The Barnaby Interview!
Now I’ve had some wine with lunch… And I had a couple of drinks when I got back to the hotel, so all in all, I may have consumed most of a bottle of wine, so I may not be able to completely capture the… what’s the word for it… the “Je ne sais que pas” of Barnaby’s voice in the interview, but I’ll do my best… I’ll keep drinking and I’ll probably get closer to it as I write…
Not that I’m suggesting that Barnaby had been drinking. I would never suggest such a thing. I’m just being terribly arrogant and suggesting that I find it easier to think and sound like Mr Joyce after I’ve had a few drinks, while he can sound like himself with almost no effort… And from the sound of it, expending no effort is exactly how he approached his time as Water Minister.
In case you missed the interview, it went something like this (and I am doing this from memory so fictional Barnaby may sound a whole lot more articulate than he actually was)
Patricia Karvelis: Mr Joyce, did you ask any questions…
Barnaby (talking over her): LABOR DID IT FIRST! WHY DON’T YOU ASK PENNY WONG?
PK: Well, you’re here now and I’ll ask Penny Wong when I get her on…
Barnaby (talking over her): Labor did it first and I was just doing what Labor did and anyway, there were competent people telling me what price to pay and I just did what I was told and I’m not responsible for anything.
PK: Didn’t you ask questions?
Barnaby (talking over her): Yes, of course I did. I asked where I should sign and…
PK: Mr Joyce, can you just…
Barnaby: Labor, Labor, Labor! The Queensland government said it was a good deal. Are you suggesting that they don’t know what they’re doing and that they’re morons who don’t know more than I do because that’s pretty hard to believe…There were lots of competent people who told me that this was the only water for sale and I bought it because Labor and The Greens wanted us to buy water and I can’t see why anyone would want to buy water, but they do and they’re not the sort of people who’d buy anyone a beer, but…
PK: Mr Joyce, you were Water Minister at the time…
Barnaby: I was just doing what Labor did and I don’t like them but that’s no reason to change anything and anyway why are you talking to me, I don’t know anything but I’d like to say that I’d be happy to tell you that…of course I asked questions.
PK: So what were they?
Barnaby: I was told it was a great deal and you couldn’t get non-existent water cheaper anywhere because the price is going up all the time and if you tried to buy it now, I reckon we wouldn’t be prepared to sell it for less than we paid unless someone told us to.
PK: So who benefitted from the sale?
Barnaby: I don’t know. You don’t ask whether the person is wearing clothes or whether they’re married, you just want to see the colour of their money…
PK: Weren’t the government the ones buying the…
Barnaby: Gees, Patricia, why aren’t you asking Labor all this? Penny Wong did this too, you know.
Like I said, I may have got this a little wrong, but if you’d like to check out the actual interview it’s here. Unless it’s been removed in the interests of balance…
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26 comments
Login here Register heretepid belch, long wheezing intake and could you repeat the question?
What Mr Joyce seems to have overlooked is that under Labor water for the environment under the Murray-Darling basin plan was either compulsorily acquired from farmers or it was purchased through an open tender process.
Joyce changed the system of acquisition saying ‘he would no longer hold tenders or compulsorily acquire water’ because of what he said was ‘the damage the program was doing to farming communities’.
Joyce then implemented an opaque system of only buying water from willing sellers. How this system worked has never been disclosed, despite efforts by the Senate to get to the bottom of the sales.
After that interview with Patricia Karvelas I cannot imagine any right thinking person voting for this man.
What an interview!! I think Joyce is going to need a lot of support for sometime.
Joyce’s evasiveness led him deeper and deeper into the mire.
Patricia Karvelas is clearly an outstanding journalist, fearless in seeking answers to her questions.
It was a brave attempt Rossleigh, but you didn’t quite capture the pig ignorance of this pathetic liar. His guilt was writ large.
I may have missed an explanation of how the “Authority” buys &; sells water but my impression is that what is being traded is the future RIGHT to draw water not the water itself. Seems like the perfect scheme for scams.
Ah Barnaby Joyce, that perfect example of an LNP politician, the personification of personal and business morals in the LNP fornicating, lying, wife cheating, thieving, bedding vulnerable employees, indulging in shoddy deals. Will any of Murdoch’s minions take him to task ? No, they’d probably buy him another bottle of the red stuff he so fond of.
these weren’t even proper water rights, they were rights to extract after a flood.
And, should such flood occur, then we would assume that those flood waters would be returned to the river catchment.
Except that others have flood rights too, so that water would probably end up being extracted for ag.
The insiders would have bought those rights for cents per gigalitre
We need an icac
Ouch, just went to my mail box. It seems that Eastern Australia Agriculture have provided $55,000 in donations to the Liberal Party between 2012-2013.
“The company at the centre of a controversial multimillion-dollar water buyback deal donated $55,000 to the Liberal Party before the 2013 election. It comes as call grow for a Royal Commission into the management of the Murray-Darling Basin plan.” Herald-Sun.
A dog’s breakfast it would seem, requiring a Royal Commission.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-government/explosive-correspondence-reveals-labors-key-role-in-barnaby-joyces-water-gate-deal/news-story/c19f217bed5cfbbe9e5d67dae166ac9b
Barnaby: it’s probably not my …..*
here insert desired term e.g baby/idea/company/trough/staffer
You get the idea. Although “not my trough” probably would not wash as he has his snout in any trough going. It is not really a question of who own this trough? It is a a trough isn’t it? That’s enough.
There appear to be some highly skilled punters around, some of their betting coups are akin to backing a 100 to 1 Melbourne Cup winner. Malcolm Turnbull,for example, a skilled handicapper in high profile black type events on City racetracks, bets a lazy half mill on Ozemail and collects an absolute motza, genius. However, in the ‘London for a brick’ stakes it would be hard to top Eastern Australia Agriculture who placed a mere peppercorn 55k investment on the right pony in a novice event at a picnic class country meeting on a very wet track for a whopping 52 million dollar tax free profit…… very astute form study or an insider tip?
So EAA donates $55,000 to the Libs and makes $52 million profit.
Let’s not forget Helloworld.
A private company co-owned by the Liberal Party’s federal treasurer donated $200,000 two weeks into a government tender process for an accommodation contract worth nearly $1 billion that another of his companies ultimately won.
Donations experts said the 2016 gift from Helloworld Travel chief executive Andrew Burnes created a perceived conflict of interest that raised serious concerns about oversight of political fundraising.
Mr Burnes’ private company – Burnewang Pastoral Company – followed the $200,000 donation by paying $120,000 for tickets to a Liberal dinner held in 2017 when contract negotiations remained under way. The money was treated as an attendance payment rather than a donation.
The donation followed Burnewang’s previous gift of $100,000 the financial year before.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/helloworld-chief-made-200-000-donation-to-liberal-party-during-government-tender-20190422-p51g7c.html
Joe Hockey is a major shareholder of Helloworld, with shares worth more than $1 million.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-21/ambassador-joe-hockey-helloworld-andrew-burnes-emails/10834026
Having listened to the interview a second time, do not believe Barnaby was inebriated.
He was playing a persona, yet using every technique an experienced dodgy politician uses to evade, misdirect, blather, run out the clock & disrupt the interviewer. None of it by accident,quite deliberate & calculated IMV.
Of especial note is his brief pause, then entire change in tone, pace, demeanor & particularly form of responses to the repeated question of :
Q. Do you know who the ultimate beneficiaries were ?(words to the effect)
He outright rejects the question. No play acting blather. Repeatedly outright rejects the question. ‘Cause this question poses real personal risk. This is the $64 question.
Indicates he knows who the ultimate beneficiaries are, & if Barnaby knows, Angus Taylor certainly does too.
https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podcast/2019/04/rnd_20190422_1806.mp3 (Podcast, MP3 Audio, starting at 26m05s mark)
Re Barnaby “it’s not my job” Joyce has openly admitted abrogating his Ministerial Responsibilities by failing to question his Dept, the responsibilities he swore an oath to the GG to uphold:
Commonwealth Procurement Rules require a consideration of all types of price & non-price criteria to determine ‘value for money’ re ‘Competitive pricing’. Specifically, Barnaby’s claim that procurers never consider the tax arrangements of the supplier is plain wrong:
http://i63.tinypic.com/2ikfdza.jpg (Image)
Helloworld tender, donations(including ‘other’) immediately prior & during the tender totalling ~$420,000. Timeline :
There are also Barnaby’s properties at Gwabegar.
They have an unused coal-seam gas exploration license held by resources company Comet Ridge that Barnaby assures us he knew nothing about when he purchased the land. Absolute crap Barnaby – those sort of things are always covered in purchase contracts. That lack of knowledge was despite Mr Joyce’s close ties to John Anderson, the former Nationals leader and Barnaby’s campaign manager, who became chairman of Eastern Star Gas in 2007. Eastern Star co-owned explorations rights to a nearby area – PEL 428 – before the company was taken over by Santos.
In September 2017, “the Deputy PM hit the air waves promoting the need to develop the multibillion-dollar Santos project [at Narrabri], despite the federal government-appointed independent expert scientific committee recently finding significant “knowledge gaps” in the environmental impact study put forward by the company.”
Barnaby Joyce says there was also no conflict of interest in his ownership of the land holdings, which is why he did not declare it during cabinet deliberations about an inland rail project that passes within 15km of it.
There is also a creek that runs through the property and the land has multiple dams.
It is now up for sale for $878,000 (bought for $572,000 in 2007) to fund his divorce.
Nothing to see here….
He must’ve been given the water portfolio because of his sex appeal – it sure wasn’t his nouse.
Wealthy Queensland family lobbied for inland rail line to run past their airport
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/05/wealthy-queensland-family-lobbied-for-inland-rail-line-to-run-past-their-airport
Alice Thompson, who used to work for Malcolm Turnbull in the PMO, is now running as an independent in Mackellar
She is tweeting up a storm.
My legacy in the PMO was to reduce the autonomy of incoming Infrastructure Minister #BarnabyJoyce to make unilateral decisions on Australia’s $100 billion infrastructure portfolio and vest it in Cabinet. Could see the writing on the wall #MackellarVotes #watergate2019
Grey favours are endemic in the way parties do business. Stacking statutory organisations with corporate sector mates. At one stage @InfraAust Chair, CEO and Head Policy were @InfraPshipAust . Every recommendation from that point was privatisation of public infrastructure
Ex-MPs given plum government appointments to keep them warm so they could be called on for the next election
More than one MP that has bought land in the corridor of major rail proposals that if approved will result in significant value uplift.
The process needed modernising anyway but with #BarnabyJoyce throwing his weight around on decisions like $10 billion Inland Rail, the $5 billion Northern Australian Infrastructure Fund and $1.3 billion National Water Infrastructure Fund – it was helpful to manage risk.
https://twitter.com/Indy_Ally?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1120321595673722880&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2Flive%2F2019%2Fapr%2F23%2Faustralian-federal-election-2019-scott-morrison-bill-shorten-coalition-labor-australia-water-buybacks
Anthony Albanese press conference with @NSWFarmers President James Jackson and Taskforce Chair Adrian Lyons announcing Independent Inquiry into #InlandRail
https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1120483967927504896/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1120483967927504896&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2Flive%2F2019%2Fapr%2F23%2Faustralian-federal-election-2019-scott-morrison-bill-shorten-coalition-labor-australia-water-buybacks
This is Lyons.
“We call on the Coalition to commit to matching Labor’s commitment to conduct an independent, open and transparent inquiry into inland rail. If there is nothing to hide about the route selection, project financing and other associated matters, what harm is there in giving the impacted communities a chance to have their say before it is too late?”
The ball is now in the Coalition’s court – will they back regional communities with an inquiry or continue to ignore their concerns?”
Kay,
I would have thought it unnecessary for the “wealthy Queensland family” to do any lobbying, Surely, the planners of the railway would have automatically joined the railway & airport?
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce says water responsibility rests with him – ABC Rural,16 October 2015
Beetroot Barmy and Scummo Morriscum pushed the Queensland Labor crap just a bit too far. Did they expect that the Labor state government would write it off off as just a bit of nonsense and ignore the shitstorm the federal LNP has created for themselves by dragging them into and trying to pass the blame onto them?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-government-orders-probe-into-water-buybacks-in-wake-of-joyce-controversy-20190423-p51gge.html
Ah, the LNP party that keeps planting claymore mines with “Aim front towards enemy” continually aimed at themselves.
Joyce is three sheets to the wind. I am a drunk myself however, I am now sober.
That people actually vote for this drunken imbecile beggars belief.
Jerkye is three kinds of shit and full of wind?
Patricia Karvelis RN Radio Interview with Tony Burke
https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podcast/2019/04/rnd_20190423_1806.mp3 (Podcast, MP3 Audio, 18m 38s)
An absentminded Freudian Slip ? ALP intends a ‘National Integrity Commission’ if elected, that would have retrospective powers to investigate a whole range of matters …
I’ll have to take your word for it re the Barnaby interview.
I clicked on the link but didn’t have the fortitude to stick with it.
I would love to have colored vision of Barnaby during that “interview”. His blood pressure was clearly through the roof – I can only imagine the colour of his “normally” beetroot face as he ranted out of control. The guy has a serious health problem and needs to consult a doctor and a psychiatrist urgently.
But let us go back to the beginning when Angus Taylor set up Eastern Australia Agriculture. If this was truly “above the board” and in Australia’s interest, why did Taylor register it in the Caymen Islands? Just another smart-arse dodgy mechanism for tax avoidance and shielding wealthy scum mates from the attention they require? And doesn’t the former Coalition PM, Malcolm Turdball, also hide his millions in the Caymen Islands. The whole bloody mob are dodgy to say the least. A scourge upon them.
Over and over again, they, Howard, Abbott, Turdball and Scummo, have demonstrated what bastards, thieves, conmen and hypocrites,they really are.
And the rest of the coalition just emulate their leaders.
@margcal,
Apologies should have specified that, it’s starting at ~8m 46s. Cheers.
And from the New Dailly:
How Barnaby Joyce could be the final nail in Scott Morrison’s coffin – Paula Matthewson