THE Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce says he will continue to speak out against foreign investment in agriculture, insisting his first duty is to the people who elected him.
Liberal MPs are incensed at the maverick senator and shadow minister's refusal to adhere to party policy, which backs foreign investment in agriculture, and have been demanding that Tony Abbott rein him in.
Over the past few days, since the Foreign Investment Review Board and the government conditionally approved the purchase of the giant cotton farm Cubbie Station by a Chinese-led consortium, Mr Abbott has spoken to Senator Joyce and the Nationals leader, Warren Truss, to try to calm the matter down, but to no avail.
''Your ultimate duty is to the people you represent,'' Senator Joyce told the Herald, before appearing on the ABC's 7.30 to keep arguing his case.
''You are obligated to try and get a greater ventilation of the issue on their behalf. I accept the frustration this can cause but that, I suppose, is a dilemma of politics. If you don't speak up, you're a coward. If you do, you're a pest.'' Mr Abbott, who supports the Cubbie takeover, made little effort to rebuke Senator Joyce publicly yesterday.
''Barnaby is a St George local,'' he said. ''Cubbie Station is just up the road from St George. I can understand why Barnaby and local people feel strongly about this, but in the end this is a decision for the Treasurer based on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Review Board.''
This did little to soothe anger among Liberal MPs who say they are made to adhere to party discipline. One told the Herald that Senator Joyce had stirred up the party's base and now MPs across the country were being inundated with complaints about Chinese investment, much of it xenophobic and ill-informed. ''This is just out of control,'' he said.
''Once again, he is allowed to say whatever he likes. The Nats are just saying 'f--- you'. They are running their own race.''
Another said Senator Joyce was ''creating problems for everybody''.
''It's one thing to quietly have a say in his own part of the world but he's been on the radio around the country stirring people up.
''Abbott has partly fed this by letting the whole debate chug along.''
Senator Joyce denied his stance on Cubbie was driven by his desire to enter the lower house by taking the seat of Maranoa from the Nationals MP Bruce Scott. Cubbie sits inside Maranoa.
The Cubbie deal has riled the Nationals across Australia and is expected to play into election battles for seats in NSW such as Hume, for example, where the Nationals plan to challenge the Liberals in three-cornered contests.
The former head of Treasury, Ken Henry, poured scorn on the Nationals yesterday.
"I don't quite know how to say this without offending somebody but one of the things that strikes me as odd about the discourse on foreign investment is that there has to be a willing seller,'' he said.
''I hear often people in the bush are outraged about foreigners buying their land - well they're the people selling the land."
His successor, Martin Parkinson, said direct foreign investment in Australian assets was better than borrowing from overseas to fund growth.
