Joyce set to return as Aussie deputy leader

Bloomberg

Barnaby Joyce will return
to parliament as Australia’s deputy prime minister after winning a special election,
five weeks after he was forced to step down for being a dual national in breach of the
constitution.
Joyce, 50, claimed victory in the rural seat of New England, winning 63 percent of the vote to 11 percent for his nearest
rival in early counting.
The result is a reprieve for the Liberal-National coalition government and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has been under fire for his handling of the citizenship crisis that’s so far seen nine lawmakers across a variety of parties run afoul of the constitution.
The fiasco cost Turnbull his lower-house majority, when Joyce and another government lawmaker, John Alexander, stepped down. Polls show Alexander faces a fiercer battle to reclaim his seat of Bennelong in Sydney in a December 16 special election.
The crisis has eroded Turnbull’s authority, and tensions have erupted in the coalition during Joyce’s absence, with some of his National lawmakers criticizing the prime minister’s leadership. Joyce’s victory “is a big vote of confidence in the coalition,” Turnbull told Sky News on Sunday. “I am very confident we will be able to
see a disciplined approach to teamwork within the coalition.”
Joyce was forced to re-contest the seat after the High Court ruled in October that he was ineligible to remain in parliament because he was also a citizen of New Zealand, violating Section 44 of the constitution. He has since renounced his New Zealand citizenship, which he gained unwittingly through his father.