'You forgot about the other seats, you clowns': Barnaby Joyce hammers Labor and GetUp for 'not listening to blue collar workers' as he celebrates holding seat
- Coalition MP Barnaby Joyce has retained the seat of New England for a third term
- He used his victory to slam the Labor Party for abandoning its traditional base
- Mr Joyce says the party have become too connected with the Greens
- He says they abandoned blue collar workers for kaftans and incense sticks
Barnaby Joyce has slammed the Labor Party for leaving blue collar workers behind after he was re-elected to the seat of New England.
The former deputy prime minister told ABC on Saturday night his victory, and others in regional Australia, was 'a big lesson for the Labor Party'.
'George Christensen smashed you, Ken O'Dowd, Michelle Landry, Keith Pitt, Llew O'Brien, Matthew Canavan did a power of work up there,' he said. 'Absolutely marvellous. They've got to look at that.'
He slammed those who bankrolled the campaigns of Independent candidates like Zali Steggall and Rob Oakeshott, claiming this misuse of funds cost Labor the election.
'What I could say to the people who put all those resources into it: You went after one bloke. You went after him,' he said.
'Whilst going after him, you forgot about the other seats you might have won, you clowns. That's why you don't win elections.
'You could have been the government tonight, you fools, but you're not.'
Barnaby Joyce thanked his supporters after being elected to a third term as MP of New England
Mr Joyce said Labor's issue was its association with the Greens Party, and the widening gap between party members and blue collar workers.
'When they decide to live their lives in Woolloomoolo, Queensland will leave you alone,' he said.
Mr Joyce said in his electorate, people were worried about their power bills, and the politics seen in bigger cities did not interest them.
'There has been a swing to us,' he said of the Coalition. 'That's before we start picking up pre-polls and other second parties.
'In other areas, what that says is they couldn't see a reason to vote for the Labor Party, they couldn't see a reason to vote for the Greens, couldn't see a reason to vote for the left-leaning Independents.
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'Because the Labor Party have left Barcaldine behind, left the tree of knowledge behind, wandered down, got themselves a kaftan and incense sticks... get back to your blue-collar workers.
'Stop listening to Sarah Hanson-Young. Start listening to the blue-collar workers.'
Bill Shorten is set to remain Opposition Leader after failing to secure the 'unlosable election', and Mr Joyce says it's because he turned away from the Labor Party's base of blue-collar workers
Joyce's victory comes in spite of a rocky term in government, where he was forced to step down from his role as Leader of the Nationals and as Deputy Prime Minister following revelations he had cheated on his wife with media adviser Vikki Campion and was expecting a child with her.
He thanked those who helped with his campaign, telling the panel: 'It's not me that won my seat, it's my team that won the seat and they win again.'
Linking back to his criticisms of Labor, Mr Joyce said in his next term he would continue to focus on what his electorate and regional Australia needs.
'We are going to make sure we keep serving people, looking after the people in the weatherboard and iron, making sure we respect the dignity in their lives,' he said.
'For the people handing out how-to-vote cards, for the people who worked so hard, this is a result for you.'
Mr Joyce was able to keep his seat despite a rocky term where he had to stand down as Deputy PM and leader of the Nationals Party after it emerged he had an affair with his media adviser and was expecting a child with her
