Barnaby Joyce is in hot water again - for suggesting the federal government can kickstart the economy by rebuilding houses burnt down under the botched home insulation program.
Government frontbencher Penny Wong says Mr Joyce's latest comments demonstrate how risky it was for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to appoint the Senator as his water spokesman.
In a wide-ranging speech at a business lunch in Sydney, Senator Joyce accused Water Minister Penny Wong of wasting taxpayers' money with the government's water buy-back scheme.
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Senator Joyce suggested the water purchased under the buy-back scheme - intended to save the ailing Murray-Darling Basin - was about making a major statement in the media.
Productivity Commission report ridiculed
But less than a week after being dumped as the opposition's finance spokesman, the outspoken Nationals senator was grabbing the headlines - for all the wrong reasons.
Senator Joyce, now the opposition's water spokesman, went on to ridicule the work of the Productivity Commission, which is set to hand down a report on water recovery in the basin.
"People actually do read the Productivity Commission reports," he said.
"I don't, I use them when I run out of toilet paper."
Insensitive insulation comments
Senator Joyce then joked that problems associated with the home insulation program, which has been linked to the deaths of four people, could be a boon for the economy.
"The ceiling insulation program, maybe, as we speak they are burning down houses. As we speak there is (sic) calamities happening around the suburbs near where we are," he said.
"Maybe that is how they're going to reboot the economy. They've burnt down enough houses. We can reboot the economy by building them again."
Senator Wong later released a statement saying the comments on the water buy-back scheme had demonstrated Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's risky judgment in appointing Senator Joyce as his water spokesman.
"The Productivity Commission is an independent body that was established in 1998 to advise governments on ways to achieve a more productive economy," Senator Wong said.
Joyce 'a big risk'
Nobody expected Senator Joyce to agree with them all the time, she said.
"However, a member of the shadow cabinet can't use crass insults as a substitute for real policy work.
"Senator Joyce is clearly just as big a risk in water as he was in finance."
