The Heat's Off Joyce In Jaunt To The Ice

The Age

Wednesday January 18, 2006

By MISHA SCHUBERT, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, CANBERRA

AFTER just six months in Parliament, Barnaby Joyce is no stranger to the chill wind of disapproval from his own side of politics. But in coming weeks, any frostiness felt by the maverick Queensland Nationals senator will be emanating from the ice floes of the Antarctic rather than his Coalition colleagues.

As a voting member of the Parliament's External Territories Committee, Senator Joyce is heading off on a one-man mission to inspect Australia's tract of the icy continent.

The trouble is, Antarctica is not one of those places you can visit fleetingly. A round trip by ship takes a month, meaning Senator Joyce will be out of action politically for four weeks once he lays claim to his berth on March 14.

"I'm sure there will be some people who hope I get stranded down there for good," he said.

"I'll miss only one week of Parliament, but it will be very interesting to see what they slip through that week. But you can't let that stop you doing other parliamentary business - it's like saying 'I can never leave the house because the kids might play up'."

Senator Joyce hopes to make his own judgements about the adequacy of funding for Australian scientific programs in the Antarctic.

He'll also acquaint himself further with debates over sovereignty and keep an eye on the whaling dispute in the Southern Ocean.

But with temperatures in his outback home town of St George, seven hours' drive from Brisbane, averaging 40 degrees this month, he may be in for a shock.

"Oh look, I've seen ice in the fridge, we have ice in our drinks in St George - how much of a contrast can it be?" he quipped.

© 2006 The Age

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