NEW Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is expected to parachute Barnaby Joyce into a frontbench role as finance spokesman this week.
The departure of opposition finance spokeswoman Helen Coonan, who confirmed last night she would not seek a position on the front bench, clears the way for Senator Joyce to go head to head with a Rudd government heavy hitter, Lindsay Tanner.
But the new Liberal leader confirmed yesterday that the maverick Queensland senator would have to toe the party line as he joined shadow cabinet.
Asked if Senator Joyce's position on the front bench meant he would be banned from bad mouthing the Liberals, Mr Abbott replied: "These things just go hand-in-hand with being part of the shadow cabinet, and don't forget that everyone who is part of the shadow cabinet is part of the decision-making process."
"(But) the last thing I want to see is our really good frontbenchers being quiet. I want our good frontbenchers out there barnstorming the country and that's what I'd expect from all of them."
Senator Joyce yesterday played up his finance credentials as an accountant and rejected suggestions it was an unusual portfolio for a National.
"We have to recognise that the vast majority of the people who vote for the National Party are living in weatherboard and irons, brick and tiles.
"They live in regional towns. It is, you know, it's a constituency," he told ABC TV.
Read more at The Australian
