Barnaby’s problems deepen with new harassment complaint

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Via the ABC:

The National Party has confirmed a formal complaint has been made against Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.

The ABC understands the complaint is in relation to allegation of sexual harassment involving a West Australian woman and Mr Joyce.

Mr Joyce said he had been “made indirectly aware” of the allegation and described the claim as “spurious and defamatory”.

A spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister said “allegations of wrongdoing should be immediately referred to police so that the veracity of any claim could be properly tested”.

“All complaints are taken seriously and treated with the strict confidentiality and given due process,” the National Party federal director Ben Hindmarsh said in a statement.

The dill still won’t go but the writing is on the wall, via The Guardian:

Nationals MP Andrew Broad will attempt to force a resolution of Barnaby Joyce’s embattled leadership of the National party when MPs return to Canberra next Monday for the resumption of parliament.

Joyce, who is digging in for the fight, was hit late on Thursday with Broad’s public expression of no confidence and by news, reported by the Daily Telegraph, that the Nationals had received a complaint of sexual harassment against the deputy prime minister – a complaint dismissed by Joyce’s spokesman as “spurious and defamatory”.

Senior party figures rallied around Joyce, with the party’s Senate leader, Nigel Scullion saying he retained his support, and the deputy Nationals leader, Bridget McKenzie, arguing the Broad motion could not be considered at Monday’s meeting because it wasn’t a full party room gathering.

McKenzie said MPs were “welcome to bring issues to the party room” but Monday’s meeting would be lower house MPs only, because not all senators would be in Canberra, due to the fact Senate estimates hearings were in progress.

That view was backed by the National party whip, Michelle Landry.

Joyce’s travails deepened when Broad told the ABC on Thursday he had the endorsement of his local branch in the Mallee to call on Joyce to resign the leadership of the National party next Monday.

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Meanwhile, Do-nothing Malcom is doing what he does best:

With his Washington trip at risk of being overshadowed by the Joyce saga, Mr Turnbull was reluctant to engage.

“I’ve got nothing to add to what I’ve said already said in Australia about that,” he said, before adding:

“Barnaby Joyce is the leader of the National Party of Australia. He is my deputy Prime Minister.

“The leadership of the National Party is a matter for the National Party and I have been at great pains to stress that I have not, nor has my party, sought to influence in any way, the deliberations of the National Party, any more than I would expect the National Party to seek to influence deliberations of the Liberal Party.”

Nothing.

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.