MEMBER for Farrer Sussan Ley agrees it has been a tough week for the Morrison government but insists it is the most united cabinet she has sat in.
And Member for Mallee Anne Webster says the Coalition remains focused on “getting on with the job” in the face of “another distraction that nobody needs or have little interest in”.
As politicians converge on Canberra for one of the last sitting weeks before a likely May federal election, the heat will be on the government after disparaging text messages about Prime Minister Scott Morrison were leaked last week.
In one, Barnaby Joyce, before returning to to the role of deputy prime minister and Nationals leader, called Mr Morrison “a hypocrite and a liar”.
Another revealed former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian labelled Mr Morrison a “horrible, horrible person” during the 2019-20 bushfire crisis.
In the exchange, a unnamed Federal Cabinet minister branded Mr Morrison a “complete psycho” as well as “desperate and jealous”.
These emerged after the government and Mr Morrison suffered a slump in popularity in the latest Newspoll at the start of the week.
Ms Ley, who is also Environment Minister, agreed it had been a tough week for the government.
“The most important issue is the unity in the Morrison government,” she told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.
“As a minister that has sat in three cabinets with three prime ministers … this is the most united cabinet table I have sat at.”
Asked whether there was any prospect of Mr Morrison or Mr Joyce being rolled as leader of their respective parties, Ms Ley said: “Not at all, absolutely none.”
But shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said there was no salvaging this government.
“A change in the Liberal leader or Nationals leader won’t do it,” he told Sky News.
“This government is a smoking ruin of division and disunity and dysfunction and ordinary Australians are paying the price of that. The government seems to spend all of its time dishing out free character assessments of each other.”
Dr Webster said the timing of the texts being made public in an election year was “plotted and planned”.
“It is interesting that it has taken a year for these texts to be made public,” she told Sunraysia Daily.
“But the reality is that it is Canberra bubble interest and I believe the community across the Mallee are more interested in energy prices, the cost of living and health care, they are more interested in roads and the things that impact on their lives.
“In terms of where this government is at, we are focused on the future and the people. This is another distraction that nobody needs or have little interest in.”
Mr Joyce has apologised for the text, which was sent when he was a backbencher, and has offered to resign.
After the text was sent to an unnamed party on March 22, it was passed on to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who in the previous month had gone public with allegations she was raped in a parliamentary office in 2019, sparking a national conversation about treatment of women in the workplace.
“Tell BH (Brittany Higgins) I and Scott, he is Scott to me until I have to recognise his office, don’t get along,” a screenshot of the text reads.
“He is a hypocrite and a liar from my observations and that is over a long time. I have never trusted him and I dislike how he earnestly rearranges the truth to a lie.”
Mr Joyce returned to The Nationals’ leadership three months later.
In a statement, Mr Morrison said he understood Mr Joyce was in a “different headspace last year” and believes he “genuinely no longer feels this way”.
– with AAP
