One Nation MP David Farley has committed a “rookie error” during his first week in Parliament, missing multiple votes on the Albanese government’s tax legislation on Thursday. The newly elected member for Farrer sparked media reports that he had split with his party to abstain, but One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce cleared up the issue on Thursday afternoon.
Barnaby Joyce explains the mistake
Speaking to Sky News Australia, Mr Joyce explained that his colleague had made the “rookie error” of not walking out of a meeting when the bells rang. “What happened there is called ‘I've just arrived in Parliament, and I've got departmental people in my office’,” Mr Joyce said. “He thinks, ‘I'm being really rude because I've got you in my office, and I'm talking to you’. ‘Oh, there's a bell. Don't worry, I'll keep talking to you’.”
The former Nationals leader, who has served more than 20 years in federal parliament, related how he had explained to Mr Farley that voting was a “primary responsibility” of an MP. “We sort of had the conversation where I said, ‘Look, if someone is basically being attacked by an anaconda in your office and there's a division on, and you have to make a choice of which one you go to, you leave that poor soul with the anaconda, and you go to the division,” Mr Joyce said.
Joyce's own near-miss
When Sky News host Kieren Gilbert noted that Department of Parliamentary Services staff would surely “be aware of the green light flashing”, Mr Joyce related how he had almost been tricked into a similar error early in his career. “I remember my first division, and doing a presser out here,” Mr Joyce said. “And (when the bells rang), I thought, I've got to go to that. You guys (in the media) said, ‘don't worry, they'll wait for you’.”
Laughing at the situation, Gilbert asked whether the now-veteran MP had believed the comment. “I thought about it,” Mr Joyce responded. Mr Joyce said he was sure One Nation’s opponents would make a bigger deal out of the issue than it merited. “They will background you to report that out. Oh, there it is, there it is. One Nation is over. The polling will go down because David Farley missed two divisions. I mean, no,” he said.
