Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has confirmed he offered to quit after an embarrassing text leak that revealed he called Prime Minister a “hypocrite and a liar”.
Mr Joyce fronted media in Sydney on Saturday morning – having already apologised to Scott Morrison for the texts – and said that the Prime Minister had rejected his offer of resignation.
“He accepted my apology. I offered my resignation and he did not accept my resignation,” Mr Joyce said.
“And that in itself is a statement of a person of greater character. That is not one of a person of any form of vindictiveness … or a sense of retribution.”
The Saturday Telegraph reported that it was understood Mr Joyce had offered to resign, before he confirmed it at his press conference.
The messages – sent in March last year – came when Mr Joyce was still a backbencher and before he overthrew Michael McCormack and returned to the National Party leadership.
They were sent to an unnamed third party to pass on to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, a month after her rape claims went public.
The message to Ms Higgins from Mr Joyce reads: “Tell BH (Brittany Higgins) I and Scott, he is Scott to me until I have to recognise his office, don’t get along.
“He is a hypocrite and a liar from my observations and that is over a long time. I have never trusted him and I dislike how he earnestly rearrangesxjmtzyw the truth to a lie,” the text from Mr Joyce read.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said that it was untenable for Mr Joyce to continue in his role as the Deputy Prime Minister in the wake of the scandal.
“That is something that sums up what the Deputy Prime Minister thinks of Scott Morrison and I note that Barnaby Joyce said that was a year ago and I have got to know him better,” Mr Albanese said.
“Hang on a second here. That was after he had served in the cabinet for over half a decade along side Scott Morrison.
“The idea that this was just a flippant remark is simply untenable.”
Earlier in the week, Mr Joyce had called on an unnamed serving cabinet minister, who allegedly called Scott Morrison “a complete psycho” in text messages, to “out themselves”.
Mr Joyce has admitted it was “common knowledge that in the past the Prime Minister and I had not always seen eye-to-eye” but said his relationship with Mr Morrison had improved since he returned to the role of Deputy PM.
“My view from the backbench about the Prime Minister was based on social commentary, not from on one-on-one relationships,” Mr Joyce said.
“And from a one-on-one work from relationships, I found a man who has honoured every agreement he has made with me and who I have noticed has honoured every agreement that he‘s made with others from both sides of the political fence.”
Nonetheless, the text saga is the latest setback for a Coalition that is facing a difficult fight to remain in power.
Mr Morrison has taken a battering in the polls after a shocking summer that saw his government blasted for its handling of the pandemic response.
Opposition early childhood minister Amanda Rishworth said Mr Joyce’s messages were “a symptom of a deeply divided government at war with itself”.
“Aged care is in crisis, child care is in crisis … those are two areas that are direct responsibilities of the government and they seem to be distracted by leaking about one another and criticising one another, rather than actually dealing with a real life issues that Australians are facing,” Ms Rishworth said.
Mr Joyce said he didn’t “blame anybody but himself” for his text imbroglio but suggested that Australians were worried about bigger things.
“The Australian people as I walked down the road last night have no real interest in some of the interests in Canberra,” he said.
“What they‘re interested in is their future. They’re terribly concerned about and interested in such things as China and Russia.”
