Barnaby Joyce praises Scott Morrison after he called him a liar in leaked texts

Barnaby Joyce has publicly praised Scott Morrison as ‘competent’ and ‘the better choice’ after texts were leaked showing he called the Prime Minister a ‘hypocrite and a liar’.

The Deputy Prime Minister sent the damning texts to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in March last year after the PM claimed he did not know about her rape allegation before she aired it publicly.

Since Ms Higgins leaked the texts last week, Mr Joyce has been at pains to insist he backs Mr Morrison and likes working with him.

During Question Time on Tuesday Labor put it to the National Party leader that ‘he knew exactly what he was talking about’ when he savaged the PM, prompting Mr Joyce to heap faint praise upon Mr Morrison and boast about the government’s policy achievements.

‘I’ve never worked with a Prime Minister on defending our nation till we worked together. Something so vitally important,’ he shouted as Labor members jeered.

‘I have worked with this Prime Minister as we built dams… I worked with this Prime Minister as we built the inland rail, that’s wildly important, something the Labor party and the Greens never did. 

‘I worked with the Prime Minister as we dealt with one of the greatest pandemics of modern times. 

‘During that period of time we had one of the greatest successes because we had one of the lowest fatality rates of anywhere on the globe,’ Mr Joyce said as he talked up the Coalition’s achievements.

‘We have kept this nation in work with this Prime Minister and the Treasurer, we have unemployment down to 4.2 per cent… the Labor government he has never had unemployment low. 

‘We have more Australians in work as I work with this Prime Minister than ever before,’ he bragged. 

Mr Joyce described Mr Morrison as ‘quite obviously the better choice for the next election’ with tension in Europe over Russia and Ukraine and in the Indo-Pacific with the rising assertiveness of China.

‘To take Australia into a time that we have so many geopolitical issues… we need a competent hand to be able to guide this nation through something that will be an incredibly complex time.

‘So, Mr Speaker, I absolutely stand by this person. This is a great Prime Minister doing a great job,’ he said.   

Ms Higgins rocked Canberra in March when she alleged she was raped by a colleague in a minister’s office in 2019. 

The Deputy Prime Minster sent a text to Miss Higgins, via another person, saying: ‘Tell BH [Brittany Higgins] I and Scott, he is Scott to me until I have to recognise his office, don’t get along.

‘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.’

Ms Higgins leaked the messages last week after Mr Joyce called for the resignation of a mystery minister who allegedly called Mr Morrison a ‘complete psycho’ in texts to Gladys Berejiklian.

Mr Joyce apologised for the texts and offered his resignation but the PM refused and said he forgave him.

The Nationals leader claimed his view of Mr Morrison was affected by Ms Higgins’ allegations and he was now in a different mind space.