Barnaby Joyce’s relationship with his much younger former media adviser came after taxpayers had coughed up more than $28,000 for them to travel together for work.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting anything illegal and accepts the expenses were a legitimate part of the Deputy Prime Minister’s schedule.
However, the revelation about the 50-year-old Nationals leader’s expenses came as a Newspoll survey showed two-thirds of voters wanted Mr Joyce to resign as Nationals leader, as he prepared to take a week of leave.
Barnaby Joyce’s work trips with his former adviser Vikki Campion cost taxpayers $28,408
She travelled extensively across Australia with her former boss, flying with him from Brisbane to Victoria (flight receipts pictured above)
In 2016 and 2017, the father-of-four’s travel to events with his pregnant 33-year-old former staffer Vikki Campion cost taxpayers $28,408 when she was on his payroll.
Daily Mail Australia has analysed expenses incurred by Mr Joyce between May 2016, when Ms Campion joined his election campaign as media adviser, to April 2017 when she quit as his adviser to work for Nationals minister Matt Canavan.
This publication isn’t suggesting any misuse of funds and has examined the records from the Department of Finance and Defence, which operate VIP flights for ministers.
However, Mr Joyce’s 24-year marriage to his estranged wife Natalie ended after Ms Campion had joined his office.
She travelled extensively across Australia with her former boss, flying with him from the Gold Coast to Melbourne, and several regional centres in between, during her year as a full-time staffer with the Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Joyce and Ms Campion were photographed together in a bar at Glebe in Sydney’s inner-west in February 2017, after flying down from Tamworth
When Ms Campion first joined the Deputy PM’s office in May 2016, she travelled with her boss on VIP flights to the Gold Coast and the New South Wales towns of Glen Innes, Armidale, Lismore, costing taxpayers $26,000 as the Deputy Prime Minister campaigned for the upcoming July election.
Three months later, in August 2016, the pair caught a flight from Sydney to Melbourne costing taxpayers $1,135.56 so they could attend an Australian Dairy Industry Symposium.
In October and November 2016, Mr Joyce and Ms Campion took six VIP trips together which cost taxpayers $25,753, taking them across central-western NSW, Tamworth in his New England electorate, Brisbane and Melbourne.
The trip also saw taxpayers $346.31 billed for Comcars and another $6,700 for hospitality.
In February last year, Mr Joyce was photographed with Ms Campion, a former Daily Telegraph journalist, drinking a bar at Glebe in Sydney’s inner-west.
During that visit to the New South Wales capital, Mr Joyce claimed two nights of travel allowance worth $442, along with flights from Sydney to Tamworth each costing $356.
A Newspoll survey shows 65 per cent of voters want Mr Joyce to quit as Deputy Prime Minister
The Deputy Prime Minister also claimed $151.48 in Comcar travel.
The revelations came as a Newspoll survey of 1,632 voters, published in The Australian, showed 65 per cent of the electorate wanted Mr Joyce to quit as Deputy Prime Minister.
His relationship with Ms Campion has damaged the Turnbull Government’s standing, with the Coalition’s primary vote falling two points to 36 per cent, putting it one point behind Labor’s.
The government now trails the Opposition 53 per cent to 47 per cent after preferences.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Mr Joyce’s office for comment.