What an extraordinary week from the Member for New England. First, thousands of young Australians exercised their democratic right to express a political opinion Barnaby Joyce doesn’t like. His response? Blame “socialist teachers”, accuse them of using students as political “props”, talk about indoctrination and invoke North Korea.
North Korea. Seriously. Young people openly criticising a political party, carrying placards, marching in the streets and appearing all over a free media is about as far from North Korea as you can get. It is democracy. You don’t have to agree with students leaving school to protest — and you can quite reasonably argue that they should be in class — without insulting teachers and pretending young people are incapable of forming political opinions of their own. What a patronising insult to young Australians — many of whom will be casting a vote in the next federal election.
As a former teacher, I find the suggestion particularly offensive. Teachers spend their professional lives trying to teach young people to think critically, examine evidence, question assumptions and become engaged citizens. Apparently, that’s admirable — right up until some of those young citizens reach a conclusion Barnaby doesn’t like. Then suddenly it’s all “socialist teachers” manipulating and indoctrinating their students. Funny how critical thinking is only acceptable when the kids arrive at the answer you wanted.
Then there was the extraordinary declaration that One Nation is “one of the gayest parties in Australia.” To be fair, Barnaby was condemning appalling homophobic remarks made by a former One Nation candidate — and he was absolutely right to condemn them. Homophobia deserves to be called out, regardless of which political party it comes from.
But there is more than a little hypocrisy in Barnaby suddenly positioning himself as a defender of gay Australians. When the moment actually came for our federal Parliament to legislate marriage equality in December 2017, the final recorded division in the House of Representatives was overwhelming: 128 voted Yes. Just 4 voted No. Barnaby Joyce was one of the four.
So yes, Barnaby, condemn homophobia. Absolutely. I genuinely welcome it. People can change their views, and I hope that is what has happened. But perhaps don’t expect the rest of us to forget your own record while you announce that One Nation is “one of the gayest parties in Australia”.
Apparently, Barnaby has gone from being one of just four MPs who voted against marriage equality to conducting a gay membership audit of One Nation. Australian politics really does take you to some strange places.
Then we move on to Tomago. The federal and NSW Labor governments step in with a long-term agreement to help secure Australia’s largest aluminium smelter — protecting 1,000 direct jobs and around 5,000 more across contractors, suppliers and the wider supply chain, as well as an important piece of Australian manufacturing capability — and Barnaby’s contribution to the debate is to call people “clowns”. Tell that to the workers in the Hunter whose jobs and livelihoods have just been given some certainty. I suspect they might have a rather different definition of clown.
This is coming from a man who was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia twice and whose former side of politics was in government for almost a decade. If Australia’s energy system is the unmitigated catastrophe he now tells us it is, perhaps the obvious question is: Barnaby, what did you do about it when you were actually helping to run the country?
And just when you thought the week couldn’t get any more ridiculous, Barnaby moved on to superannuation. He claimed the Labor Government would increase taxes on super. Asked what evidence he had for that claim, his response was: “My evidence is you can’t trust the government.”
Sorry, but that isn’t evidence. It isn’t even an argument. It is suspicion dressed up as fact. If you claim a government will do something, particularly something affecting Australians’ retirement savings, the onus is on you to provide some evidence that it actually intends to do it.
Perhaps those “socialist teachers” Barnaby was complaining about earlier in the week could help him out here. One of the things we teach young people is that when you make a claim, you need evidence to support it. “I don’t trust them” wouldn’t pass muster in a Year 8 classroom. It shouldn’t pass muster from a former Deputy Prime Minister either.
And this is where I have had enough. In the space of a week, we’ve had socialist teachers, claims of student indoctrination, comparisons with North Korea, one of Australia’s “gayest parties”, people being called clowns over good policy and now a serious claim about Australians’ superannuation backed by precisely no evidence beyond “I don’t trust the government”. It might make great television. It certainly produces headlines. But is this seriously what passes for representation now?
And lest anyone think this is simply an unusually accident-prone week for Barnaby, only a few weeks ago he was defending Pauline Hanson’s decision to meet far-right British activist Tommy Robinson, a man with a lengthy criminal record who has been condemned by British authorities over his role in encouraging anti-immigration demonstrations. When asked whether Hanson had crossed a “red line” by meeting him, Barnaby’s answer was essentially no — appearing alongside Robinson, he argued, did not amount to endorsing his actions. Perhaps. But there comes a point when constantly explaining away the company your party chooses to keep starts to tell us something about the party itself.
The foot-in-mouth production line has apparently been working overtime.
But perhaps we have reached the point where we need to stop simply raising our eyebrows, shaking our heads and dismissing each new outburst as just Barnaby being Barnaby. At what point do we say this is simply not good enough? These aren’t the ramblings of some bloke holding court at the end of the bar. They are the public statements of the elected Member for New England, a man who has twice served as Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. Surely the people of New England are entitled to expect something more.
Barnaby Joyce is not employed as Australia’s outrage commentator or as a shock jock. He is not paid to spend his week dreaming up the next colourful phrase guaranteed to get him another television grab. He is the elected Member for New England.
Meanwhile, amid all this noise, Labor is quietly getting on with the considerably less glamorous business of government. It doesn’t always produce a colourful headline or a viral television grab, but then that isn’t really the point. Government is about doing the work, making decisions and delivering tangible investment in communities. And you don’t need to look very far across New England to see the difference and some practical examples.
The Albanese Labor Government has committed $9 million towards Tamworth’s Northern Inland Aquatic, Education and Health Centre of Excellence. At Glen Innes, the NSW Labor Government’s $50 million hospital redevelopment is now under construction, delivering a new acute-services building including an expanded emergency department and medical imaging.
Labor is also investing in the skills our region needs. TAFE NSW Tamworth has received an $850,000 upgrade, including expanded welding and fabrication bays, allowing more students to train in high-demand trades. That’s alongside the Albanese and Minns Labor governments’ continuing investment in Fee-Free TAFE, fee-free apprenticeships and traineeships and vocational training — particularly important in regional communities where skills shortages are very real.
In East Tamworth, the Minns Labor Government is progressing a proposal for around 213 new homes, with a minimum 30 per cent dedicated to social and affordable housing. And in Hillvue, where I live, Minister Jenny Aitchison recently opened our new fee-free public preschool, part of the Minns Government’s historic rollout of 100 new public preschools across NSW.
These aren’t colourful television grabs or clever lines designed to make the nightly news. They’re the practical business of building homes, opening preschools, upgrading hospitals, training apprentices, providing skills training and investing in regional communities.
And when the future of Australia’s largest aluminium smelter was on the line, the Albanese and Minns Labor governments sat down, negotiated and reached a long-term agreement to keep Tomago operating beyond 2028 — protecting thousands of livelihoods and retaining an industry of national importance.
Are all the problems of New England solved? Of course not. Nobody sensible would pretend they are. There is plenty more that needs to be done. But there is a fairly striking contrast here: one side is negotiating agreements, funding infrastructure, building hospitals, supporting housing, protecting jobs and investing in regional communities. The other seems to be having a particularly productive week finding new ways to get his foot into his mouth.
And that brings me back to the point. The job of the Member for New England should be to make damn sure our region gets its fair share — to argue our case, work with ministers and turn government investment into tangible results for the people he represents. He should be knocking on ministers’ doors, putting projects on their desks, negotiating, advocating and coming home to tell us what he has secured.
Which raises the question New England voters are entitled to ask: what has all this noise actually delivered for the electorate? What funding has been secured? Which projects have been advanced? Which ministers have been lobbied? What tangible outcomes can be pointed to for the communities the Member for New England was elected to represent? And, ultimately, what are you doing to make sure New England benefits from investment in education, health, housing, jobs and regional development?
That is representation.
Calling people clowns isn’t representation. Attacking teachers isn’t representation. Comparing Australian school students exercising democratic freedoms with North Korea isn’t representation. Bunging on about how many gay people are apparently members of One Nation isn’t representation. Making claims about people’s superannuation and admitting you have no evidence for them isn’t representation. Producing another outrageous quote for tomorrow’s headlines isn’t representation.
Doing the work, securing the investment and delivering something that actually improves people’s lives — that’s representation.
After more than two decades in federal politics, perhaps it is time Barnaby Joyce remembered the fairly basic purpose of the job: represent us.
Because from where I’m sitting, the performance is getting louder, the foot is getting further into the mouth — and the actual representation is getting harder and harder to see.
Denise McHugh is an experienced educator in Tamworth. She is Chair of the NSW ALP Education and Skills Committee and Deputy President of the Independent Education Union (IEU).
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