Regardless of his grog problem, Joyce is useless for our veterans

Barnaby Joyce’s tendency to self-destructive behaviour has rarely elicited anything other than a wry smile and blokey indulgence from his colleagues in the Nationals — those MPs who now, hilariously, are complaining that people filmed a drunken Joyce lying on a Canberra footpath rather than helping him. The standard you walk past is the standard you accept, perhaps — and Nationals MPs have been walking past Joyce’s antics for two decades. Indeed, they chose him to lead them despite the problems with alcohol, the unresolved accusations of sexual harassment (accusations he denies), and the very public marriage breakdown.

The Canberra footpath incident has now placed at least a pro forma question over Joyce’s continued position on the Dutton frontbench. What, exactly, is Joyce’s position on the frontbench? He’s shadow veterans’ affairs minister — something few if any people outside Canberra would be aware of.

A key reason for that is that, as a shadow minister, Joyce is apparently uninterested in his work.

Since the election more than 18 months ago, Joyce has asked just three questions in Parliament of Labor’s Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh.*

And while media releases aren’t a particularly accurate guide to the quality of a frontbencher, Joyce has issued just 23 media releases on veterans’ issues in his entire time as shadow minister — or around one a month. His own website includes far more releases on his own electorate — fair enough — but also Joyce opining on regional Australia (portfolio responsibility: Bridget McKenzie), the road toll (also McKenzie) multiple media releases on the Voice referendum (portfolio responsibility: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price), and net zero (now deleted — portfolio responsibility: Ted O’Brien).

In fact, carbon emissions, and protecting the industries that produce them, is Joyce’s main focus in opposition: attending rallies to attack renewables, going on Sky to attack renewables, backing a motion to remove net zero from his party’s platform, going on Sky to attack renewables again, telling Parliament in September the Coalition’s commitment to net zero by 2050 had an “untenable” cost, attacking net zero on Sky in July, trying to undermine leader David Littleproud over net zero, going on Sky News again to attack renewables, going on Sky yet again to tell Andrew Bolt how terrible net zero is, doing videos about the “mad fantasy” of renewables.

Renewable energy, and fighting it, gets Joyce far more enthused and energised than his day job of speaking up for veterans.

And a distracted shadow minister couldn’t come at a worse time for Australia’s veterans. The defence and veteran suicide royal commission is slowly wending its way to a conclusion later this year. In September last year, royal commissioner Nick Kaldas gave a remarkable speech at the National Press Club in which he savaged the Department of Defence. “We’ve heard contemporary lived experience accounts of abuse, assault, bastardisation, bullying, harassment, discrimination, misogyny — and physical and sexual violence within the ADF,” Kaldas said. He feared that “the defence hierarchy is simply waiting for this inquiry to end so that it can go back to business as usual.”

Kaldas said his commission has found no evidence the department “is prioritising the mental health and wellbeing of its people in a sustainable way, nor does it seem to be responding adequately to the pressing issue of suicide and suicidality in its ranks with any sense of urgency”. And the Department of Veterans’ Affairs had an “adversarial culture” that was re-traumatising veterans.

It’s hard to think of a more important time in veterans’ affairs in a generation, yet Joyce is off literally tilting at windmills in his crazed determination to prop up fossil fuels. Imagine if he’d devoted half of his Sky interviews to speaking up for veterans.

Regardless of his alcohol intake, or the other behaviours readily dismissed as “Barnaby being Barnaby”, Australia’s veterans are owed the Coalition taking its obligations to them seriously. And that would start with replacing Joyce.

*The original version of this article stated about Barnaby Joyce that “He’s asked just 34 questions on notice — a key mechanism for obtaining information from the government for the opposition.” This is incorrect. We have been advised that, since his appointment to the role of shadow veterans’ affairs minister, Joyce has asked, not 34, but 87 questions on notice, 71 of which were related to the Defence/Veterans portfolios. This in fact makes Joyce one of the more prolific users of questions on notice on the opposition frontbench, and Crikey is happy to correct the record.

Do our veterans deserve better than Barnaby? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.