‘Get your act together’: Anthony Albanese hits out at Barnaby Joyce over firearm comments
Anthony Albanese has delivered a brutal response to Barnaby Joyce following his comments likening voting to firearms and telling rally goers to “load that magazine”.
Mr Joyce apologised on Monday for evoking violent imagery in a metaphor about voting at an anti-wind turbine event on Sunday.
The former deputy prime minister and former Royal Queensland Regiment member made the comments comparing voting to loading a gun before saying “goodbye” to three Labor counterparts.
Mr Albanese, who has been calling for Mr Joyce to be sacked over the remark, said he needed to “get (his) act together” while speaking on The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick on Tuesday morning.
“And to Barnaby, I just say, mate, get your act together or move on,” he said.
“People expect better of people in public life than what you have done across a range of issues.”
Camera IconAnthony Albanese has delivered a brutal response to Barnaby Joyce following his comments likening voting to firearms and telling rally goers to “load that magazine”. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia
The Prime Minister added he’s “not quite sure what this bloke’s got to do to be moved on”.
“I said yesterday that Peter Dutton had four reshuffles. He should have a fifth. And that’s my view,” he said.
Mr Albanese said the language needs to be toned down, particularly following a “very prominent” event in the United States, referring to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
“It’s one thing to be obsessed about a solar panel or a wind farm, but Barnaby, I think, has a record of going a bit over the top and being loose, to say the least,” he said.
“But this is a guy who was Deputy Prime Minister not once, but twice.”
Camera IconMr Joyce has apologised on Monday for evoking violent imagery in a metaphor about voting at an anti-wind turbine event on Sunday. NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman. Credit: News Corp AustraliaCamera IconMr Joyce compared voting to firearms, telling people to “get ready to load that magazine”. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia
There have been more than 700 threats to Australian parliamentarians so far this financial year, according to the Australian Federal Police, with Mr Albanese urging for a “kinder” shift in politics.
“We just need to be a little bit kinder and gentler in the way that we conduct our politics,” he said.
“We don’t want to go down the American road, which has seen real polarisation and just people being angry all the time. People can have disagreements but can we do it respectfully.”
Mr Joyce, a multi-time Deputy Prime Minister, is currently in shadow cabinet as the LNP veterans’ affairs spokesman.
Speaking at a public event in Lake Illawarra on Sunday, Mr Joyce was hot under the collar about turbines, calling them “wind turds”.
“To turn up in numbers” in Canberra and Sydney was the crowd’s “greatest weapon” against turbines, he said.
“And the bullet you have is that little piece of paper, and it goes in that magazine called the voting box, and it’s coming up,” Mr Joyce said.
“Get ready to load that magazine.
“Goodbye Chris, goodbye Steven, goodbye Albo. And when they see that, they’ll let you in their office for a meeting.”
Mr Joyce apologised for the comments when he appeared on television Monday morning.
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