A new text message controversy has broken out in federal parliament, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed maverick Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce branded him a "hypocrite" and a "liar" in a text message last year.
Brittany Higgins shared the message with media outlets this week after Mr Joyce lashed an unnamed cabinet colleague for making derogatory comments about Scott Morrison.
The text message, forwarded to Ms Higgins last March when the Member for New England was a backbencher, described the prime minister as “a hypocrite and a liar from my observations and that is over a long time. I have never trusted him and I dislike how he earnestly rearranges the truth to a lie”.
The message was sent in the wake of Ms Higgins' concerns about the way her allegation of rape inside the ministerial wing was being handled by the Prime Minister’s office.
A statement was released by Mr Morrison in response to the media reports on Friday night.
In it, Mr Morrison confirms that Mr Joyce privately revealed the contents of the messages ahead of the publication of the news stories.
“Barnaby approached me this week to inform me of these text messages,” Mr Morrison’s statement said.
“He sincerely apologised and I immediately accepted his apology in good faith.”
Mr Morrison went on to describe a series of factors that led to the criticism.
“I understand Barnaby was in a different headspace last year, both professionally and personally, and so I know he genuinely no longer feels this way. Relationships change over time. Politicians are humans beings too. We all have our frailties and none of us are perfect," he said.
Mr Morrison said since the pair had begun working together as the two most senior leaders in the country, “it is fair to say that we both positively surprised each other".
“We were never close before this and never pretended to be. But in these roles, we have really found our rhythm, as we have concluded AUKUS, settled our climate change policy and continued to fight the pandemic.”
Mr Joyce also provided a statement, saying that comments from March last year has been circulating “among third parties” in a screenshot.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrive for Question Time in Canberra, 25 October, 2021. Source: AAP
“While the text message was supposed to be private, what I said in that message was wrong; and I have unreservedly apologised to the Prime Minister for my comments," he said.
“It is common knowledge that in the past the Prime Minister and I had not always seen eye to eye.”
Mr Joyce went on to say that he’s now working closely with Mr Morrison and “the Prime Minister is a person of high integrity and honesty in what is possibly the most difficult job in the nation”.
The latest text exchange comes just days after Network 10 revealed a series of messages allegedly leaked by a serving federal cabinet minister.
In the exchange, allegedly between the minister and former New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian at the height of the Black Summer fires, Ms Berejiklian is quoted as saying the Prime Minister is a “horrible, horrible person” who is “actively spreading lies” and briefing against her.
The minister allegedly replied that “Morrison is about Morrison. Complete psycho. He is desperate and jealous”.
Ms Berejiklian has released a statement saying she doesn’t recall the messages and she strongly supports the prime minister.
No one has publicly confirmed being the minister who wrote the text.
Mr Morrison has dismissed the release of the messages.
“Of course people say nasty things about you as Prime Minister all the time," he said.
“Just switch on your social media feed and you’ll get yourself quite the giggle, I get one all the time, it comes with the job."
Anna Henderson is SBS News's chief political correspondent.
