I sometimes wish I was clever enough to build one of those novelty websites where the entire URL is a question and the site itself just answers yes or no.
Something like IsBarnabyJoyceInNewEngland.au.
You open the page and the answer appears in big letters: No.
Or perhaps one of those simple counters that ticks up day by day.
HowManyDaysSinceBarnabyWasInNewEngland.com.
If his Facebook feed is any guide, the number would be getting fairly high by now.
Over the past few weeks the travel log appears to read something like this: Canberra, Albury, Canberra, Canberra again, Coffs Harbour (possibly via home), then South Australia, South Australia, South Australia.
Looks like he did make it home for a conjugal visit over the Valentines weekend, One Nation party dinner in Tamworth and such.
Before that, his last time home was January.
Is this what we are to expect? One fleeting visit a month, at best? That every time he opens his mouth now, it is not about New England and our issues, but about broad issues his donors want him talking about, or campaigning in some other electorate far away?
When Barnaby Joyce first announced he was leaving the Nationals, most people across New England had the same instinctive reaction: please, not a by-election.
Regional voters tend to be practical people. By-elections are disruptive, inconvenient and usually unnecessary if a member can simply keep doing the job while the political dramas sort themselves out.
They are also costly. A federal by-election costs on average about $3 million in a metropolitan seat and more than $4 million in a regional electorate like New England, where there are longer distances to cover, more polling booths, more postal voters, and significantly higher travel costs. Most New Englanders would prefer that money was spent on getting us doctors or upgrading our roads.
But there is a limit.
While he of course does need to be in Canberra for parlaiment, if the federal member for New England is spending most of his non-parliamentary time travelling the country courting attention in other electorates, rather than dealing with matters here, it becomes fair to ask a simple question: who is actually representing New England? Who is fighting for us?
Because there are matters here that need attention. Matters which our absentee member is neglecting.
One of the most serious is the unfolding situation surrounding McLean Care. The McLean Care facilities were donated to the people of Inverell. They were held in trust, built up over decades to provide aged care services for the community.
Then, while he was the Member for New England, that trust was dissolved. The assets were transferred onto a company balance sheet. Now that company has been pushed so close to collapse that McLean Care will very likely cease to exist very soon. On his watch.
The actions and responsibilities of the McLean Board are theirs and theirs alone – but Aged Care is a highly regulated industry and sits squarely within the federal government’s responsibility. The federal government also has questions to answer.
Which means the people of Inverell should reasonably expect their federal member to be fighting for them right now. Not eventually, not when the campaign travel schedule allows, but now.
Before those assets are sold, unethically, to some major corporation who only cares about profit and doesn’t give a toss about the Inverell community. Not when its too late.
Sure, his staff say he is hearing from constituents and raising the issue. But it strikes me as odd that a guy that has enough time to circumnavigate South Australia, hang out in Albury for the weekend, or stop in at Urunga to give the Mountain Music Festival a plug, has not had time to so much as make a Facebook Post on McLean Care. (And yes, he has been given plenty of time to comment for New England Times stories on the issue.)
Members of parliament are not paid to roam the country chasing national headlines or campaigning in other electorates. They are elected to represent the communities that sent them to Canberra. The job title spells it out plainly: Member for New England.
If you hold that job, the expectation is that New England comes first.
From where many voters sit, it increasingly looks like the Member for New England is spending an awful lot of time everywhere – anywhere – else.
I’m now of the view that if our federal MP is too busy running around to wherever he can best feel the warm glow of adoration from the empathy and decency challenged, supporting a detestable woman who is clearly having second thoughts about him (or maybe sold him a pup)… then we deserve better. Bring on the by-election.
If he is not going to show up and do the job, then he needs to resign and let someone else do it. The New England is too big, too complex, and faces far too many challenges to have an absentee federal member.
End rant.
Dr RK (Kath) Crosby is the CEO of research and strategy company KORE CSR, former strategist for the Australian Democrats, and holds a PhD in political behaviour. She is also a well known migraine and health advocate, and the Publisher of New England Times and North Coast Times.
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