Barnabye: Joyce Takes 11 Weeks Of Leave Because He Can’t Handle The Heat
Imagine if we could all take 11 weeks off when things get a bit tough.
Barnaby Joyce has done it again, by which we mean sunk to new lows and appalled the Australian people. This time, he’s done it by taking 11 weeks of personal leave, effective immediately, right in the middle of all this public scrutiny over his decision to accept $150,000 for an interview on Channel 7.
If you missed this drama, quick refresher: Joyce is being slammed as a hypocrite for accepting the massive sum for the interview, given that back when news first broke about his affair with staffer Vikki Campion, he tried to insist it was a private matter and told the media to back off.
Not only did he backflip on that by taking the money this week, but he also threw Campion under the bus to justify it. The moment criticism started rolling in, he started claiming that actually, Campion was the one who wanted to accept the money.
“If it was just an interview with me as a politician, sure, I am not going to charge for that,” Joyce told The Australian.
“But that is not what they wanted, they wanted an interview obviously to get Vikki’s side of the story and like most mothers she said: ‘Seeing as I am being screwed over and there are drones and everything over my house in the last fortnight, paparazzi waiting for me, if everybody else is making money then [I am] going to make money out of it.”
Nobody was talking about Barnaby Joyce until Barnaby Joyce said people were talking about him so he decided to set the record straight about people talking about him, and now we're all talking about Barnaby Joyce again and I want to be fired from a cannon INTO THE SUN. #AusPol
— Danielle Binks (@danielle_binks) May 29, 2018
While Joyce has technically only taken a month’s leave until the end of June, the Parliamentary winter break means he actually won’t return to the chamber until August 13. He won’t really be missed, though — Labor has granted him a “pair”, meaning the absence of his vote won’t have an impact on decisions in the chamber.
Now, if only he’d grow a pair and face up to his own bad decisions. After all, while fellow Nationals have described what he’s been through as a “harrowing time”, let’s not forget that he brought this on himself. It’s not even the first time he’s taken leave to avoid the heat over this very same scandal.
The much-hyped $150,000 interview will air on Sunday night on Channel 7.
It shouldn't need to be said but Barnaby Joyce doesn't deserve sympathy
— Rob Stott (@Rob_Stott) May 29, 2018