NEW England MP Barnaby Joyce has defended his decision to move his ministerial office to Armidale amid claims it was not properly costed.
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Mr Joyce said the move was “enitrely appropriate” because Armidale was a key agricultural research and business centre. “Armidale is home to at least eight beef breed societies, to the Cooperative Research Centres for Beef, Poultry and Sheep and the University of New England is arguably the nation’s largest faculty of agri-studies with the recently introduced Agrifoods degree,” Mr Joyce said after Wednesday’s Senate Estimates hearing.
But Liberal Senator Hill Heffernan and Labor Senator Glenn Sterle questioned how the office would be staffed and how much it would cost the taxpayer.
“While you're being asked to find savings in your department that could put some very good programs either at risk of continuation, we have a minister whose priorities seem to me to be really, really hazy,” Senator Sterle said.
Under questioning, Mr Joyce admitted he had not yet calculated the added cost of extra flights from Canberra to Armidale.
He added, costing the new office and when it would open were still being worked out, although Mr Joyce confirmed it would be staffed by three of his ministerial staff.
It was also being negotiated whether staff would relocate from Canberra and whether they would be ministerial or electorate staff.
