http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/barnaby-joyce/ Barnaby grew up on a property at Danglemah, in the hills behind Tamworth. He was one of six children and, even at primary school, stated that he would one day get into politics. After leaving school Barnaby gained a degree in commerce, majoring in accountancy. Concentrating on developing this field of knowledge he worked for eight years between tax in a chartered accountancy firm, cost in a large multinational and finance in a bank. Whilst doing this he also attained his CPA before opening his own accountancy practice from an old shop front in St George, Queensland. He entered the Senate as a Nationals representative for Queensland after the 2004 election. Barnaby is married to Natalie and has four daughters. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/An-unaffordable-tax-beyond-all-regional-doubt/ When I think of regional Australia, I think of long drives, lots of wildlife and lights in the sky not on the ground. There is another thing that now distinguishes regional Australia: an absolute rejection of the carbon tax. Senator John Williams recently conducted a poll in the seats of New England (based around Tamworth) and Lyne (based around Port Macquarie). After receiving over 9,400 responses, 89 per cent of residents are against the carbon tax. The reason for this is not that hard to fathom. When it comes to the carbon tax, the greater the distance, the greater the cost. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/An-unaffordable-tax-beyond-all-regional-doubt/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/An-unaffordable-tax-beyond-all-regional-doubt/#item6926 Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:43:33 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Lets-take-a-closer-look-at-our-spiralling-national-debt/ Let us first consider what Wayne Maxwell Swan said on the 10th of March 2009. He stated that “the emerging economies of China and India are now expected to slow markedly”. Because of this, Wayne Maxwell Swan stated “it will be necessary to increase Government borrowing”. The result was Wayne Maxwell Swan increased by $125 billion the amount able to be borrowed by reason of the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act 1911 and the Loans and Securities Act 1919. This resulted in the nation’s credit card having a $200 billion limit. Now as we know, China did not go into recession so neither did we, in fact China hardly missed a beat but Australia has now gained the ignominy clearly spelt out by Dr Ken Rogoff of Harvard when he noted the countries with the greatest cumulative increase in real public debt since 2007. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Lets-take-a-closer-look-at-our-spiralling-national-debt/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Lets-take-a-closer-look-at-our-spiralling-national-debt/#item5836 Thu, 12 May 2011 18:45:03 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/labor-still-looks-at-the-regions-through-metro-eyes/ Labor has lost its majority but it would like us to believe that it has found regional Australia. Well, at Labor’s election launch Bob Hawke said that you have to judge a horse by its form. It was good advice. Labor ignored regional Australia through its first term in Government. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/labor-still-looks-at-the-regions-through-metro-eyes/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/labor-still-looks-at-the-regions-through-metro-eyes/#item4147 Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:50:12 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-tax-treasurys-own-love-formula/ Every now and then, a select group from the economic illuminati retire to their monastic study and devise a splendid idea to try and pay off their previous splendid idea. Splendid idea number one was to borrow so much money that we put ourselves in more strife than the early settlers in our desire to adorn the nation with an eclectic mix of rubbish that apparently was going to save us from Asia ceasing to purchase our minerals. The relationship between our stimulus and mineral exports was as clear as mud, but there was an emphatic defence of this fantastic proposition by Labor. The Treasury fiddling of the graphs depicting the relationship between our and other nations’ fiscal stimulus packages and the effect on their respective economies shows that when the graphs were corrected the relationship was hardly apparent. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-tax-treasurys-own-love-formula/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-tax-treasurys-own-love-formula/#item3248 Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:40:29 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/til-debt-do-tear-us-apart/ Well, I hope you all feel comfortable that you now owe $140 billion. If you take our population as approximately 22 million, that means you owe in excess of $6300 for each man, woman and child in Australia. I will keep talking about debt until people realise the dangerous position it puts us in. We are borrowing in excess of $1 billion each week. We see every night on the news the problems of other countries that have not dealt with their debt but have waited for the inevitable when the debt deals with you. How could we be so foolish as a nation to be mounting up debt the way we are? Then, to all intents and purposes, nationalise half of the sector of our economy which has actually kept us from the jaws of recession – the mining sector. This is something that would be more appropriate for Hugo Chavez or Evo Morales or Castro in Cuba. Australia hasn’t experienced this sort of insanity since the failed approach by the Labor party when they decided to nationalise the banking industry in 1949. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/til-debt-do-tear-us-apart/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/til-debt-do-tear-us-apart/#item3043 Mon, 10 May 2010 05:58:38 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-debt-elephant-in-the-operating-room/ The old fashioned, but I think correct view, of spending public money is to approach it as no different from that of spending your own money. Amongst a myriad of quotes confirming this view, Franklin Roosevelt summed up the principle by saying “Any government, like any family, can, for a year, spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuation of that habit means the poorhouse.” Government’s that do not manage costs end up costing the taxpayer. The pink batts disaster is the most prominent example. We are now paying to rip out or fix much of what has been installed. The 19th century French economist, Frederic Bastiat, once suggested, in jest, that one way to stimulate the economy would be to break shop windows. At least the regulatory standards in the glazier industry may have been more up to scratch! feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-debt-elephant-in-the-operating-room/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-debt-elephant-in-the-operating-room/#item2693 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:00:52 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-first-parliamentary-week-as-shadow-finance-minister/ Well what can I say about the first parliamentary week as shadow finance minister? Tony wanted a speech and I delivered it at the Press Club. It would not have mattered if the speech had categorically disproved the theory of relativity, the issue would be the slip and when the question came where I had to, on my feet and in my head, quickly add up Labor party expenditure via MYEFO for the next four years, I said billion when I should have said trillion. In that split second my head said trillion my heart said you have got to be joking that is enormous. My head was right but the result is for all to see on YouTube. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-first-parliamentary-week-as-shadow-finance-minister/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-first-parliamentary-week-as-shadow-finance-minister/#item2331 Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:08:11 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/misleading-and-mischievous-the-ets-will-cost-you-money/ The introduction of the CPRS Bill or the ETS, whichever you choose to call it, is a mechanism where the Government will collect in excess of $70 billion tax revenue in the first six years and potentially hundreds of billions of dollars thereafter. The commission earned by bankers and brokers will amount to multiple billions of dollars and the financial imperative for them to support the scheme is overwhelming. This new tax will not save the Great Barrier Reef; it is not going to end the droughts; it will neither contribute to Greenland freezing nor thawing. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/misleading-and-mischievous-the-ets-will-cost-you-money/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/misleading-and-mischievous-the-ets-will-cost-you-money/#item1776 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:55:44 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-you-think-im-crazy-have-a-look-at-the-ets/ Note: ABC Breakfast host Virginia Trioli made this “you’re crazy” hand twirling gesture after interviewing Senator Barnaby Joyce on the issue of the ETS. Trioli obviously didn’t realise the cameras were still on. She later rang Senator Joyce to apologise, he quipped to the Punch that he couldn’t quite hear because he had been placed in an asylum. Apparently some television commentators think that I’m the insane one. Maybe that explains the place where I work. Obviously, if I’m not me who am I? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-you-think-im-crazy-have-a-look-at-the-ets/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-you-think-im-crazy-have-a-look-at-the-ets/#item1517 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:18:54 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-plasma-tvs-does-one-country-really-need/ There may be discussions that the financial crisis is over. This, I believe, is premature, because the fundamental aspects that create economic instability are still present. Right from the outset it should be stated that a domestic stimulus package for the Australian economy, an economy which earns its money from the export of agriculture and minerals and which spins around the money by the provision of services, will not be assisted by personal expenditure in imported plasma screens and sound systems and the construction of school halls. The outcome of the stimulus expenditure does not proportionally increase the aggregate size of the economy. Any benefit is far outweighed by the extensive leverage to which our nation is exposed. If we imagine the Australian economy as an Australian family household, the debt has brought new plasma screens, ceiling insulation and a new coloured phone but the house remains the same size, the same value and no one in the house is earning more money because of the expenditure. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Barnaby Joyce) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-plasma-tvs-does-one-country-really-need/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-plasma-tvs-does-one-country-really-need/#item1278 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000 Barnaby Joyce | Author bios | The Punch