The fractured relationship between the Coalition leaders has lurched into a full-blown political crisis, with Barnaby Joyce labelling Malcolm Turnbull’s comments “inept” and “unnecessary”, while declaring he has no plans to step down.

A defiant Joyce took aim at the prime minister’s character assessment of him from the day before, accusing Turnbull of bringing further damage to the government, and inviting further intrusion.

He also openly defied Turnbull’s coded request he step down from the leadership of the Nationals, telling the Liberal leader to stay out of his party’s business.

“With regards with comments made by the prime minister yesterday at his press conference, I have to say that in many instances they were ... they caused further harm,” he said from Parliament House.

“I believe they were in many instances inept and most definitely in many instances unnecessary. The reason I say that is it was public knowledge what was being repeated, it ran on the front pages of papers, and all it does is reinvest in the hurt that is held by other people.

“I have to say that, because I listened to it and I thought that was completely unnecessary. All that is going to do is basically once more pull the scab off for everybody to have a look at.

“In regards to the National party, there is nothing we dislike more than implied intervention into the party processes of the National party.

“We are our own independent political unit. We make our own decisions.

“Far from assisting, it always does the same thing in the National party and I have been around this organisation for over a couple of decades, it locks people in, it locks people in as they lock in around the leader. So I would not be making comments or implied comments about the leadership of the Liberal party and would not expect to get comments about the leadership of the National party.”



On Thursday, following more than a week of damaging allegations surrounding Joyce’s affair with a former staffer, who is now pregnant with his child and in a relationship with the still-married deputy prime minister, Turnbull publicly advised Joyce to use his upcoming week of personal leave to “reflect” on his position.

On Friday, Turnbull denied he had urged Joyce to resign, but reiterated his call for his Coalition partner to “consider his circumstances”.

“Well, Barnaby has been considering his position and I do not think there is any question about that, but I have not called on him to resign, I have not asked him to resign,” Turnbull said from Tasmania.

“He has to form his view on his circumstances; he has a lot to reflect on given what has happened, and I say, again, he has made some big errors of judgment and he acknowledges that. Barnaby is not refuting that. He acknowledges that and he has apologised to his wife, to his daughters and of course to his colleagues, and he has to then work out how he proceeds henceforth.”

Q&A Why can't Malcolm Turnbull sack Barnaby Joyce? Barnaby Joyce is not a member of Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal party, he is the leader of the National party, which governs in coalition with the Liberals. In the same way that the prime minister could not sack the leader of the Labor party, he has no power to force the Nationals to change their leader. There is a coalition agreement between the leaders about the terms of their political partnership. The agreement is secret, but one of its cornerstones is that the leader of the National party will be deputy prime minister when the Coalition is in government and therefore acting prime minister in the absence of the PM. Turnbull could remove Joyce from the position of deputy prime minister by ending the Coalition between Liberals and Nationals. However, because the two parties combined only have a one-seat majority over Labor in the House of Representatives, that would be risky. Photograph: Michael Masters/Getty Images AsiaPac Show Hide

Turnbull again addressed Joyce’s press conference at his second event in Tasmania, but did not take questions.

“I’ve seen Barnaby’s press conference and look I understand it is a very stressful time,” Turnbull said. “I have not sought in any way to influence the deliberations in the National party, neither I nor my colleagues have made any criticism of the National party.

“Expressing views of disapproval or criticism of Barnaby’s own conduct is not criticism of the National party. Indeed the sentiments which I expressed yesterday, which I stand by but don’t need to repeat again now, those sentiments are quite consistent with those expressed by many members of the National party itself.”



Joyce told reporters he plans to continue as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister, maintaining he has done nothing that would necessitate his standing down.



However, he appeared to confirm it was his friend Greg Maguire who approached him with the offer of free accommodation in Armidale – not the other way around – as he told parliament on Thursday.

“To go to the issue of the apartment and I know that is what people have been discussing in the last couple of days, when I was neither a minister, nor a member, but basically a citizen, and living with my sister to be quite frank, living with my sister, a friend approached me and said he would offer me a place to stay,” he said.

“Now friends do not charge friends rent. And of course, that seemed a more stable arrangement, so I took him up on that offer. What is more important is that apartment, that has now been displayed through multiple media outlets and has been noted in its address and everything to do with it.

“In my time in politics, I have had multiple death threats, multiple death threats. The most recent has been charged, convicted and is awaiting sentencing. That was in Armidale. He lives approximately five kilometres from the place that has now been notified. This is also completely unwarranted and unnecessary and I ask people just to think about exactly what you are doing, before you do that.

“I had to find a place that was secure. That is the nature of it. I think at the start, they hadn’t found this guy. I needed a secure and anonymous place to live. And this announcement makes things incredibly difficult for both myself, for Vikki and for our child which is going to be born as we try to manage that situation.”

Joyce again apologised to his wife and to his daughters and his new partner, but gave no signal that he intends to quit office over his relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion and warned against the Liberal party intervening in the National party leadership.

He said the Nationals accepted the new edict banning sex between ministers and staffers, but said it would also “create immense fodder for the good people in the media and it will obviously reverberate across all political parties”.

But the relationship between the two leaders is now considered to be terminal, following Turnbull’s surprise assault on Joyce’s actions on Thursday, where he described his behaviour as “appalling” and bringing about “a world of woe”.

Joyce acknowledged the rift the Liberals have spent the morning denying, saying he was intending to make sure “that this relationship gets back on to an even keel”.

“But I stand by my statement that I am the leader of the National party, he is the leader of the Liberal party, and it is implicitly and incredibly important for our nation that these two parties get together and work closely.

“And, like all relationships, that is another one we have to work on.

“My colleagues support me. We have a job to do. This was a personal issue that’s been dragged into the public arena and I don’t believe people should be resigning in any job over personal issue.”

Joyce denied he was failing to take responsibility for his actions.

“That is saying that you are now going to make personal issues incumbent upon a job and in any workplace in Australia, when personal issues become the determination of the job, then I think we have moved to a very sad place,” he said.

Turnbull did not warn Joyce of his plans to comment on his extramarital affair or character and admitted he had not spoken to his deputy on Friday.