“Barnaby gets stronger whenever his voters are attacked” (Armidale Express 1/2/19)

“National’s voters not angry enough to ditch Barnaby Joyce yet” (NDL 2/2/19)

Apparently, these comments are based on the results of a Voters Choice survey (with a high margin for uncertainty); 878 voters completed the survey, only 140 of whom actually live in Barnaby’s electorate and will be able to vote for him.

Neither Barnaby nor his voters should get too excited as there are about 100,000 other voters in his electorate amongst whom there is a rising swell of anger, not only enough to ditch him but intent on making it happen; and for some very sound reasons.

The National Party thrives on the media attention resulting from Barnaby being prepared to always speak his mind and attract attention but is angry about what actually comes out of his mind through his mouth and his actions; and so it should be. Rusted on National Party voters are not prepared to evaluate the indoctrination and party scripted dogma against evidence-based facts but they should be. It is easier to believe in the touted mythology than search the factual evidence. It is also irresponsible when so much is at stake.

The disastrous consequences of years of maladministration in Government portfolios under Barnaby’s watch are beginning to bite and bite hard. The results of preferencing powerful industry lobbyists over best practice science is becoming increasingly evident to anyone who cares to open their eyes and look.

Barnaby, despite contradictory evidence, will tell you that he is always delivering for New England. Just look at all the successful community grants submitted by community groups that he announces, all the government policies that he claims undue credit for, all the photo opportunities he turns up for and his daily Facebook postings. While it is important to ‘turn up’ for the community you represent and keep them informed, why you turn up and what you inform them about is far more important.

What Barnaby won’t tell you are the findings of numerous inquiries into portfolio areas for which he has been responsible and failed miserably e.g.:

Independent Review of Assessment 2017. Of APVMA findings

Submissions to the Senate Enquiry (findings due to be handed down in Feb 2019) into the performance and relocation of APVMA are no less damming. Joyce tells the community that having brought part of APVMA to Armidale, his next goal is to assist the chemical companies (who are supposed to be assessed independently by APVMA) to also relocate to Armidale. Why? Joyce refuses to answer this question either through the press or emails. If this doesn’t ring alarm bells in the region it should.

Drought Special Envoy. The Barnaby solutions 2018

The most serious and damning indictment of Barnaby Joyce is in his performance as Minister for Water Resources as seen in :

The productivity Commission Review report [Sep 2018]

$13 billion Murray Darling Basin Plan is under fire for poor governance, lagging behind schedule, lack of transparency and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars all under the watch of Joyce. Serious questions remain as to why he signed off on purchases of water at highly inflated prices that netted big irrigators millions of dollars in profit for unsecured or so called “ghost water”

Murry Darling Basin Plan Royal Commission (Feb 2019) Findings

Gross maladministration, negligence and unlawful actions by Commonwealth officials (aided and abetted by Joyce while Minister}

Failed to act on best available science

Politics not science was driving the plan

Condescending attitude towards disclosure of information that should be made public but kept secret

Barnaby’s sexist comments and alleged behaviour; his racist attitudes and voting record in parliament; his own admission in his book to frequent bouts of drinking, being hung-over, and chasing women during his role as Deputy Prime Minister and subsequent admission that these revelations were included specifically to sell his book; his stated philosophy that politics is all about digging your heels in for whatever you can get away with; his views on climate change, carbon emissions and energy, are yet more reasons why many are angry at this man. His lack of credibility demands he must be “ditched”.

It is for his irresponsible role in helping to drag the environment down a path of spiralling degradation and destruction for which he should mostly be held accountable. The consequences affect the very fabric of our viable existence at a regional, national and even a global level but Barnaby doesn’t understand it. Neither does the National Party who blindly and irresponsibly refuses to acknowledge the findings of numerous inquiries, thousands of peer reviewed scientific investigations and the evidence staring everyone in the face.

How far do we have to go before the viability of even the huge multinational corporations is threatened and they move on leaving the devastation behind?

How far do we have to go before irresponsible, self-interested politicians can be held to account?

Jan Kleeman

Donald Creek