Barnaby Joyce denies sacking Paul Grimes or altering Hansard
Date: October 27 2016
Tom McIlroy
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has denied altering the official record of Parliament and sacking the Agriculture Departmental secretary over a breakdown in their working relationship.
The Nationals leader has faced criticism from Labor this week after the release of a letter from former secretary Paul Grimes that raised questions about Mr Joyce's conduct and "integrity".
The federal government spent 18 months and tens of thousands of dollars trying to keep secret the letter from Dr Grimes, written 10 days before he was sacked amid controversy about changes to Hansard in which some of Mr Joyce's statements to Parliament were quietly altered.
Maintaining he never altered Hansard, Mr Joyce told ABC radio on Thursday he had not sacked Dr Grimes.
"I don't sack department secretaries. That's done by the Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet," he said.
"The only thing I don't like is this insinuation that I changed the Hansard. I never did. I never changed the Hansard and when I subsequently found out the Hansard had been changed, I had it changed back."
Mr Joyce has blamed a rogue staffer for the affair, which involved an official changing the parliamentary record of an incorrect answer from Mr Joyce about household drought assistance.
Labor alleges Mr Joyce may have misled the House of Representatives, but he maintains a staffer made the corrections without his knowledge.
Conceding his relationship with the respected public servant had broken down, Mr Joyce blamed high pressure projects including the government's agriculture white paper. He said he had a good relationship with the department now, including with current secretary David Williamson.
"Within that confines, tempers get frayed, the issues get heated. By reason of that letter you can see the relationship had broken down.
"I think Dr Grimes is a really good fella and I think he's going to go out and do really good things. It is stating the bleeding obvious that the relationship had moved on and everybody had to have alternative arrangements."
The letter, released by the Agriculture Department on Monday, shows Dr Grimes warning he no longer had confidence in his own capacity "to resolve matters relating to integrity with you".
A day after receiving the letter, Mr Joyce's office told Dr Grimes the letter would be deleted from government records.
He was sacked 10 days later.
Mr Joyce said farmers worried about uncertainty over the controversial backpackers tax should blame Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.
"I can tell [farmers] what to do. Call Mr Bill Shorten of the Australian Labor Party and also some of the crossbenchers and ask why they are holding it up in the Senate."
"We're not holding it up in the Senate – the Labor Party are," Mr Joyce said.