By MATT NICHOLLS
BARNABY Joyce is one of the most recognisable politicians in the country, but that means little to his family at home.
The New England MP said some of the fiercest debates he’d had were with his wife Natalie and four daughters … usually over the remote control.
“I normally get home and have a glass of white wine with my wife on the verandah before dinner,” he said.
“Then we go into the lounge and have a debate over what we’re watching on TV.
“I want to watch news and current affairs and they want to watch rubbish.”
He said the term rubbish is defined by shows that feature “dancing with something or cooking something”.
However, there is something the Joyces agree on.
The head of the family admitted he was a closet fan of Channel 7 game show Deal or No Deal.
“It amazes me how people will go on the show and think they’ll win $200,000,” he said.
“My old teacher from the University of New England would like this … my knowledge of statistics says this show highlights how people make imperfect decisions.
“The average amount of money on the show is about $20,000 and the median amount of money is, I think, about a thousand bucks.
“The law of averages says you’ll win somewhere between the median and average amount of money.”
But asked if he would consider making a guest appearance on Deal or No Deal, should the show consider a “celebrity edition”, the MP declined.
He is saving himself for one TV show – a program that would surprise even his most devout followers.
“I would love to be a guest presenter on Rage,” he said.
But for those thinking the Minister for Agriculture would be playing the country tunes of Keith Urban, Slim Dusty and The McClymonts, think again.
“I’m not really into country music. I’d play some Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Cold Play, some Neil Young, Velvet Underground and maybe even a bit of UT.”
For a man who features in daily newspapers across the country, he still has the ability to surprise.
On the night of the Federal Election on 7 September, Joyce created shock when mining magnate Gina Rinehart, the richest woman in Australia, appeared at his Tamworth celebrations.
But despite some negative press, the maverick politician said it was no skin off his back.
“I’m mates with people right at the bottom and right at the top,” he said.
“If there was ever any pressure from the Nats, which there hasn’t been, to cut ties with any of my friends, then I would tell them I wouldn’t.
“Gina herself has worried about going to events because it would be a ’bad look’ for me, but I just take it on the chin.
“If you’re mates with someone, you don’t hide them away.”
One of the highlights of that evening, he said, was when a local man and Rinehart were having a conversation.
“That’s Australia. We are very egalitarian where a meat worker and the richest woman in the country can talk to one another,” he said.
“In America, you wouldn’t get within 300 miles of the richest person, there would be bodyguards and security checks.”
The “what you see is what you get” style is something the MP is comfortable with.
Mr Joyce said he didn’t have time to be anything but himself.
“The way I see it I’m now wearing three hats in my job,” he said.
“I’m the Member for New England, I’m the Deputy Leader of the Nationals and I’m the Minister for Agriculture. All these three jobs happen at the same time.
“People are saying ’I don’t see you as much in the media’, but that makes sense because you’re absolutely flat out.
“You don’t have to lobby yourself on television because you’re doing it behind the scenes.”
One of the big “wins” Mr Joyce said he’s had in his three months as the Agriculture Minister was the rebuttal of the sale of GrainCorp to foreign investors.
While Treasurer Joe Hockey got most of the limelight for making the final decision, the Deputy Leader of the Nats said more credit should have been given to his party.
“I’m very proud of the way we handled it,” he said.
“People knew that we were very serious about it. In fact my personal views were irrelevant in the end.
“It was conveyed to us by constituents that they didn’t want GrainCorp being owned by foreign investors.”
He said it was a misnomer that the Nationals were completely against foreign ownership.
“Take Qantas for example. If they said they wanted to be 49 per cent foreign-owned I’d have no real problems with that.
“If they said 51 per cent then I’d say ’hang on’. But if they came to the Government and said we are genuinely going to go broke, then we’d take a look at it.
“We don’t want another Ansett situation.”
The MP said there was a big difference between Qantas and GrainCorp.
“GrainCorp wasn’t going broke. In fact, GrainCorp was making a shitload of money.
“The world in the next 50 years is going to need as much food as it has in the history in the world, which is rather amazing,” he said.
“That’s why we wanted to keep that asset Australian-owned.”
The future prosperity of Qantas and other Australian-based airlines are the key to Joyce’s long-term plans for New England.
He wants to see the region tap into Queensland more regularly.
“When I was a kid growing up all I thought of was Sydney, Sydney, Sydney,” he said.
“But up north is Brisbane and then you have Toowoomba and Ipswich and the Gold Coast and there’s roughly three-and-a-half million people living there.
“To access those commercial opportunities we need a better air service to and from those places.”
Closer to home and his two main priorities the development of the Mount Lindesay Highway near Tenterfield and the Armidale Hospital, which needs $60 million to redevelop.
However, money’s tight and the MP was cautious about making promises.
“It’s not that the last government spent all the money, it’s that the last government spent it all on bullshit,” he said.
“The NBN technology is great, but it was expensive. Only two per cent of the network was rolled out and $10 billion was spent.
“I just want to get the hospital built. I know the state does too, but it can be hard convincing the government some times.
“We see Armidale and Tamworth as two big regional cities, yet they see them as almost suburbs as the same town.
“Because they spent $250 million on the hospital at Tamworth, it’s hard to convince them to spend the money on another major capital project in the same electorate 100km up the road.”
The hospital funding is likely to be a continuing battle, he said.
“We are just going to have to keep plugging away at it.”
Getting the hospital cash and appearing as a guest presenter on Rage might be contrasting items on his wish list, but that’s Barnaby.
He’s anything but dull.
