Barnaby Joyce has been sidelined by his own party so he hasn’t played much of a role in this campaign (a point he will no doubt make if the Nationals vote falls/lose seats, which it is on track to do) but he is still allowed to do Seven’s breakfast show.

This morning he is asked about Angus Taylor’s criticisms of Labor’s tax policy as being a “cruel hoax” and an election bribe and how the Coalition’s promise to temporarily bring back the LMITO is any different.

Joyce:

We want to make sure that we too acknowledge  there is a cost-of-living crisis.  The way we’re going about it is  different. We’re helping people  right now, in fact, we’re helping  people every time they go to the  fuel bowser, because they don’t pay the excise they used to pay, so that’s more money in their pocket. It’s a very, very, very clear  difference. (well, not yet – the policy is not in place)

Now, on the repayment  said, we’ve got to make sure that we have an economy, an economy that’s driving ahead and gives us the  capacity to increase the tax-free  fees to increase our capacity to service the debt.

The way you do  that – hate to say it – go back to issues such as energy. You make sure the energy prices, nobody wants a  reduction in wage rates, there is  only one advantage, it’s energy. So you can’t go forward with 82% of  power, you won’t have a manufacturing economy, then you will have a part-time administrative  economy, and that is how there is a fundamental difference, because what underpins it at the end is the  fundamentals of economics, cheaper energy.

Sigh Banaby. Sigh.