Prime Minister Tony Abbott has again excused Barnaby Joyce's outburst over a new coal mine in his electorate, saying he respects the agriculture minister's "compassion and commitment".
Mr Abbott also downplayed the role of the federal government in the approval a new $1 billion Shenhua coalmine, saying it was just step 15 of "a long and at-times torturous" 17-step process which is yet to be completed.
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Asked if he'd spoken to Mr Joyce about his "world has gone mad" comments, Mr Abbott told reporters on the Gold Coast he had a lot of conversations with all ministers and that would continue.
Earlier today Joyce said he won’t step down from cabinet over the government's approval of the $1 billion Shenhua Watermark mine, saying the final decision remains with the state government.
The Agriculture Minister also dismissed calls from former independent MP Tony Windsor, who said he could stand for election again over the issue.
Mr Joyce told ABC Radio that he would welcome Mr Windsor running again, but dismissed his criticism that he had not done enough to stop the mine’s approval.
“I always find it surprising someone who is a multimillionaire because he sold his property to a coalmine is now the champion talking about stopping a coal mine,” he said.
“I don’t think taking lessons from Tony Windsor is something that anybody can take seriously.”
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved the Watermark Coal Mine on Wednesday and it's understood the NSW Government, which has the final say on the matter, has no intention of halting the mine.
A mining licence, which Chinese state-owned Shenhua needs, cannot be refused if a project has already received development approval.
Mr Joyce is side-stepping federal colleagues over his government's decision to approve the mine, near prime agricultural land in his NSW electorate.
He believes the final approval is in the remit of the state government and is contacting NSW Premier Mike Baird to stop the project he's labelled "ridiculous" due to its location.
He is under pressure to resign as Agriculture Minister over the debate, but says he won’t step down.
“What would that achieve?” he said.
“I don’t think it would achieve anything. What’s the point of doing it if it doesn’t achieve anything.”
Mr Joyce also said he was opposing the mine as Agriculture Minister, saying he was “kind of agnostic” about it being in his electorate.
He failed to appear at a press event for the Agricultural White Paper alongside Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday, with the latter questioned about the issue on Friday.
Mr Abbott told reporters he respcted Mr Joyce's "passion and commitment" to the issue, but downplayed the role of his government in the controversial approval.
"Agriculture and mining have long been able to co-exist in this country," he added.
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