Thursday 22 February 2018
On Wednesday 2 August 2017 I wrote what follows as a result of Barnaby Joyce’s inappropriate drunken outburst in a Shepparton hotel. It is but one of many examples of why he should not be the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia …
In a beery-voice filled with the local liquid amber, in a pub in country Shepparton Victoria, the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia opened his loud mouth a little too far and admitted he was involved in ‘stealing’ water.
Gabrielle Chan, Deputy Political Editor of The Guardian reported it thus:
In doing so, he effectively confirmed he had made Malcolm Turnbull take water away from the environment portfolio and give it to him so he could protect upstream interests.
“We have taken water, put it back into agriculture, so we could look after you and make sure we don’t have the greenies running the show basically sending you out the back door, and that was a hard ask,” he said in the recording.
“A couple of nights ago on Four Corners, you know what that’s all about? It’s about them trying to take more water off you, trying to create a calamity. A calamity for which the solution is to take more water off you, shut more of your towns down.”
Basically he has admitted that he has broken the law.“We have taken water, put it back into agriculture, so we could look after you.’’
This is of course contrary to the Murray Darling Agreement.
So how does the government choose to protect this hapless imbecilic minister?
Enquiries with no teeth seem to be the answer.
The terms of reference of the government review will cover:
• The appropriateness of and compliance with state laws, statutory instruments (including water resource plans), the terms and conditions of water licences and entitlements and any other relevant powers or approvals;
• The adequacy of water measurement and monitoring arrangements, including metering and investigating irregular activity; and
• The adequacy of governance and institutional arrangements necessary to ensure legally compliant water use.
It won’t have the power to subpoena witnesses. Witnesses can choose as to if they appear or not.
That gets Barnaby off the hook nicely. So Barnaby goes about his business waffling on about the integrity of the system and that there are now three enquiries.
There are those calling for him to be sacked as Water Minister but there is little chance of that because part of the deal for Malcolm getting his job was that Barnaby got water.
So even though Joyce admitted he was involved in stealing water to the value of up to $13 million, without witnesses willing or able to testify against him, he can say it was just the grog talking, and walk away scott free. What a bunch of crooks they are.
Now we have the Auditor General Grant Hehir conceding to, after a request from Tony Burke, agreeing to expand a current enquiry into National Partnership Agreements to include how Barnaby Joyce’s department is monitoring the performance of NSW under the agreement on implementing water reform in the basin, in relation to the use of environmental water.
In New South Wales ICAC is also conducting an enquiry.
Barnaby Joyce freely admits that the National Party took responsibility for water from the environment portfolio and into his agriculture portfolio to “look after” farmers:
“We’ve taken water and put it back into agriculture so we can look after you and make sure we don’t have the greenies running the show basically sending you out the back door …
That was a hard ask but we did it.”
As I said earlier, the Nationals took over water as part of the Coalition agreement with the Liberal Party in 2015.
No wonder Labor is trying to gain access to it.
Turnbull signed it probably knowing their intentions. That makes him complicit in the theft.
We should be having nothing less than a judicial inquiry into the allegations. Only a leader with the impudence of Barnaby Joyce would have the effrontery to carry on as though nothing has happened.
Dare I say it but if Labor were running the country this appallingly the Murdoch press would be demanding an election now. On Insiders last Sunday the panelists were trying to highlight the seriousness of this blatant theft but they were at a loss as to what could be done.
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My thought for the day
“It seems to me that the wisest people I know are the ones that apply reason, and logic and leave room for doubt. The most unwise are the fools and fanatics who don’t.”
PS: In case you don’t know, Michael McCormack, one of the potential leaders of the Nationals, once said in a newspaper article; “Unfortunately gays are here and, if the disease their unnatural acts helped spread doesn’t wipe out humanity, they’re here to stay.”
The Conservatives have a way of drawing together the most unusual of human beings.
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