Perhaps it is because rain has brought relief to parts of the country but the government's official drought envoy, Barnaby Joyce, this week helpfully took time out from kicking up dust and instead devoted his formidable communication skills to ripping apart the government.

Mr Joyce attacked as "wild" and "remarkable" Prime Minister Scott Morrison's decision to send former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to represent Australia at the Our Ocean international environmental conference in Bali next week.

Mr Joyce implied Mr Morrison should do all he could to humiliate the former prime minister to punish him for failing to show appropriate enthusiasm in his support for the Liberal candidate at the Wentworth byelection.

The remarkable thing is not Mr Morrison's decision on the conference but the bitter poison that is eating away at Mr Joyce's insides. God help us if Mr Joyce returns as National Party leader. It would be nice to ignore him but his attitude is, unfortunately, important because it is shared by too many in the Coalition.