Former National party leader had earlier compared scandal to ‘McCarthyist witch-hunts for reds under the bed’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Barnaby Joyce says he was wrong to dismiss concerns of Nazism within the National party just hours after likening an investigation into the matter to a McCarthyist witch hunt.

“I take it all back,” the former Nationals leader said on Friday evening. “These guys are crazy. (They should) have no role in our party whatsoever.”

Joyce had earlier cast doubt on the alleged “neo-Nazi infiltration” of the NSW Nationals, comparing the scandal enveloping his party to the McCarthyist “reds under the beds” witch-hunts.

Nineteen NSW Nationals members have now quit the party amid an investigation into their alleged connection to “alt-right” and white supremacist organisations. On Friday the party said in a statement it would “not rest until every last one of these extremists have been identified and removed from the party”.

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A motion adoped by the party’s central executive on Friday said involvement with five named organisations – the Lads Society, Squadron 88, the Dingoes, the New Guard and the Antipodean Resistance – was incompatible with being a National party member, and mandated that the 19 would never be allowed to rejoin the party.

But Joyce said earlier on Friday that he had yet to see any evidence of nazism within the Nationals.

“Sorry for my aggression but I am cynical of this shit,” Joyce said. “I’ve seen Prince Harry in a Nazi uniform, I’m pretty certain he’s not a Nazi.

“I have an inherent cynicism because of a knowledge of how politics goes, right back to the McCarthyist witch-hunts for the reds under the bed.”

Joyce conceded there had been a rise in factionalism within his party in recent years.

“Factions are a very poor replacement for policy,” Joyce said.

He said if it were proved any Nazi sympathisers were working within the party, they should be expelled.

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“If you know of a Nazi, give me the name and give me substantial evidence,” he said.

“If someone has done something wrong, if they’ve broken the law, sure. If they were fair dinkum a member of the bloody Nazi party then you won’t have to wait for anyone else to get to them. I’m a former serving member of the defence force.”

Joyce said the scandal would almost certainly damage the Nationals in the looming state and federal elections.

“This ain’t helping our electoral prospects.”