Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce says Vincent Namatjira’s portrait of mining magnate Gina Rinehart is so realistic, he sat next to it all afternoon waiting for it to give him a cash prize for services to agriculture.
“I was sitting there talking to Gina about how much she does for this country, and she was saying similar things about me – we were having a bloody great conversation. It was only three or four hours in that I realised it was a painting,” Joyce explained.
The former Deputy PM said the penny dropped when, six hours in, Gina hadn’t offered to fly him to an all-expenses-paid wedding in India. “That was the giveaway. Usually it’s only around fifteen minutes or so before she offers to host a fundraiser or make a six-figure donation, or at the very least fly me to a lavish overseas wedding. So that did seem a bit odd. Other than that though, it was a pretty normal conversation”.
Joyce said he was now questioning which other members of his social circle were not actually real.
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Headline by Anthony Bell
