Joyce 'hypocritical’ over political attack ad: Tony Windsor

Former independent MP Tony Windsor has accused his political rival Barnaby Joyce of being a “hypocrite” over a 2016 political attack ad which Mr Windsor says implies he was a “philanderer”.

Tony Windsor has accused his political rival Barnaby Joyce of being a “hypocrite”.

Tony Windsor has accused his political rival Barnaby Joyce of being a “hypocrite”. Source: AAP

The comments follow revelations that the Deputy Prime Minister is expecting a baby with his former media advisor.

In the lead up to the 2016 federal election, The Nationals ran an advertisement against Mr Windsor in which two women sit in a café.

One of the women receives a text message saying: “Hey New England, how about another chance?”
The other woman raises that Mr Windsor “ran off with Julia” – a reference to the then-independent MP’s support for the Gillard minority government.

Mr Windsor at the time accused the Nationals of implying in the ad he was a “philanderer”, who’d been unfaithful to his wife.

His wife issued a complaint to the NSW Nationals chairman.

The Nationals digressed, saying it was a tongue-in-cheek TV spot that did not seriously suggest Mr Windsor had been unfaithful with the TV actresses.

Mr Windsor has now accused his political rival of “hypocrisy” for campaigning on Christian values and against same-sex marriage.

"He’s been very hypocritical in running with the Christianity issues, the Catholic church and the sanctity of marriage and the anti-same sex marriage, when all of these other activities have been going on in his personal life,” Mr Windsor told SBS News.

“He’s entitled to his private life and so is his family but in politics if you start to throw stones, you get stones thrown back at you.”
Around last year’s by-election for the seat of New England, in which he did not run, Mr Windsor issued a series of tweets heavily laden with innuendo about Mr Joyce’s personal life.

Mr Windsor has since defended those tweets, saying it was to send a message to Mr Joyce about his statements on marriage.

“Some of those tweets were short upper cuts to remind him of his own public and private conduct to not be out there preaching the gospel to others and causing a lot of pain, particularly to those in same-sex relationships.”

Mr Windsor said politicians were entitled to their private lives.

“Unless they’re having an impact on performance of public duties,” he added.

When asked about his critics alleging hypocrisy, Mr Joyce told the ABC's 730 he would not change his position on marriage just because his had broken down.

"Just because my marriage didn't work out doesn't mean I disregard what marriages are about," he said.

"It means, on that instance, I failed." 


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3 min read
Published 7 February 2018 8:43pm
Updated 8 February 2018 8:00am
By Rashida Yosufzai


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