Barnaby Joyce goes from the bloke who lit the fire to the bloke carrying the bucket

July 21, 2026 — 3:50pm

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There is a particular kind of political humiliation reserved for the man who used to be the headline and is now the clean-up crew.

For years, Barnaby Joyce was the Nationals’ resident chaos merchant. A politician who could turn a media conference into a bushfire, a policy announcement into a controversy, and a carefully prepared message into an accidental three-day news cycle.

The spectacle has not been lost on Coalition figures, some of whom privately savoured the role reversal. During his years as deputy prime minister, it was often Nationals and Liberal colleagues who found themselves answering questions about Joyce’s latest controversy.

Now the questions are about Pauline Hanson. And Joyce is the one insisting everyone has misunderstood. The bloke who used to light fires is now the bloke carrying the bucket.

Over the past week, Joyce has accepted interviews on Seven’s Sunrise and Spotlight, Nine’s Today, Sky News’ AM Agenda and The Bolt Report and ABC’s Radio National, kicking every little controversy along while at the same time trying hard to calm the farm.

His transformation reached its........

© The Age