Latest news with #MichaelMcCormack
The Advertiser
a day ago
- Politics
- The Advertiser
A couple of studs? More like a couple of absolute duds steering us the wrong way
Look, I know milk comes from cows and eggs come from hens. I've even sung "Old McDonald had a farm" to my grandchildren, on loop. And yeah, yeah, money doesn't grow on trees. You may have read that two Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, representing the federal seat of New England; and Michael McCormack, representing the Riverina, want to abandon net zero. It's kind of embarrassing because they are just copying Donald Trump (and we know how that worked out for Temu Trump, our pet name for Peter Dutton). This week, The New York Times reported: "The Trump administration has drafted a plan to repeal a fundamental scientific finding that gives the United States government its authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change, according to two people familiar with the plan." So catastrophic decision from the US and idiotic grandstanding from the Nationals (dear heaven, the two political parties in this country with the names which bear no semblance to reality - Liberal and National). But this week's comment in response to the derangements of Joyce and McCormack by opposition energy spokesperson Dan Tehan totally perplexed me from an agricultural point of view. He described two former deputy prime ministers, now backbenchers, Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, as "two steers in a paddock". I hastened to Google for agricultural assistance. A steer, by the way, is a boycow* with his nuts knackered. According to at least one livestock expert I spoke to, it's normal for two steers to be in a paddock. Absolutely normal. What would they do to each other? Absolutely nothing. They have no balls. Wow. Similar. John House, associate professor and unit head, livestock veterinary teaching and research unit at the University of Sydney confirms you can put a bunch of steers in a paddock, no problemo. "They just get along, chew grass and chill," he says. Don't think old mate Dan Tehan's made an error. These two aren't bulls at a gate but a couple of has-beens hoping they can be a bit more. Right now, that is so unlikely. Did these two miss the results of the last election? Obvs. After I asked John House all of the farming questions, I asked him about the whole net zero thing. He said bluntly: "I used to vote Liberal but I stopped because of their attitudes to climate change." Same with the rest of the country. They changed their votes too. Says House: "Who has got the most to lose? Primary producers - they are at the coal face. They are the ones getting hit by the floods and the droughts." This appears to be the consensus except among a tiny group of ancient members of the conservative parties in Australia. I ask one conservative politician what he thinks about these two. To sum up: Australia has actual things to worry about, such as floods and fires and algal blooms devouring our waterways. And Barnaby Joyce wants to grandstand about net zero. Completely bonkers? I ask. Very, comes the swift reply. And the Nationals in general? "It is a very small membership, not representative of rural and regional Australia. Their base is completely unrepresentative, more like the Sky After Dark crazy brigade. "Among the three octogenarian men** who are branch members, Joyce would be some kind of hero. The party is not representative of the communities they serve let alone the country." Very harsh. And if Barnaby Joyce (quick reminder: publicly unfaithful to his wife, didn't know if he was the dad to his love child, suggesting HPV vaccines would lead to promiscuity, public drunkenness) were to walk down the main street of any of our major cities, I reckon folks would be more likely to point and laugh than actually approach him for help. Which is what I reckon politicians should be about. Helping us. Helping the country. But how do people in the country feel about climate change? And when I say people in the country, I mean the people who grow our food. Funny you should ask. Even conservatives pointed me to Farmers for Climate Action (FCA), a farmer-led organisation with over 8000 members. It works to manage risks and "find opportunities to adapt to, and mitigate, climate change". Love that for them. And for us. READ MORE JENNA PRICE: CEO Natalie Collard says FCA conducts a regular survey of members. At last count, 55 per cent of members named climate change as the number-one threat to their farming business. At 15 per cent and in second place, we had everyone's favourite: increasing bureaucracy and red tape. Farmers for Climate Action was founded 10 years ago because farmers felt the government wasn't taking farming concerns seriously, nor reflecting farmers' views on climate change. Collard says: "Their view was, 'We are living it, we know'." I ask her what FCA thinks about this latest Nationals move. She speaks like a politician here: "Nationals policy is a matter for the Nationals." Speaking of Nationals, at the last election Michael McCormack won his seat of Riverina convincingly and maybe rolling back net zero is the vibe he gets when he's visiting pubs and clubs in the area. Fourth in the 2025 vote was community independent Jenny Rolfe, who came from a standing start last December. She says McCormack has not been listening to the entire electorate. "He is in an echo chamber of people and failing to show leadership of engaging with the entire community," says Rolfe "If we don't take action on climate change then those of us in the regions will feel the greatest impacts of inaction." Amen to that. Don't let these blokes steer you the wrong way. Sorry. *look, we all know what a cow is, right? But I can't for the life of me find a nongendered word for a single bovine animal so boycow it is. Kind of like cowboy. **I asked about this. Sexist and ageist much? Apparently not. Look, I know milk comes from cows and eggs come from hens. I've even sung "Old McDonald had a farm" to my grandchildren, on loop. And yeah, yeah, money doesn't grow on trees. You may have read that two Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, representing the federal seat of New England; and Michael McCormack, representing the Riverina, want to abandon net zero. It's kind of embarrassing because they are just copying Donald Trump (and we know how that worked out for Temu Trump, our pet name for Peter Dutton). This week, The New York Times reported: "The Trump administration has drafted a plan to repeal a fundamental scientific finding that gives the United States government its authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change, according to two people familiar with the plan." So catastrophic decision from the US and idiotic grandstanding from the Nationals (dear heaven, the two political parties in this country with the names which bear no semblance to reality - Liberal and National). But this week's comment in response to the derangements of Joyce and McCormack by opposition energy spokesperson Dan Tehan totally perplexed me from an agricultural point of view. He described two former deputy prime ministers, now backbenchers, Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, as "two steers in a paddock". I hastened to Google for agricultural assistance. A steer, by the way, is a boycow* with his nuts knackered. According to at least one livestock expert I spoke to, it's normal for two steers to be in a paddock. Absolutely normal. What would they do to each other? Absolutely nothing. They have no balls. Wow. Similar. John House, associate professor and unit head, livestock veterinary teaching and research unit at the University of Sydney confirms you can put a bunch of steers in a paddock, no problemo. "They just get along, chew grass and chill," he says. Don't think old mate Dan Tehan's made an error. These two aren't bulls at a gate but a couple of has-beens hoping they can be a bit more. Right now, that is so unlikely. Did these two miss the results of the last election? Obvs. After I asked John House all of the farming questions, I asked him about the whole net zero thing. He said bluntly: "I used to vote Liberal but I stopped because of their attitudes to climate change." Same with the rest of the country. They changed their votes too. Says House: "Who has got the most to lose? Primary producers - they are at the coal face. They are the ones getting hit by the floods and the droughts." This appears to be the consensus except among a tiny group of ancient members of the conservative parties in Australia. I ask one conservative politician what he thinks about these two. To sum up: Australia has actual things to worry about, such as floods and fires and algal blooms devouring our waterways. And Barnaby Joyce wants to grandstand about net zero. Completely bonkers? I ask. Very, comes the swift reply. And the Nationals in general? "It is a very small membership, not representative of rural and regional Australia. Their base is completely unrepresentative, more like the Sky After Dark crazy brigade. "Among the three octogenarian men** who are branch members, Joyce would be some kind of hero. The party is not representative of the communities they serve let alone the country." Very harsh. And if Barnaby Joyce (quick reminder: publicly unfaithful to his wife, didn't know if he was the dad to his love child, suggesting HPV vaccines would lead to promiscuity, public drunkenness) were to walk down the main street of any of our major cities, I reckon folks would be more likely to point and laugh than actually approach him for help. Which is what I reckon politicians should be about. Helping us. Helping the country. But how do people in the country feel about climate change? And when I say people in the country, I mean the people who grow our food. Funny you should ask. Even conservatives pointed me to Farmers for Climate Action (FCA), a farmer-led organisation with over 8000 members. It works to manage risks and "find opportunities to adapt to, and mitigate, climate change". Love that for them. And for us. READ MORE JENNA PRICE: CEO Natalie Collard says FCA conducts a regular survey of members. At last count, 55 per cent of members named climate change as the number-one threat to their farming business. At 15 per cent and in second place, we had everyone's favourite: increasing bureaucracy and red tape. Farmers for Climate Action was founded 10 years ago because farmers felt the government wasn't taking farming concerns seriously, nor reflecting farmers' views on climate change. Collard says: "Their view was, 'We are living it, we know'." I ask her what FCA thinks about this latest Nationals move. She speaks like a politician here: "Nationals policy is a matter for the Nationals." Speaking of Nationals, at the last election Michael McCormack won his seat of Riverina convincingly and maybe rolling back net zero is the vibe he gets when he's visiting pubs and clubs in the area. Fourth in the 2025 vote was community independent Jenny Rolfe, who came from a standing start last December. She says McCormack has not been listening to the entire electorate. "He is in an echo chamber of people and failing to show leadership of engaging with the entire community," says Rolfe "If we don't take action on climate change then those of us in the regions will feel the greatest impacts of inaction." Amen to that. Don't let these blokes steer you the wrong way. Sorry. *look, we all know what a cow is, right? But I can't for the life of me find a nongendered word for a single bovine animal so boycow it is. Kind of like cowboy. **I asked about this. Sexist and ageist much? Apparently not. Look, I know milk comes from cows and eggs come from hens. I've even sung "Old McDonald had a farm" to my grandchildren, on loop. And yeah, yeah, money doesn't grow on trees. You may have read that two Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, representing the federal seat of New England; and Michael McCormack, representing the Riverina, want to abandon net zero. It's kind of embarrassing because they are just copying Donald Trump (and we know how that worked out for Temu Trump, our pet name for Peter Dutton). This week, The New York Times reported: "The Trump administration has drafted a plan to repeal a fundamental scientific finding that gives the United States government its authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change, according to two people familiar with the plan." So catastrophic decision from the US and idiotic grandstanding from the Nationals (dear heaven, the two political parties in this country with the names which bear no semblance to reality - Liberal and National). But this week's comment in response to the derangements of Joyce and McCormack by opposition energy spokesperson Dan Tehan totally perplexed me from an agricultural point of view. He described two former deputy prime ministers, now backbenchers, Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, as "two steers in a paddock". I hastened to Google for agricultural assistance. A steer, by the way, is a boycow* with his nuts knackered. According to at least one livestock expert I spoke to, it's normal for two steers to be in a paddock. Absolutely normal. What would they do to each other? Absolutely nothing. They have no balls. Wow. Similar. John House, associate professor and unit head, livestock veterinary teaching and research unit at the University of Sydney confirms you can put a bunch of steers in a paddock, no problemo. "They just get along, chew grass and chill," he says. Don't think old mate Dan Tehan's made an error. These two aren't bulls at a gate but a couple of has-beens hoping they can be a bit more. Right now, that is so unlikely. Did these two miss the results of the last election? Obvs. After I asked John House all of the farming questions, I asked him about the whole net zero thing. He said bluntly: "I used to vote Liberal but I stopped because of their attitudes to climate change." Same with the rest of the country. They changed their votes too. Says House: "Who has got the most to lose? Primary producers - they are at the coal face. They are the ones getting hit by the floods and the droughts." This appears to be the consensus except among a tiny group of ancient members of the conservative parties in Australia. I ask one conservative politician what he thinks about these two. To sum up: Australia has actual things to worry about, such as floods and fires and algal blooms devouring our waterways. And Barnaby Joyce wants to grandstand about net zero. Completely bonkers? I ask. Very, comes the swift reply. And the Nationals in general? "It is a very small membership, not representative of rural and regional Australia. Their base is completely unrepresentative, more like the Sky After Dark crazy brigade. "Among the three octogenarian men** who are branch members, Joyce would be some kind of hero. The party is not representative of the communities they serve let alone the country." Very harsh. And if Barnaby Joyce (quick reminder: publicly unfaithful to his wife, didn't know if he was the dad to his love child, suggesting HPV vaccines would lead to promiscuity, public drunkenness) were to walk down the main street of any of our major cities, I reckon folks would be more likely to point and laugh than actually approach him for help. Which is what I reckon politicians should be about. Helping us. Helping the country. But how do people in the country feel about climate change? And when I say people in the country, I mean the people who grow our food. Funny you should ask. Even conservatives pointed me to Farmers for Climate Action (FCA), a farmer-led organisation with over 8000 members. It works to manage risks and "find opportunities to adapt to, and mitigate, climate change". Love that for them. And for us. READ MORE JENNA PRICE: CEO Natalie Collard says FCA conducts a regular survey of members. At last count, 55 per cent of members named climate change as the number-one threat to their farming business. At 15 per cent and in second place, we had everyone's favourite: increasing bureaucracy and red tape. Farmers for Climate Action was founded 10 years ago because farmers felt the government wasn't taking farming concerns seriously, nor reflecting farmers' views on climate change. Collard says: "Their view was, 'We are living it, we know'." I ask her what FCA thinks about this latest Nationals move. She speaks like a politician here: "Nationals policy is a matter for the Nationals." Speaking of Nationals, at the last election Michael McCormack won his seat of Riverina convincingly and maybe rolling back net zero is the vibe he gets when he's visiting pubs and clubs in the area. Fourth in the 2025 vote was community independent Jenny Rolfe, who came from a standing start last December. She says McCormack has not been listening to the entire electorate. "He is in an echo chamber of people and failing to show leadership of engaging with the entire community," says Rolfe "If we don't take action on climate change then those of us in the regions will feel the greatest impacts of inaction." Amen to that. Don't let these blokes steer you the wrong way. Sorry. *look, we all know what a cow is, right? But I can't for the life of me find a nongendered word for a single bovine animal so boycow it is. Kind of like cowboy. **I asked about this. Sexist and ageist much? Apparently not. Look, I know milk comes from cows and eggs come from hens. I've even sung "Old McDonald had a farm" to my grandchildren, on loop. And yeah, yeah, money doesn't grow on trees. You may have read that two Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, representing the federal seat of New England; and Michael McCormack, representing the Riverina, want to abandon net zero. It's kind of embarrassing because they are just copying Donald Trump (and we know how that worked out for Temu Trump, our pet name for Peter Dutton). This week, The New York Times reported: "The Trump administration has drafted a plan to repeal a fundamental scientific finding that gives the United States government its authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change, according to two people familiar with the plan." So catastrophic decision from the US and idiotic grandstanding from the Nationals (dear heaven, the two political parties in this country with the names which bear no semblance to reality - Liberal and National). But this week's comment in response to the derangements of Joyce and McCormack by opposition energy spokesperson Dan Tehan totally perplexed me from an agricultural point of view. He described two former deputy prime ministers, now backbenchers, Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, as "two steers in a paddock". I hastened to Google for agricultural assistance. A steer, by the way, is a boycow* with his nuts knackered. According to at least one livestock expert I spoke to, it's normal for two steers to be in a paddock. Absolutely normal. What would they do to each other? Absolutely nothing. They have no balls. Wow. Similar. John House, associate professor and unit head, livestock veterinary teaching and research unit at the University of Sydney confirms you can put a bunch of steers in a paddock, no problemo. "They just get along, chew grass and chill," he says. Don't think old mate Dan Tehan's made an error. These two aren't bulls at a gate but a couple of has-beens hoping they can be a bit more. Right now, that is so unlikely. Did these two miss the results of the last election? Obvs. After I asked John House all of the farming questions, I asked him about the whole net zero thing. He said bluntly: "I used to vote Liberal but I stopped because of their attitudes to climate change." Same with the rest of the country. They changed their votes too. Says House: "Who has got the most to lose? Primary producers - they are at the coal face. They are the ones getting hit by the floods and the droughts." This appears to be the consensus except among a tiny group of ancient members of the conservative parties in Australia. I ask one conservative politician what he thinks about these two. To sum up: Australia has actual things to worry about, such as floods and fires and algal blooms devouring our waterways. And Barnaby Joyce wants to grandstand about net zero. Completely bonkers? I ask. Very, comes the swift reply. And the Nationals in general? "It is a very small membership, not representative of rural and regional Australia. Their base is completely unrepresentative, more like the Sky After Dark crazy brigade. "Among the three octogenarian men** who are branch members, Joyce would be some kind of hero. The party is not representative of the communities they serve let alone the country." Very harsh. And if Barnaby Joyce (quick reminder: publicly unfaithful to his wife, didn't know if he was the dad to his love child, suggesting HPV vaccines would lead to promiscuity, public drunkenness) were to walk down the main street of any of our major cities, I reckon folks would be more likely to point and laugh than actually approach him for help. Which is what I reckon politicians should be about. Helping us. Helping the country. But how do people in the country feel about climate change? And when I say people in the country, I mean the people who grow our food. Funny you should ask. Even conservatives pointed me to Farmers for Climate Action (FCA), a farmer-led organisation with over 8000 members. It works to manage risks and "find opportunities to adapt to, and mitigate, climate change". Love that for them. And for us. READ MORE JENNA PRICE: CEO Natalie Collard says FCA conducts a regular survey of members. At last count, 55 per cent of members named climate change as the number-one threat to their farming business. At 15 per cent and in second place, we had everyone's favourite: increasing bureaucracy and red tape. Farmers for Climate Action was founded 10 years ago because farmers felt the government wasn't taking farming concerns seriously, nor reflecting farmers' views on climate change. Collard says: "Their view was, 'We are living it, we know'." I ask her what FCA thinks about this latest Nationals move. She speaks like a politician here: "Nationals policy is a matter for the Nationals." Speaking of Nationals, at the last election Michael McCormack won his seat of Riverina convincingly and maybe rolling back net zero is the vibe he gets when he's visiting pubs and clubs in the area. Fourth in the 2025 vote was community independent Jenny Rolfe, who came from a standing start last December. She says McCormack has not been listening to the entire electorate. "He is in an echo chamber of people and failing to show leadership of engaging with the entire community," says Rolfe "If we don't take action on climate change then those of us in the regions will feel the greatest impacts of inaction." Amen to that. Don't let these blokes steer you the wrong way. Sorry. *look, we all know what a cow is, right? But I can't for the life of me find a nongendered word for a single bovine animal so boycow it is. Kind of like cowboy. **I asked about this. Sexist and ageist much? Apparently not.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
David Littleproud defends Nationals leadership
David Littleproud has defended his leadership of the Nationals as he faces pressure from an unlikely alliance of former rivals. Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack dropped a bomb in The Australian on Tuesday when they put aside old rivalries and joined forces to support a private member's bill to repeal net-zero. Mr Joyce and Mr McCormack are both now backbenchers, after being dumped from the shadow ministry following Peter Dutton's emphatic election loss. But leadership ambitions abound in the 19-member group in Canberra, as Mr McCormack refused to rule out a leadership tilt in his interview with The Australian. 'When a journo says 'will you ever rule yourself out of ever (becoming leader)', of course you are not going to agree to that,' he said. 'You're not going to rule yourself out in the future.' For his part, Mr Joyce said he would 'happily back Michael for leader', despite saying he was not agitating for any change. It came alongside a bizarre moment in which Mr McCormack described himself and Mr Joyce as 'virile' in an interview with Sky. Under this increasing backbench pressure Mr Littleproud insisted he is not looking 'over my shoulder' in an interview on the ABC. 'I look to making sure I'm focused on my job because if I'm focused on myself, I'm not focused on the people who put me here, and I'll stand by my record as a Leader of The Nationals.' He listed what he saw as his achievements such as introducing nuclear and supermarket divestiture into the Coalition platform and opposition to the Voice to Parliament. He said instead of focusing on dissent from his backbench, he is 'thinking about trying to leave a legacy for the people I lead'. 'No matter how long I'm here for, I want to be able to look back and say I did it in a respectful way. 'And what I'm focused on is delivering outcomes. 'I've created a process for a discussion within our party room. 'Backbenchers can have Private Members' Bills, but I've got a lead for the entirety of my party, not for individuals. 'And so what I'll do is make sure I listen to my party room and draw on the collective wisdom of that party room. 'That's how I lead.' Opposition to net-zero emissions targets by 2050 has become a sticking point for Nationals backbenchers, as it is seen by the party's base to be harmful to their regional communities. It has proved a problem for Liberal leader Sussan Ley who is trying to renegotiate the Coalition's platform following its May 3 election defeat. The division already caused a split in the Coalition as the Nationals and Liberal Party spent a week apart following the election. Both parties reunited a week later with the Liberals making concessions to key Nationals policy priorities.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Australia's renewable transition dividing communities
Australia's transition to renewable energy is dividing communities. Some Victorian farmers are outraged transmission lines are cutting through prime agricultural land. Supporters say it's for energy reliability and affordability, but at a renewables and agriculture conference in Bendigo, some farmers say it's a direct threat to their livelihoods. This comes as Nationals MPs Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack have teamed up to push for Australia to scrap net zero climate targets.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Chris Bowen ‘carries on' like a ‘pork chop' amid Question time
Nationals MP Michael McCormack says Chris Bowen was 'carrying on' like a 'pork chop' in question time earlier today. 'What we're going to see is a situation where it's just going to be impossible to manufacture things in Australia,' Mr McCormack told Sky News host Peta Credlin. 'We had a Prime Minister prior to 2022 … talking 97 times about the fact that he was going to reduce the power bills by $275. 'And Chris Bowen wants to talk about Tinder accounts and carry on like a pork chop today in question time.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
China remains ‘heavily addicted' to Australian coal and gas
Centre for Independent Studies' Tom Switzer says China remains 'heavily addicted' to Australian coal and gas. This comes as former Nationals leaders Michael McCormack and Barnaby Joyce have joined forces in an attempt to repeal Australia's renewable energy targets.
