The letter Barnyard Barnaby didn't want you to see released to public

Barnyard Barnaby, deputy PM

Public servant Paul Grimes

Barnaby Joyce, deputy PM and dog threatener, is now having his own dog day afternoons. Yesterday, a letter that he'd fought long and hard over one and a half years and spending $80,000 to have hidden from the public, even deleted from gov files, was in fact released to the public.

This was during the time Joyce had gotten himself into difficulty being caught out making changes to the parliamentary Hansard, and the public servant Paul Grimes stood up to him over it. Grimes was sacked and replaced.

The letter Grimes sent questions the deputy PM's integrity and is deeply embarrassing for Barnyard. It appears Joyce didn't at all follow processes in place in such an event of the breakdown of the relationship between him and the public servant, but instead bullied him and sacked him to save himself.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon has fought for the release of the letter, which was emailed directly to Mr Joyce and Tony Abbott's former head of department Michael Thawley, since the independent Information Commissioner ruled it should be made available. 

Mr Joyce's department fought that ruling, spent $80,000 on engaging Ernst &Young to review its public information processes, and then fought the matter through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal before giving up the fight just after Parliament rose for two weeks on Friday. 

"This letter shows Paul Grimes was deeply concerned about Barnaby Joyce's behaviour. He was challenging Joyce's integrity," Mr Fitzgibbon said on Monday. 

"He clearly thought what Joyce did was not appropriate. This letter indicates he was being bullied. 

"What Barnaby Joyce did was to sack Paul Grimes to save himself." Sydney Morning Herald