Barnaby Joyce writes for the Canberra Times:
With merely one week to go in this Parliament, a party based on politicians from the school of union organisation cannot organise the numbers either to effect a change in leadership or to dispel the prospect of one. In the final fortnight we have had a rolling Labor soap opera, which will do little to endear Australia to the party’s management potential.
It is as if the Labor Party has frozen in the headlights of the nation’s gaze, unable to extricate itself from either the Gillard-inspired coup or the relentless Rudd retaliation. The result is a bitter, personal feud that has festered into a full-blown brawl.
…
Three years ago Paul Howes, the head of the Australian Workers Union, decided that he was ”the Australian voting public” and he went out and unelected the elected Prime Minister on Lateline. A few months later he said ”it was probably an error”. Just then, Paul ”The Australian Voting Public” Howes popped up on Sky News to tell the Australian people that his Prime Minister must stay there.
I have come to the conclusion that instead of voting for the Prime Minister, I should be voting for whatever office Paul Howes occupies. The problem I have got is that this ballot is stacked. Now this is starting to sound like a Joseph Conrad novel; it’s certainly not the Australia that Mum and Dad told me about.
…
This week brings the shortest day of the year for the lowest ebb in our Parliament, and from here we head to spring, where we’ll see a new Parliament, new members, regrets and recriminations. The batting order is going to change and the tenants of the parliamentary offices will be shuffled and dealt. The next week is going to be crucial for Labor.
It will be certain political decimation to stay the course and the reality of the Queensland and NSW elections will be the fate of federal Labor if they cannot break out into adulthood in the next month. If you grasp for the bitter end, it is bitter; sympathy does not vote these days. It is like expecting greater attention from students five minutes before the end of school.
Read the whole article here.
Barnaby Is Right 
I often wonder at your credential Blissful and it looks more and more like you are a Liberal Party card carrying spruiker just like our dear Alan Jones.
I might suggest that your comment “the Labor Party has frozen in the headlights of the nation’s gaze” should more correctly state that the Labor Party has frozen because of the ongoing, unbalanced and unfair attacks on it from the BUSINESS OWNED media which is the mouthpiece of its chief disciple, Tony Abbott.
Whilst I do not support either side of politics I find it offensive that one side of politics is exempt from scrutiny whilst the other is fair game. Whatever has happened to the Australian ‘fair go’?
Mick, with all due respect, it is abundantly evident that you need to take far, far more care in studying what is posted here. Specifically, so that you clearly understand who is saying what.
This blog post is simply excerpts of an article written in the Canberra Times, by Barnaby Joyce – a National Party politician, and member of the LNP “coalition”.
Note carefully … There is no commentary on the article by this blog’s author (i.e., me). I (The Blissful Ignoramus) have not said anything; this post is entirely the words of Barnaby Joyce.
I’ve told you before … I (TBI) see both so-called “sides” as being equally complicit in our nation’s problems, and further that I see through the 2 “sides” as a false paradigm that deceives the (many) gullible into believing that one “side” or the other is somehow better (or worse).
Please remember this, and take far more care in reading and comprehending who is saying what, before you start drawing (incorrect) assumptions/conclusions, or worse, making incorrect accusations. With respect, this repeated lack of care on your part makes some of your comments appear hasty at best, and foolish at worst.
Blissful:
In case you cannot disseminate my point of view it seems to me that you consistently write long winded anti Labor rants and rarely launch similar attacks on the coalition, just like the media. The coalition continues to lie, act like a five year old in the supermarket isle and has lined up huge sums of taxpayer money to go straight into the bank accounts of the very richest amongst us with barely a whimper from the media or you. The word complicit comes to mind and this game is one where the casino (the rich) holds all of the aces.
I can accept the put down but you could do better than slinging mud and give a perspective and launch a balanced attack, which you do not do.
Both sides are poison my dear friend. It is a matter of working out which side is more poisonous then the other The pertinent question we all need to ask ourselves is which side is doing the better job FOR THE COUNTRY? If you want to take the simplistic media mode of operation I will take you to task.
“it seems to me that you consistently write long winded anti Labor rants”
Mick, on at least two occasions you have conceded that you do not read the articles in full.
I have previously referred you to the fact that I have written many pieces, since the inception of this blog, attacking Coalition (i.e., Opposition) policy, highlighting their deceit, and suggested that you go back through the archives and read them. I can only presume from your repeat accusation that, in the same way that you admit to not reading present articles in full, you have not bothered to spend time checking back on past articles, to discover whether what I said is true or not.
Your perception / accusation about pro-Coalition bias is not a reflection of reality. Rather, it is a direct result of your failure to read articles fully, and carefully, and especially, your failure to correctly discern who is the person whose words you are reading … mine, or, someone else who I am merely quoting.
If, as it appears, you are too intellectually lazy (and/or eager to simply cast aspersions) to read my “long winded” blog posts in full, with due care and thought as to who is saying what – i.e, which words are my commentary, and which are merely quotations of others – then I trust you will forgive my being disinclined to spend my time going back and providing you with links to the (many) articles I have written including criticism of the Coalition, urging readers to vote for other than the two major parties, etc etc. I presume you are an adult — so, I am not going to spoon feed you. If you (or anyone else) can’t even be bothered enough to at least be thorough, then I can’t be bothered trying to help you.
“Both sides are poison my dear friend”
Which has been the consistent theme of this blog’s author – me – from the beginning. This is something you would know, if you had taken the time to read far more carefully, and fully, over a longer time frame.
“It is a matter of working out which side is more poisonous then the other”
Disagree. You have (correctly, IMO) recognised that both “sides” are poison. Choosing “sides” based on who is (supposedly) less poisonous, is to support poison still.
Whilst it is pointless getting into an argument with pompous self righteous people your manner is consistent with those who have spent their working lives in a position of power pushing people around to glorify their own existence. I would be surprised if it were otherwise and I see no point having a conversation with such people.
Your point of view is entrenched and reminds me of the Alan Jones rants. I suggest that you stay on the facts, give a true perspective rather than pretend objectivity and look at the facts.
And in response to your final twisting of my statement: both sides of politics are indeed poison and this is why I never vote for either side. But given a choice between one side which is there specifically to reward the rich and the other (bumbling) side which is actually trying to govern for the nation (albeit badly) it is the better of 2 evils. Your attempt to pervert my point is not appreciated.
Mick,
To weigh in on the arguement you say –
“It is a matter of working out which side is more poisonous then the other”.
For what it’s worth, in my opinion the difference between liberal and Labor is that the Liberals do it slower – that Barnaby Joyce like all of us is on a learning curve, is honest, and resonates with this blogs owner. He writes entertainingly and talks a lot of commonsense and thus some enjoy reading his articles here.
I agree with you Kevin. Good perspective.
I like some of the blogs and wonder where Joyce gets the time…..is there not enough to do in politics?