Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has taken an extraordinary swipe at Barnaby Joyce, after the backbencher announced he was eyeing a return to the top job.
Mr Joyce revealed on Monday that he would run for the position again should there be a ‘spill,’ while arguing that the Nationals were not ‘married’ to the Liberal Party.
Mr McCormack hit back at the former deputy’s comments this afternoon saying he understood what it took ‘to have a successful marriage.’
‘I understand when you have a marriage that it’s a two-way relationship,’ he told reporters in Queensland.
‘I understand that, I understand what it takes to have a successful marriage.
‘You don’t always get what you want but you have to work together to build better outcomes for your family.’
His barbed comments were an apparent swipe at Mr Joyce’s failed marriage after his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion (pictured) was revealed in 2017
His comments were ostensibly aimed at managing tensions between the coalition partners over energy policy, but also in reference to Mr Joyce’s failed marriage after his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion was exposed in 2017.
Mr Joyce and Ms Campion have remained together since and the two are now expecting their second child.
He was previously married to his wife of 24 years Natalie Abberfield, with whom he has four daughters.
Earlier, Mr Joyce sensationally claimed he remained ‘the elected deputy prime minister of Australia’ and would feel no guilt in returning to lead the National Party if Mr McCormack was rolled.
‘I am not going to call a spill, I am not looking for numbers,’ Mr Joyce told ABC Radio National.
‘If there was a spill, the position is vacant, I am the elected deputy prime minister of Australia, so I’d have no guilt at all standing – but I don’t see that happening.’
He made the explosive remarks after demanding the Morrison government bankroll a new coal-fired power station before the next election.
Investment in coal-fired power would be electoral poison in Liberal-held seats in southern states, where voters are demanding stronger action on climate change.
He was previously married to his wife of 24 years Natalie Abberfield (left) with whom he has four daughters. Mr Joyce resigned in February 2018 after a slew of bad press following his affair. The two remain together and are expecting their second child
But Mr Joyce angrily rejected suggestions he was hurting the coalition’s chances of re-election.
‘We are not married to the Liberal Party,’ he said.
‘If we’re going to agree with everything they say, we should join the Liberal Party.’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also rebuked Mr Joyce, insisting there will be ‘no change’ to his leadership team.
Mr Morrison said he would not be distracted by the ‘nonsense’ leadership rumblings within the Nationals.
‘We have a fantastic leader of the National Party and deputy prime minister in Michael McCormack and there will be no change to that,’ he told reporters in Sydney.
Nationals MP Andrew Gee, the deputy prime minister’s right-hand man, insists his position is not under threat.
‘If it’s one thing the Australian people has made clear in recent times it’s that they’re not happy with leadership shenanigans,’ he told the ABC.
Queensland Nationals MP Keith Pitt, who is among those pushing for new investment in coal, is not impressed the issue has morphed into a proxy battle for leadership.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured last month) also rebuked Mr Joyce, insisting there will be ‘no change’ to his leadership team
‘The leadership of the party is a gift of the party room,’ he told Sky News.
‘We are all elected as individual members of parliament, whether it’s in the Senate or in the House of Representatives.
‘Michael McCormack is the leader, there will be no change.’
Senior Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen was bemused by the discussion, saying on Twitter: ‘It’s a Venezuelan style stand-off between two blokes who think they are the deputy prime minister. I reckon we just give Tanya Plibersek the job.’