Barnaby Joyce has apologised for evoking violent imagery in a metaphor about voting at a spirited anti-wind turbine event.
The former deputy prime minister and Royal Queensland Regiment member made the comments comparing voting to loading a gun before saying “goodbye” to three Labor counterparts.
Mr Joyce apologised for the comments when he appeared on television the following morning.
Speaking at a public event in Lake Illawarra on Sunday, Mr Joyce was hot under the collar about turbines, calling them “wind turds”.
“To turn up in numbers” in Canberra and Sydney was the crowd’s “greatest weapon” against turbines, he said.
“And the bullet you have is that little piece of paper, and it goes in that magazine called the voting box, and it’s coming up,” Mr Joyce said.
“Get ready to load that magazine.
“Goodbye Chris, goodbye Steven, goodbye Albo. And when they see that, they’ll let you in their office for a meeting.”
Appearing alongside Mr Joyce on Channel 7 on Monday morning, Bill Shorten urged his counterpart to apologise in light of the shooting of former US president Donald Trump.
“Barnaby, sometimes in politics, mate, we speak first because our passions take over,” Mr Shorten said.
“Smartest call here would be just to apologise for using that metaphor because we’ve just had the Donald Trump assassination (attempt).”
“I apologise for using that metaphor,” Mr Joyce said.
In 2018 an elderly man pleaded guilty in court for sending a bullet and a death threat to Mr Joyce’s office.
The office of Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has been reached for comment about these recent comments.
The Prime Minister’s office directed NewsWire to public comments made by Deputy Leader of the House and Health Minister Mark Butler.
Mr Butler said Mr Joyce using such “explicit, violent language” was “simply extraordinary”.
Mr Joyce’s “language about the voting process (was) effectively being a way in which voters could load magazines with bullets to use to say goodbye to the Prime Minister, goodbye to the Queensland Premier and also to the Minister for Climate Change,” Mr Butler said.
The head of the Australian Federal Police had recently told parliament about a sharp rise in explicit threats against MPs, Mr Butler said.
“And within just a fortnight of the assassination attempt against former president Trump, it is simply extraordinary that a senior frontbencher would use such explicit, violent language about the Prime Minister of this country and other senior political leaders,” he said.
Mr Butler called for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to sack Mr Joyce.
The Queensland Premier’s office has been reached for comment.