Does the job need Barnaby? No. Barnaby needs the job

It is not a matter of the job needing Barnaby Joyce, it is Barnaby Joyce needing the job. Clearly the Deputy Prime Minister is not intending to move anywhere. He will cop the humiliation of being passed over for the honour of acting as the real Prime Minister. He will fight to the very last to keep what he's got.
Which is not strange really. The man now has two families to support with a property settlement not far away. Under those circumstances halving your income by becoming a backbencher would be a horror scenario.
Malcolm Turnbull, leading a government with a majority of one, realises how carefully he must deal with a deputy in Barnaby's position. The Owl has written about it this week at Barnaby Joyce has the power of one and Barnaby Joyce and tearing the joint apart. Desperate people do desperate things.
In my book the Prime Minister has done exceptionally well to get his colleague to take a week off. That might avoid a tiny bit more of the odium the Coalition experienced this week but it will be a problem postponed rather than solved. When the House of Representatives resumes in just over a week the defiant Barnaby Joyce will still be centre stage

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