On Sunday night’s episode of The Project, host Lisa Wilkinson reflected on Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce’s affair with a former staffer, and stated that his “position is becoming untenable”.
In a piece to camera, the journalist asked a poignant question: “What if the genders were reversed?
“What if a female Deputy PM who had risen to power on the often thunderous promotion of her family values, was suddenly revealed to be having a secret affair, and was now pregnant to a staffer more than 15 years her junior?”
The hypothetical scenario borders on laughable – because in no world would we afford that woman privacy, let alone allow her to keep her job.
“What if we found,” she continued, “that staffer had been moved to a newly created, well paid, tax payer funded position nearby, and if she had left her husband and four children to move in with him?
“Would Malcolm Turnbull continue to say: ‘There’s nothing to see here?'”
It is a storyline that’s very hard to entertain.
Lisa Wilkinson asks whether or not Barnaby Joyce can survive on The Project. Post continues below.
But at the core of Wilkinson’s monologue was a point we mustn’t forget: There is one protagonist in this story. Not two. Certainly not six. But one.
And that protagonist is Barnaby Joyce himself.
The questions we ought to be asking are about him – and whether or not this was simply a private affair, or a serious breach of political power.
On Monday morning, radio host Em Rusciano echoed the same sentiment.
“My concern is it has become about the two women and Barnaby is out of the spotlight and in my opinion, we should be focusing down on Barnaby Joyce’s job as a politician and has this affected the way he is governing our country.
Top Comments
We also deserve to know how he can possibly be an effective Acting PM next week in the midst of this escalating national scandal? There have been reports that he was acting vindictive and out of temper due to the stress of the affair before all this broke.
I agree with Lisa & Em it's important that the details of the girlfriend/mistress's hiring & being moved around come to light. I can't see why he didn't ask for a divorce from his wife then with a certain amount of time, then commence his relationship with the new woman. Now that Joyce's wife suggests that Barnaby was in a relationship with her well before she was moved around puts a whole new light on it. It's important that these things are looked at in the light of day. The rules state a member of parliament can't be in a relationship with a person they choose to employ. No matter whether she's good at her job, she really shouldn't have been employed within her position as in any of these jobs if they knew of her relationship with Barnaby it not only smacks of nepotism, but also jobs for people's "favourites," which again means Barnaby will be in the cross hairs of a parliamentary commission.