Where’s Bill Shakespeare when you have a political tragedy with high-comedic elements?
The lead character, the Nationals’ much-storied backbencher Barnaby Joyce MP, once Australia’s deputy prime minister, is the political prince of New England, a northern NSW electorate which hosts one of the dozens of regional renewable energy zones being developed around Australia.
Conservatives used to insist, mantra-like, that you can’t stand in the way of progress. For Joyce and his pro-fossil fuels, pro-nuclear ilk, that’s all they do. He’s clearly a politician in his twilight years of power and influence. He’s a self-diminished fringe figure, weighed down by political missteps and personal scandals, to be found by The Politics and others in the company of climate deniers, sovereign citizens and MAGA-down-under types.
But there’s one last mission for this one-man voice to parliament for rural agitation: to turn back the global tide of climate action and renewable energy by putting forward his Repeal Net Zero Bill 2025.
Blowing in the wind
Joyce’s rhetorical gun sights are focused on large-scale renewables, the solar and wind farms which represent the greatest opportunity for major new investment in regional Australia that the 21st century has to offer. But he sees abominations, or “intermittents”, as he says with lip-curling contempt. This is a regular dramatic flourish that augments his loosely scripted grab bag of renewables-damning, conservative think tank-generated anti-climate action talking points, mixed with his home-spun homilies about impoverished small businesses and constituents living in their cars.
He says nothing about the fires, floods and extreme heat as global heating accelerates; nothing about scorched earth, coral bleaching and toxic algal blooms.
In a political twist, his enemies have handed him the stage. Most private members’ bills languish in parliamentary obscurity, but the Labor government gave Joyce days for debate this week. As French emperor and conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte famously remarked: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
Fight among yourselves
For a Labor government a few months into its second term with a huge parliamentary majority, the more the Liberal-National opposition fights internally over climate and energy policy— and the longer it takes — the better. Cue Joyce. At this rate, Labor could govern for a decade or more while the Coalition may yet implode.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was surgical in his put-down of Joyce’s crusade, looking beyond him to target the whole opposition’s net zero turmoil:
“If you get rid of net zero, you are saying climate change is not real, and you do not need to do anything about it.”
For Albanese, it’s one big rolling party celebrating being let off the hook of higher expectations for climate action. If repealing net zero is the benchmark, a government struggling to reach its own targets, like 82% renewables and 43% net zero by 2030, has a get-out-of-jail-free card. Even if it lowballs the 2035 national target — expected to be in the range of 65%-75% — and squibs it on adding a “climate trigger” to revamped environmental laws, it can still look good by comparison. Happy days.
Canoe spew
On Joyce’s side, a small ragtag band of fellow travellers applaud him. Queensland Liberal National Party Senator Matt Canavan, posted: “Fantastic speech from my good mate Barnaby Joyce …” But others, mainly the rare and endangered species of moderate Liberals, hope he’ll speak his mind and then the show will move on with his bill defeated by crushing numbers. Unfortunately for them, he’s “happy to fight this for as long as it takes”.
It’s like some kind of unending holy war, although in this epic conflict the infidels are green super-rich wind and solar farm developers and net zero is the “lunatic crusade”. Which is rich, given that perhaps Joyce’s greatest supporter over the years has been Australia’s richest woman, the multi-billionaire mining heiress Gina Rinehart, a net zero naysayer of extraordinary means.
Yesterday, even before Joyce rose to introduce his bill, he was baffling media brains in the corridors outside:
“I mean, in this building, it’s all about who’s who in the wooden canoe, and, you know, how terrible this is, my life is difficult when I go to lunch, it’s not about that. It’s about the discussion of an issue which is hurting regional Australia.”
Pig Latin
When it comes to the English language, Joyce is more Joh Bjelke-Petersen than Shakespeare. So let’s give Joyce the second last word, with a bit of Latin thrown in:
“So you pose this question, as you have to. Cui bono? Who benefits if it’s not our nation, if it’s not manufacturing, if it’s not cost of living, if it’s not the pensioners, if it’s not rural Australia, if it doesn’t change the weather, who benefits? Well, billionaires, both domestic and international billionaires, benefit and the thought that they would have an underwritten scheme, underwritten by you, the taxpayer, with borrowed money from overseas in secret big agreements called capacity investment schemes, so that you, as the Australian people, can’t see the details of this. Who devised this? Who dreamt this up? It is amazing.”
One answer is “You did, Barnaby”. Or you played your part. As Nationals leader and deputy PM in 2021, under rising domestic and international pressure, Joyce made a secretive deal with Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison to embrace a national commitment to net zero by 2050. Now he says:
“Of course, I can say it now, because I’m not bound by cabinet solidarity. I acknowledge that maybe it was cowardly of me in the past. I acknowledge that, right. But I’ve gotta do it now, and others are going to do it as well …”
No curtain call this time, Barnaby. The show moves on.
The fruit flies have totally invaded bananarby, so he’s falling apart at the seams, squish, squish… beautiful to watch
This is the problem… buffoons like Barnarby make the piss-weak actions of the Labor party look good by comparison. While Barney-numb nut is bleating through his megaphone it provides cover for an abysmal environment minister like Watt to keep on approving gas projects with ‘stringent conditions’ he’s happy to have watered down until they are meaningless, and willing to let multi-nationals pollute our waters, send ancient species to extinction just to save 20 jobs. Albo and Watt are disgrace, and its galling that they are happy to hide behind the rank stupidity of the usual suspects…Joyce, Canavan, Reinhardt, etc. Enough of this ‘look over there’ politics
I do wish Barnyard would become intermittent, really before he blows all his fuses.
The Nationals wont change until a few Nationals loose there federal seats to teal people or ALP person as electors see the sense of climate change
I can’t fathom why Barnaby Joyce continues to be voted in to represent the New England electorate. He has no understanding of science, in particular the science that clearly explains climate change and the effects that are being seen world wide. He continues to bumble along either upright or lying down. It’s so tiresome. It’s time for Barnaby’s final curtain!
Ilived in New England when I went to school. Then I went to Sydney uni and once I had a sleeper with the Nsw minster of agriculture W A Chaffey who before his elected and read a comic book as did the 2 farmers who lived near the house my parents owned
Barnaby Joyce represents New England because he represents the people of New England just as all the elected Nationals represent their electorate
The Liberals have very few seats because they represent very few people in their prefered heartland .
Labor have a large majority because the are the best of a bad bunch .
The independants represent locals in their local area
Then there is the Greens who struggle to work out who they represent. .
And worst of all there are the Ministers who represent themselves and their back pocket .
Barnaby and co are barking dogs. But, the renewable energy caravan moves on.
I’ve recently installed roof top solar and battery and it is working a treat.
1. I reduce my personal carbon emissions. (Yay, me!)
2. My on-going power bill goes to almost zero. (The daily connection fee is the only real cost atm)
3. It adds value to my property far in advance of the capital cost (already).
4. I’m no longer subject the whims of legislators and other people I don’t trust (I’m looking at you Barnaby!)
My advice if you own property is get it done asap as there is nothing but upside.
True. But watch out – the electricity retailers are doing there damndest to cut that upside!!
Barnaby might ask ‘who benefits’ but has he really looked at who is benefitting from all the coal and gas that is produced by this country? Most of our coal and gas are exported, thus benefitting the owners and senior executives of those companies. So far, there has been no income to the government from gas exports under the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax. NONE.
Santos will shortly be foreign-owned, like most of the gas and coal companies. Their operations are subsidised through enormous fossil-fuel rebates and other subsidies, and many of them engage in dodgy transfer pricing so that they pay minimal tax in Australia.
And of course, as the damage from hotter weather and more frequent extreme weather events continues to rise (especially in regional areas), we know it won’t be the fossil fuel companies forking out to pay for that damage.
So again I’d like to ask Barnaby ‘who benefits’?
Your answer who benefits? They are the muti millionaire’s, fossil fuel companies from overseas and Matt caravans family business which is in fossil fuels and the coalition politicians which a lot are investors also some of Labor politicians are investor’s also.
Oh Barnaby you bonking beetroot, will you, or your equally diminished mates Matt and Tony ever have the capacity to understand our responsibilities to our childrens future?!
It is a tale told by an idiot,
Full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Another pithy and perfectly targeted piece, Murray!
No wonder the much loved Wharf Revue comedic geniuses sadly surrendered to reality; not even they could invent the farcical and unhinged federal member for New England!
Yep, poor Ole Bananaby – the border-hopping Queensland Nut that just keeps on keeping on in his rabidly spluttering, pop-eyed, delusional and unwittingly Quixotic quest to vanquish those evil windmills.
Indeed, he appears to have subconsciously channeled not only the fabled but ultimately pathetic Don’s lunacy but also the obstinance of Sancho’s ass (sic).
However, ‘Barnyard of the Abacus’ would probably require the benefits and insights afforded by an (unaffordable?) arts degree with a literature component to recognise the eerie parallels between Quixote’s and his own ultimately doomed narrative.
Perhaps Gina could get him up to speed literature-wise? Apparently she’s a ‘real good poet’, for a billionaire.
Looking in a stupor
To the Braddon sky
A self-indulgent Pollie
Tells a planter box a lie
She’ll be right mate
I’ll be given a great hire
By Gina and the coal barons
When I retire.
My thanks to all of the above – it’s saved me a power of typing!
I take issue with Labor – purely playing politics and wasting time, effort, ad resources with a useless debate
You may as well debate whether the earth is round or flat, or whether the sun will rise in the morning.
Surely Parliament could be put to better use.