Barnaby Joyce is back as the leader of the National Party, and therefore back as the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, and – given Scott Morrison quarantining after his trip to the UK – back as the acting Prime Minister for the time being. It all happened so suddenly, perhaps even a little too suddenly, judging by the recent photo ops.
Please keep in mind that this article will not delve into the copious amounts of constipated-looking Barnaby photos. You can instead read our full investigation into that phenomenon here.
First up we have the photos of Joyce being sworn in – the third such time it’s happened.
The reason why he’s palming off a small child as if he’s directly harnessing vril straight from his innards is explained quite easily, actually.
It turns out that kid is Joyce’s son, who adorably ran into the photo right as he and Morrison were trying to smile in unison.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQZvW3aD00K/
And no! He’s not choking on anything! Let the poor man blush next to a TV with the Prime Minister on it in peace!
Then there’s the photo taken from Monday’s press conference, with a very displeased-looking deputy Nationals leader David Littleproud flanking Joyce.
According to The Guardian, the man was just cold! Fair!
Is this a celebration or a funeral? Look at those faces inverted smiles and Littleproud and Bridget McKenzie stressed angry not happy. #libspill #BarnabyJoyce pic.twitter.com/4irI7RAluh
— 💧Sara (@_Sara_Jade_) June 21, 2021
Surely his defeated scowl had nothing to do with the fact that he wasn’t able to put his hand up during the leadership spill because he had already pledged not to run against the previous leader, Michael McCormack.
The fact that the party room ballot was even held should’ve been a sign that McCormack didn’t have the numbers and shouldn’t have bothered running in the first place. But the man threw his hat in the ring anyway.
It was a nippy 13.2 degrees Celsius in Canberra yesterday, that’s all!
Never forget that @M_McCormackMP knew he was gone when the spill motion got up because it showed he didn’t have the numbers, but insisted on standing anyway which meant that @D_LittleproudMP who had previously pledged he would never stand against him as leader couldn’t run https://t.co/ZQo3iF1iCu
— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) June 21, 2021
So there you have it: the Nationals really are just one big, happy family.
They’re living it up over there, in fact. Nothing to see here.
Move along now.
