Politics

Poor Baby Barnaby Joyce Says He’s “Struggling” On A $211,000 Salary

He says this "struggle" helped him develop empathy for those on Newstart.

by Sam Langford  29 July 2019
barnaby joyce

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Poor disgraced Barnaby Joyce has announced that he’s struggling to make ends meet on his $211,000+ annual salary, and has had to resort to things like buying cheap groceries, turning off his heater, and killing his own sheep for meat — the horror!

In an interview with the Courier Mail, Joyce described himself as “skint” at the moment, and said that he’s had to start trying to fix broken household items himself, and has transitioned to considering a cup of coffee a “treat”. It’s heartbreaking stuff, really.

Joyce also said that this experience of financial pressure is what inspired him to begin calling for Newstart to be raised. Newstart, of course, amounts to just $14,500 a year, or $17 a day after housing costs. As a federal backbencher, Barnaby Joyce earns a base salary of $211,000, plus various benefits that push that figure closer to $250,000.

“A lot of people when they go through a marriage breakdown, you’ve gotta divide your salary in half and make sure you do the very best that you can,” Joyce told The Guardian this morning.

“That gives you a far greater sense of empathy than you had before, and you can either use that for something positive — and I’m trying to do that with this Newstart discussion. I’m on an incredibly good salary. How someone gets by on $280 bucks a week, god only knows.”

And look, it’s great that Joyce has developed this new empathy for people on Newstart, which absolutely should be raised. It’s just a pity that instead of simply being a voice for struggling Australians, he had to begin complaining about how he, a very well-paid man, is also struggling. Let’s just say Australians are…not impressed.

Pauline Hanson, in particular, is pretty cranky, saying “he feels skint? Where’s the tissues, my god?! I think a lot of Australians would be saying ‘gee, I wish I had $211,000 a year!'”. Joyce has since admitted to the Courier Mail that yeah, look, it is his own fault that he didn’t budget better.

This man used to be our Deputy Prime Minister.