Barnaby Joyce has been in the spotlight as parliament returns this week, with the Canberra Press struggling to understand that he is still a member of the Nationals, and still sitting with the Nationals in parliament, while choosing not to engage in partyroom discussions.
While Mr Joyce has held onto his membership amid a stoush over climate policy, the former party leader did not attend the Nationals partyroom meeting on Monday.
Former Joyce chief of staff and Nationals senator Matt Canavan said he hoped Mr Joyce and Mr Littleproud could reconcile their differences quickly after the pair held a brief meeting on Monday.
“I think it’s a good thing that David’s reached out to him, and I hope they can repair that,” he said,
“As I say, family is much stronger when it stays together, and hopefully we can do that.”
“I would have loved to have Barnaby in our room today. It is disappointing that he’s not attending meetings,” Senator Canavan said.
Joyce has compared his drawn-out divorce from the Nationals partyroom to punching a journalist in the nose.
Asked by one reporter whether his position on net zero was all or nothing, he said it was a matter of aspiration and targets.
“If I was to say … I have a target to punch you in the nose, but now I’ve just got an aspiration, would you feel more comfortable about it?” Mr Joyce asked the journalist.
“By the way, I’m not a violent man,” he added.
“That was a metaphor, not a promise.”
Meanwhile, in a video posted to his social media as he departed for Canberra, Joyce said he was focused on representing the region and would be “asking the question on every farmer’s lips: ‘What on earth has happened to the new BOM website?’ Our beloved old site has been ‘updated’ to virtually useless.”
The Bureau of Meteorology has defended its new $4 million website after a flood of complaints about the refreshed look and the new app-like site being difficult to navigate.
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