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Australia news live updates: deputy PM to face party room after leaked text message furore; NSW records 28 Covid deaths, Victoria six; fire threatens WA towns
Barnaby Joyce will face his colleagues in Canberra this week after leaked text message savaging the prime minister; fires sweep through the west as hundreds evacuated. Follow all the day’s news live
Barnaby Joyce pulls out of ABC’s Insiders as Labor says role as deputy PM ‘untenable’Frustrated, frazzled and under siege – Scott Morrison’s faith in himself takes a hitGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingSpeers asks Andrews whether she has spoken to Barnaby Joyce about why he felt Scott Morrison was a liar, referring to the Deputy Prime Minister’s leaked text message.
Andrews:
No, I haven’t. My discussions recently with Barnaby Joyce have been exclusively in relation to some local airport issues that I have in my electorate. No... I haven’t discussed that with him. To be quite honest, I probably won’t because I understand that there is interest from some people, particularly in the media, about the goings-on, but for me it really is quite simple.
It won’t Barnaby’s finest hour by a long stretch. He apologised, the Prime Minister accepted that apology. He offered to resign, the Prime Minister declined that offer, and they’ve indicated that they will work together.
Look, I’ve had a couple of robust discussions with him, as you would expect, but I’ve always found him to be respectful to me, to listen to what I had to say. He doesn’t always agree with it, but we just work our way through it. Now, you would expect that to happen in any workplace, and Parliament, Cabinet, you would expect exactly the same thing. I haven’t found him to be any but decent and respectful to me.
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