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Barnaby Joyce and David Littleproud are rivals in the National Party.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Thismasthead reported on February 13,a week after Joyce was filmed,that Coalition leaders David Littleproud and Peter Dutton had privately urged the former deputy prime minister to take leave to sort himself out after a stressful period.

Joyce,who is a member of the shadow cabinet as the portfolio holder for veterans’ affairs,did not immediately take up the offer of leave.

Littleproud confirmed on Monday that Joyce would not be in parliament this week as the government’s stage 3 tax cuts are set to be passed.

“He won’t be here this week. He’s notified me that he won’t be coming to parliament,” Littleproud told Nine’sToday program.

“He’s having the week off,which we gave him the opportunity to undertake with his family[sic]. And I respect that. And I hope,hope he went to church yesterday and all he had was altar wine.”

The behaviour of Joyce and Nationals leader Perin Davey,who admitted to drinking before a parliamentary hearing at which she appeared to slur words,has sparked a conversation about standards in Parliament House.

It wasrevealed that Davey is key member of a group tasked with writing federal parliament’s new alcohol and drugs policy,which was commissioned well before the Joyce incident.

Davey would have potentially breached the alcohol policy if it had applied at the time. It is still being finalised by the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.

Nationals deputy leader Perin Davey.Credit:James Brickwood

Joyce is Littleproud’s key rival in a party perpetually wracked by leadership tensions.

His backers fear Littleproud will use Joyce’s misadventures to drop him from the shadow cabinet in a looming reshuffle when the junior coalition partner may need to lose one spot because it is currently overrepresented.

But some of Littleproud’s backers would prefer to see the back of Joyce.

Nationals frontbencher Anne Webster,an ally of Littleproud,told colleagues earlier this month that Joyce’s presence in the parliament hurt the Coalition’s standing among female voters.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletterhere.

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