David Littleproud: Leader of The Nationals. The Opposition. Liberal-National Coalition.
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
BARNABY JOYCE
Barnaby Joyce: Former Leader of the National Party and former Deputy Prime Minister.
Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Liberal-Nationals Coalition.
The fallout from the Barnaby affair
AS PUBLISHED IN INDEPENDENT AUSTRALIA
POLITICIANS cannot be trusted.
Tell us something we don’t know, you are saying.
Yes, it is a given, but the scandal surrounding Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and his pregnant extramarital partner Vikki Campion is about far more than trust. It encapsulates what is so wrong with our political and media modus operandi.
It is a minefield of personal failings on the part of the Nationals leader. It is a mainstream media disgrace.
Terms that have been bandied about in relation to Joyce’s conduct include inflated ego, betrayal, hypocrisy, deception, disingenuousness, cynicism, self-interest and poor self-control. We would expect that with high office comes a heightened cognisance of personal accountability. We might as well expect fairies at the bottom of the garden.
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