Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Prior to starting here in politics, I came down to see—Ron Boswell invited me down. Part of the induction process was going to a place that I don't think anybody frequents anymore, called Holy Grail. Whilst at Holy Grail—before the age of mobile phones—there was a whole retinue of politicians from both sides; it was a sort of default club for people who were in politics. There was a gentleman waiting at the bar and I noticed he had the same name as me, 'Barney'. So I ended up—probably towards the end of the night, to be quite frank—having a discussion with him. That was Barney Cooney.

Being a complete novice to politics, I broke into song about the virtues of the National Party and the deficiencies of the Labor Party, and Barney listened to me reluctantly and let me run out of air, then said to me: 'I'm going to give you a little bit of advice. A person who has been in the Labor Party for, whatever it is, 30 years, is not going to change his views about the party he is a member of because some idiot has just cornered him at the bar.' He said, 'You're about to start your political career?' I said yes. He said: 'I'm going to give you some advice. You should work very closely with someone who has earned his stripes and is a great member of your party, and that is Ron Boswell. You should be taking advice from him and not thinking you have all the answers yourself. You should follow his lead and take instruction from him as much as possible. That would be a smart political move for you.' That brief meeting with that individual has stuck with me all through my time in politics. Once more, vale Barney Cooney. It says something about any person if they can talk to you for approximately 45 seconds of your life and what they say sticks with you forever.

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