SUBJECTS: Nationals leadership; Voice to Parliament; Simon Crean.
MONIQUE WRIGHT, HOST: Welcome back to Sunrise. David Littleproud has said that he would cop a challenge for the National leadership from his colleagues after reports surfaced that there was discontent within the party.
Senior party sources say that Littleproud is being dominated by Liberal Leader Peter Dutton. And now former leader Barnaby Joyce and Queensland MP Keith Pitt are touted as potential challengers. But Mr Littleproud says that all politicians are working on borrowed time conceding that he will keep going until his time has come. Let's bring in Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek now and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Morning to you both. Good to see you.
BARNABY JOYCE: Good morning.
WRIGHT: Barnaby, is David Littleproud the best person to lead the Nats?
JOYCE: Look, I want to ‑ yes, I want to get something really clear. This is a Penn and Teller article, and there's no doubt he's a very competent journalist, so he's got it from somewhere. They never rang me, and they never rang my office. I'm looking straight down the barrel, they never rang me, never rang my office. So it's not coming from me. What I'm going to concentrate is on three things: number one, people of New England, these people; number two, ex‑service men and women, my portfolio; number three right now is making sure we don't adulterate our Constitution, keeping one of the best Constitutions in the world safe. That's what I'm focused on. I have not made one call to one person asking for one vote, and that is the truth.
WRIGHT: Okay. We get your three points. But just if you could just tell us directly if there is a leadership challenge -
JOYCE: Yeah.
WRIGHT: - will you go for the leadership for a third time?
JOYCE: We're not going to have a leadership challenge ‑
WRIGHT: Really?
JOYCE: I’m not proposing a leadership challenge, I'm not moving for a leadership challenge. So, you know, this is something, you don't have to deny it when it's not going to happen. It's like saying, you know, "If those hills were going to instantaneously combust, would you go out and put them out?" You'd say, "Well, it's not going to happen."
WRIGHT: Okay. So is there any discontent within the Nationals about Littleproud as leader?
JOYCE: Well, look, you have to talk to other people. I mean I'm really happy with the job I'm doing -
WRIGHT: That you know of?
JOYCE: ‑ I think ‑ well, no, well, I'm not going to start talking for every person. You'd have to go back to that journalist, right, because, look, he's very competent, and he would know more, honestly, he knows a lot more than I do.
WRIGHT: Okay. So, Barnaby Joyce, you will not challenge for the leadership should it come about?
JOYCE: I'm not challenging for the leadership, there you go. 100%.
WRIGHT: Okay. Tanya, do we believe him?
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: I think Barnaby's completely avoided the question. Barnaby Joyce, are you prepared to rule out running for the leadership should there be a leadership challenge?
JOYCE: There's not going to be a leadership challenge, so I'm prepared to rule it out. There you go. What else do you want?
WRIGHT: Okay. All right. Let's move on now.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: If there is one, he won't rule it out.
WRIGHT: Yes.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: It's interesting, but I think, Mon, that really -
JOYCE: Are you going to stand here Anthony Albanese ‑ you've never got along with him.
WRIGHT: Yes, Tanya.
JOYCE: You've never got along with Anthony.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: The important thing here is we're focused on cheaper childcare starts on Saturday, we're focused on bringing down the cost of energy bills, we're focused on bringing down the cost of medicine for 6 million Australians -
JOYCE: Oh, here comes the lines.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: - making it cheaper to see a doctor. That's what we're focused on and it's interesting that the Nationals are just busy fighting themselves.
WRIGHT: All right. Let's move on to the news that's come in overnight, a Newspoll out today has revealed that support for a Voice to Parliament has fallen. So if the referendum to enshrine a Voice was held next weekend it would fail, Tanya. So does this mean that your Government needs to change the messaging strategy, Tanya, so people actually understand more what The Voice is about?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think it's a really good thing that we've got months to go before the referendum so we have an opportunity of countering the scare campaign that's being run by Barnaby and people like him, to make sure people understand that this is about two things; it's about changing our Constitution to recognise that First Nations Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been here for 65,000 years, and setting up a Voice that is a Voice to Parliament that could give advice to the Parliament, not veto what the Parliament does, but give advice to the Parliament on issues that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people differently. That's what this is about. Simple.
WRIGHT: Okay, Barnaby. So if not The Voice, then what?
JOYCE: Well, the first thing the Prime Minister should do ‑ because it is going to ‑ this is something I am focusing on, because I'm so worried about the damage to our Constitution, when we don't even have the legislation about what The Voice is going to be; we don't have it, and it will have an effect on the executive, and it will be based on race, which is something I find abhorrent in 2023.
What the Prime Minister should do right now is not be proud, not suffer the sin of hubris, but say this is obviously going down, so on behalf of Indigenous people and the Australian people in general, we're going to pull this referendum and try and work out something that is palatable. I mean you've got to do it, otherwise it's just hubris.
WRIGHT: Okay. Finally, a former Labor Leader and Federal Cabinet Minister Simon Crean has died at the age of 74 suddenly while overseas. Tanya, you worked with Simon, you knew him well, he was always a staunch defender of fairness.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: He was a really great man, and I spoke to Simon just a few weeks ago again, he was very generous, he would ring sometimes and give us some advice, give us some insights, a little bit of praise along the way, he was a really decent, hard‑working man. He'll be much missed by Carole and his family. And I think it's really worth recalling that at a very difficult time, Simon Crean had the guts to say that it was wrong for Australia to be involved in the invasion of Iraq, it wasn't a popular thing to do at the time. He was a brave man who lived according to his values, and he'll be much missed.
WRIGHT: Yeah. Barnaby, it's been lovely to see both sides of Parliament here remembering Simon Crean, and remembering a life dedicated to service.
JOYCE: Look, he was genuinely, as Tanya said, a really decent guy. I was speaking to him merely a couple of weeks ago. He was actually ‑ he went up, Sebastian went up to him and said, "My dad's name's Barnaby, he's very important" and I had to pull him up and said, "This is Simon Crean, he's also very, very, very important and probably a lot more important than daddy, to be honest." But it was just the way he was so humble, and just a decent guy, and to hear that he ‑ it's one of those things last night when poor old Simon passed away, everybody, even on my side, they were texting each other saying, "Hell, did you hear about Simon", you know, because a lot of other people, probably not as much, but he's a really decent guy.
WRIGHT: Some really nice memories. Thank you both very much. Tanya, Barnaby, good to talk to you.
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