Scroll down for Tony Windsor's response
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has sought to clarify comments he made which appeared to suggest that Indonesia unleashed asylum seekers in boats on Australia as punishment for Labor's 2011 suspension of the live cattle trade.
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In a regional leaders' debate on Wednesday night, the Nationals leader said "when we closed down the live animal export industry, it was around about the same time that we started seeing a lot of people arriving in boats in Australia".
When debate host Chris Uhlmann questioned the suggestion that the Indonesian government was responsible for the rise in arrivals, Mr Joyce said it was "absolutely the case we created extreme bad will" with the decision.
But Mr Joyce downplayed the remarks - rejected as "shocking" by former Indonesian former minister Dr Marty Natalegawa - on Thursday morning.
Mr Joyce is due to appear alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for a campaign announcement in Rockhampton later on Thursday.
"What I was saying is there's a direct correlation between shutting down the live cattle trade and - before that, I must admit there was about 14,000 people coming to Australia - but 40,000 turned up after that and obviously it didn't help our capacity in how we negotiate with a country when we've just shut down one of their prime mechanisms of getting protein into their diet," the Nationals leader told Seven's Sunrise program.
"I'm not saying that this caused the Indonesians to start sending people across. I never suggested that.
"What I did suggest was it made it difficult...in how we negotiate with Indonesia and after that point we needed all the reasons in the world to negotiate with them because 40,000 people made their own arrangements and just arrived here by boat."
Former prime minister Julia Gillard's decision to temporarily shut down the live cattle trade in 2011 after an animal abuse investigation by ABC's Four Corners was highly controversial. It affected industry in northern Australia and the Coalition has consistently said it undermined bilateral relations between Australia and Indonesia.
Dr Natalegawa responded strongly to Mr Joyce's "patently false" remarks, telling Fairfax Media they represent "at best" an over-analysis of the subject.
"Worse still, it is shocking to suggest that the Indonesian government would risk the safety and lives of innocent asylum seekers in making the treacherous journey to Australia simply to make a point," he said.
Tony Windsor to respond
Barnaby Joyce’s comments at last night’s debate highlight his lack of fitness and character to represent the people of New England or Australia, Tony Windsor has said .
One of the candidates for Mr Joyce's New England seat, Mr Windsor said “implying that the temporary suspension of the live export trade to Indonesia resulted in an influx of people seeking asylum from Indonesia is reckless and offensive".
"This is politics of the worst kind.”
Mr. Windsor also highlighted that the decision by then Agriculture Minister, Joe Ludwig, to suspend the live export trade to Indonesia for one month while a register of approved abattoirs was established, had widespread support in the Parliament, including by The Nationals.
“The live export trade was temporarily shut down for one month because of inhumane and disgraceful treatment of Australian cattle in Indonesia. These were not the standards we would accept for Australian cattle,” Mr Windsor said.
Mr Windsor will be addressing the media at 9.30am today at Bicentennial Park Stage, Tamworth.