Patricia Karvelas and Barnaby Joyce duelled for 30 minutes over the controversial $80 million water buy back.Credit:AAP
Ina marathon interview with the ABC's Patricia Karvelas,Joyce vehemently denied any wrongdoing in a decision – while he was minister for water and agriculture – to buy $79 million worth of water from a company domiciled in the Cayman Islands that was co-founded by Angus Taylor,who is now himself a federal government minister.
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Joyce,however,did not merely deny any malfeasance. He denied himself any agency whatsoever,arguing that he as a federal cabinet minister was helplessly bound to the recommendations of his department and the whims of the Queensland government.
"We followed their precedent,you fleas,we followed their precedent,"he thundered."The Labor Party – Labor Labor Labor Party – were the first people to buy off this vendor,recommended by the Queensland government."
In years to come,political tragics might use the interview as the basis for a drinking game in which they sip every time Joyce says the word"Labor"or"Lynham"– the Queensland Labor minister Anthony Lynham at the time of the buyback. Any such imbiber would likely require hospitalisation before Joyce is even halfway through.
Lynham,Joyce said,had gone"hand over fist,shoulder over toes"to get the Commonwealth to buy water from Eastern Australian Irrigation. No doubt he also went head over heels.