BARNABY Joyce says he’ll remain “the boss” as federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister – but has refused to speculate on whether he’ll be replaced by deputy-leader Nationals leader and Regional Development Minister Fiona Nash.
Senator Nash hails from a mixed cropping enterprise at Young in southern NSW and was elevated to her party’s deputy-leadership when Mr Joyce replaced Warren Truss in early 2016.
She has held Rural Health, Regional Development and Regional Communications in the ministry since the 2013 election, while SA Liberal Senator Anne Ruston is the Assistant Agriculture and Water Resources Minister.
Mr Joyce became Agriculture Minister after the 2013 federal election and retained the portfolio following last year’s leadership changeover, despite the Nationals’ leader traditionally holding portfolios like Infrastructure or Trade.
Persistent talk has suggested NT Senator Nigel Scullion – currently the Indigenous Affairs Minister – could retire ahead of the next election creating a vacancy in the Nationals’ ministry allocation, under the Coalition agreement.
Mr Joyce’s name has been linked to the Infrastructure and Transport portfolio currently held by Victorian Nationals MP Darren Chester who has been pushing forward with prioritising construction of the $10 billion Melbourne to Brisbane inland rail project.
Multiple farm industry sources have raised questions about whether a change in minister is likely in the near future – and have welcomed the potential of Senator Nash as a replacement in the agriculture role, in the event of any ministry reshuffle.
Asked about the ongoing speculation suggesting he may be moving on from his current portfolio to take up another one like infrastructure, Mr Joyce said this week “I’m not saying that I would and I’m not saying that I wouldn’t”.
“You always keep your options open but I’m very happy with what we’ve done in agriculture,” he said.
“I know that people have concerns with me moving out of agriculture.
“I find one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received is that people don’t want me to move out of agriculture and that obviously says you must be doing the right thing.
“We have a very good track record in agriculture - we started with very little and have built it up into a substantial portfolio now that’s doing a great job for our nation.
“I have a great amount of jealousy about tying it up into a bow and handing it over to someone else because we’ve worked so hard to set it all up.”
Asked about the source of speculation on potential ministry changes, Mr Joyce said people were always looking at reshuffles, especially before an election.
“The big thing about reshuffles is you don’t rule anything out or in, but I’m happy with what we’ve been doing in the agriculture portfolio,” he said.
“We’ve delivered a white paper worth over $4 billion and when we started there was only a food plan worth just $30 million; we’ve refurbished biosecurity; and we’ve moved ahead with decentralisation of the APVMA (Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority), the RIRDC (Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation), and the GRDC (Grains Research and Development Corporation).
“The white paper also delivered the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission agricultural commissioner, we’re setting up the Regional Investment Corporation, building the inland rail, a $2.5b dams policy, changes to country of origin food labelling, 100 per cent tax write-offs for sheds and other farm assets, further investment into biological controls for blackberries, the transfer of water from environment into the agriculture portfolio was a big thing and the landing of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, and getting it all through to completion.
“All of these things are interconnected and I’m proud of it.”
Mr Joyce also declined to speculate on whether Senator Nash would be next in line for the agriculture portfolio.
“I’m not speculating on that but you have to keep your options open and it’s for a discussion between myself and the Prime Minister at a later date,” he said.
“You always have reshuffles some time before an election and that’s a way off but I’m not going to start ruling things in and ruling things out because as soon as you do bureaucracies start falling asleep on you.
“We’ve had to work hard - change the department secretary - and do everything internally to get this rolling.
“So in agriculture and in water I’ll remain the minister and I’ll remain the boss so let’s keep working on it.”
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While Mr Joyce wasn’t committing to a time-line, other media reports suggest a ministerial reshuffle could occur after the federal budget, caused by the reparture of Attorney-General George Brandis.