I believe it was Shakespeare that once said: “Cunts’ll fucken do anything if they’ve got a book to flog.” In the case of formerly-embattled-now-just-mildly-disgraced Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, this includes going on an ABC comedy program to be interviewed – knowing full well that he’ll be humiliated to some extent – so that he can publicise Weatherboard and Iron.
Heads up: if you are a big soft piece of sponge like I am, this is a pretty uncomfortable watch. Right out of the gate, Joyce is clearly pissed off at the clip shown before the interview, and Charlie Pickering does his best job to make him feel more at ease by asking him straight-up if his daughters are embarrassed by him.
Joyce, to his credit, basically refuses to be drawn across the entire interview, sticking to his message: the book is mostly not about him, it’s about policy. Joyce concedes that he does discuss the ~scandale~, but only as a hook to get people to read the book.
A few highlights include the very weird bit where Joyce maybe implies that the problems of farmers are being ignored because they’re white and the bit where Joyce speaks on action that can be taken for drought relief, which actually sounds sincere, compared to the rest of all of it. Mostly the highlight is just how pissed off he is to be there, which is very cathartic if you happen to be one of the people whose equal rights regarding marriage he refused to vote for.
You can watch the full interview below:
Regardless of how you feel about Joyce, he’s right about the seriousness of the drought. If you’re interested in doing something to out with drought relief, you can donate anything from $1.70 for a litre of diesel to $20 for a bale of hay to $250 for 11,500 litres of water through Buy a Bale. If you feel like getting your boots dirty, you can even volunteer your time to help out on a farm. Get amongst it.
