the US’s intervention in WW2 at the Battle of the Coral Sea we would be addressing you as BASSMAN-SAN. Get a grip lad we need the protection of the US in this uncertain World and cant let any country big or small just walk in and take us over. We recently were directly threatened by the crazed nutter, murderous Kim Jong un with a Nuclear strike. As for Aussie Political Party’s there are only 2, Lib/Nat and Labor who can decide if and when we go to war, the likes of the Greens are bloody useless. China imho has no plans to attack Australia but we must remain vigilant and with the USA’s help send a message to them “this far and no farther”. Cheers

    • Jean Baptiste says:

      Vassal state mate.

  • Country Hick says:

    Does Barnaby Joyce wear his big hat to bed Jack do you know?

  • Trivalve says:

    Boa said: “The #metoo brigade wouldn’t want to partake in the pairs figure skating. Some of those lifts are pretty full on”

    True. But I think they have got their hooks into the alpine events. Tracty and Voltaire, if he’s out and about, will recognise that at the top of an alpine event, they have for the longest time had a camera shot of the next competitor from the rear. Straight up the clacker as it were. Hindquarters at close quarters. It was quite noticeable that at these Olympics, this was no longer the case for the women, although they were still doing it for the men. The girls had a shot over their shoulder.

    It’s very much the same concept as strategically placing a camera at the tennis grand slams directly opposite the competitor’s ‘rest’ seats for the odd shot up the valley. Highly contrived and it has led to a boom in the sales of towels in the vicinity these arenas. and bicycle shorts as well.

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    Great Mates, Mr Insider as Malcolm advised a bemused POTUS Trump and gallery Australia and the US are Mates, big mates and Malcolm went on in one speech to say “Mates” 12 times so much so POTUS Trump had to explain to the Press what “Mates” meant. Great to have a mate like the USA. Perhaps we should have a “Mates Day” where we celebrate with our Mates. Goodness me I have caught “Turnbullitis” saying “Mates” way too often. Mateeeeeeeeeeeee!

  • Milton says:

    I heard or read somewhere “who would want to be holding a gun when the swat team arrive” – good point.

    • Henry Blofeld says:

      Indeed Milton and also the killer could pose as a Teacher too so the Swat chaps haven’t time to ask politely who you are if you have a gun you may be dead on the spot! Cheers

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