By Margaret Maccoll
“Our nation has to become as powerful as possible as quickly as possible,” Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce told guests at an LNP fundraising event held at Parkridge Noosa last week.
“If we need to sell iron ore, we sell iron ore. If we need to sell cotton, cattle or coal, we sell cotton, cattle or coal. We make ourselves powerful. We make ourselves a country that is big enough to stand on our own two feet,” he said.
The National Party leader was the star attraction at the event organised by LNP Noosa chair Leigh McCready and held to raise money for the election campaign of Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien, whose recovery from a serious motorbike accident prevented him from attending.
Mr Joyce was applauded as he made his entrance, fashionably late, and shook hands with supporters around the room before taking to the stage.
Queensland senator Susan McDonald stepped in for Mr O’Brien and introduced Mr Joyce, saying she first met the fellow CPA accountant when he joined the National Party in 1997.
Ms McDonald said Mr Joyce used his accounting skills to great advantage as a politician and was a great fighter for the parts of the country that grow our wealth, grow our food and mine our resources.
“He gives a voice to the voiceless,” she said.
Mr Joyce described Noosa people as having their own style.
“You’re your own people,” he said.
He praised Llew O’Brien for being a person locals regard as “Uncle Llew“ and know to go to when a problem gets too hard.
He spoke about the diversity in the Wide Bay electorate that stretched from Peregian Springs to Maryborough and Murgon and included cattle farmers, retirees, the tourist trade and manufacturing.
“People who come here are not dopes,” he said. “They’ve got pizzazz and guile. They’re not run of the mill. They like a bit of colour.”
Mr Joyce spoke of the LNP’s belief in the importance of the individual to be master of their own game as opposed to being controlled by the state.
“We love our liberty, democracy, freedom,” he said.
And he praised the efforts of his long-time “mate”, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who attended the event.
“Gina is one of the most powerful women in the world,” he said. “If we had more Gina’s we’d have a more powerful nation,” he said.
