Looking like a shadow of his former self, Barnaby still has voices on his side
Despite embarrassing himself in a display of public drunkenness, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce is one of the Nationals’ “strongest players on the field”, according to one of his staunchest allies.
A video published online by The Daily Mail showed the maverick MP lying on his back on a Canberra pavement speaking loudly into his phone after falling off a planter box.
Nationals MPs have expressed concerns for his welfare and agreed the video wasnāt a good look but are waiting for the controversy to blow over.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud have urged Mr Joyce to take leave to get the help he needs.
Whether he will go on a break is yet to be confirmed but Nationals MP Keith Pitt ā a loyal ally to Mr Joyce ā maintains the party will need him at the next election.
āPolitics is a lot like sports,ā Mr Pitt told ABC radio.
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āWhether you like people or donāt like them, if you donāt turn out your best team ā if you bench your best players ā you donāt win any games.
āThe big game is the federal election ā¦ we need our strongest players on the field and Barnaby is clearly one of them.ā
Mr Joyce was elected to parliament in 2004 and remains a popular MP.
He won the seat of New England with a 14 per cent margin after independent Tony Windsor retired in 2013, and Mr Joyce held the electorate with an even stronger buffer at the last election.
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Mr Joyce, 56, who is the opposition veteranās affairs spokesman, admitted to making a ābig mistakeā and blamed his behaviour on a mixture of alcohol and prescription drugs, adding āthereās no excuse for itā.
But the Labor government has continued to criticise his behaviour and his future on the opposition front bench remains under a cloud.
Mr Pitt called the scrutiny a public flogging and said Parliament House was a ābuilding full of imperfect peopleā.
āYouāre here to represent your people, itās them that decide whether you come to the building or not ā no one owns the seat,ā he said.
āIf we look at whatās happened with Barnaby, no one was injured, no one got hurt, there was no crime.
āHeās embarrassed, heās provided a reason for whatās happened, heās on his feet in the parliament.ā
Mr Joyce was seen in the House of Representatives on Thursday morning.
The viral incident is the latest in a string of controversies.
In 2018, he had an affair with former staffer Ms Campion, which led to the end of his 24-year marriage and the introduction of a ābonk banā in parliament.
He also gained international attention in 2015 when he threatened to euthanise US actor Johnny Deppās dogs while serving as agriculture minister.
AAP has contacted Mr Joyce for comment.
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