Earlier today, the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Barnaby Joyce, resigned his position as leader of the National party, facing down the barrel of a Monday morning leadership crisis.
It comes after several weeks of scandals, including – but not limited to – fresh sexual harassment accusations. It might feel like a literal year ago that Joyce’s affair with his now-pregnant staffer was splashed across the Daily Telegraph, but it’s only been ten days. Feel old yet?
Since this resignation presser was a long time coming… well, people have been having fun with it. Hey, watching disgraced politicians squirm as they leave office is basically a national past time! Vegemite should sponsor them.
https://twitter.com/mkcully/status/966870375488397312
The actual conference was pretty wild, tbh. He admonished media for going after his private life, despite the fact that, as we’ve said before, he literally did this to Australians with his godawful postal vote. Also, he tried to position himself as a battler despite going to private school? Yeah okay mate.
If a journalist asks you about “the allegations” and your response is “which ones?”, you have absolutely cooked it.#Barnabye
— ange thompson (@AngeMaryClaire) February 23, 2018
“What if that was my wife, how would I feel?”
I mean. #barnabye
— anna spargo-ryan (@annaspargoryan) February 23, 2018
Naturally, a hashtag has already sprung up – #barnabye. And Australian Twitter is going wild for it.
Is this gonna be a thing? It feels like it’s gonna be a thing.
https://twitter.com/missrobinson/status/966873253233836032
https://twitter.com/thomas_violence/status/966870536545484800
Or this.
Putting out the tea towel for @Barnaby_Joyce pic.twitter.com/v0HuZcnhqH
— Don Brown MP (@donbrownmp) February 23, 2018
Australia’s wildest publication getting this joke out of the way.
BREAKING: BARNABY’S PULLED OUT …. AS DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
— The NT News (@TheNTNews) February 23, 2018
Y’know, shortly after this bloke did it first:
nationals members with a strong pullout game who would’ve thought? pic.twitter.com/5mX0Od1ETy
— wheels (@wheelswordsmith) February 20, 2018
(And, tbf, several other people are also making this exact same joke. It just works on so many levels!!!! That’s comedy, folks.)
A classic gif, one which should be memorialised in the halls of parliament with the names of every politician whose lost their job after weeks of scandal.
July 2, 2016: Barnaby Joyce re-elected
October 27, 2017: Barnaby Joyce disqualified under section 44, removed from parliament
December 2, 2017: Barnaby Joyce wins by-election, returns to parliament, returns as deput PM
February 23, 2018: Barnaby Joyce resigns as deputy PM pic.twitter.com/UtFAfR3VC9
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) February 23, 2018
The Australian‘s James Jeffrey over here, who usually updates his delightfully nerdy 404 error pages whenever another politician finds themselves in strife (but in this case, didn’t need to at all).
On reflection I’ll be sticking with this one pic.twitter.com/23TrXVMsoM
— James Jeffrey (@James_Jeffrey) February 23, 2018
Already Sportsbet is encouraging you to gamble on who will be the next Deputy Prime Minister. Our country has some kind of disease.
jesus christ the people at sportsbet move quickly pic.twitter.com/AuN6yd8ft1
— Alex Bruce-Smith (@alexbrucesmith) February 23, 2018
But on the lighter side of things… I mean, you can never go past a Simpsons gag, can you.
Actual footage of Barnaby Joyce “stepping down” as Deputy PM. #barnabye 👋🏼 pic.twitter.com/VLIn3ssTFx
— Zac Abroms (@zacabroms) February 23, 2018
Or a good ol’ charts-based one. Max‘s maths teacher would be proud.
https://twitter.com/mthorz/status/966871249287749632
And now, we cross live to Bill Shorten to see how he’s handling it all.
https://twitter.com/theUNCLEdaily/status/966883317004910593
This gag requires an intricate knowledge of Joyce’s Twitter account and therefore should be rewarded.
https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/966872083933245445
Dogs gone.
— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) May 15, 2015
Even Netflix is sticking the knife in.
Offer still stands, @Barnaby_Joyce. #barnabye https://t.co/2fXyv2HfHr
— Netflix ANZ (@NetflixANZ) February 23, 2018
@Barnaby_Joyce Hey mate, hear you’re going to have some time off. We’ll send you some Nitflux.
— Netflix ANZ (@NetflixANZ) October 27, 2017
But, at long last, it’s over. It’s done.
https://twitter.com/braddybb/status/966878599335723009
And all we’re left with is seeing if any of Joyce’s known enemies will rise up to gloat.
https://twitter.com/Utopiana/status/966884500687867906
