Barnaby Joyce has blamed mixing prescription medication with alcohol after an embarrassing video showed him lying on his back near a gutter and mumbling profanities into his phone.
Daily Mail Australia revealed exclusive video of the former deputy prime minister, 56, sprawled on the footpath at Lonsdale Street, in the Canberra suburb of Braddon, close to midnight last Wednesday.
Sources said the Nationals’ frontbencher was sitting on a large pot plant while having an animated phone conversation with his wife, Vikki Campion, when he fell off, ‘rolled around’ on the ground, and continued with his call.
Mr Joyce was forced to address the night out during an appearence on Sunrise with Natalie Barr.
‘How are you,’ Barr awkwardly asked.
Mr Joyce responded: ‘Look, obviously, I made a big mistake. There’s no excuse for it.
‘There is a reason. And it was a very eventful walk home, wasn’t it?
‘I’m on a prescription drug, and they say certain things may happen to you if you drink [on it], and they were absolutely 100% right. They did.’
Sunrise host Natalie Barr has confronted Barnaby Joyce after embarrassing video footage emerged
Barr continued to probe Mr Joyce: ‘So you mixed alcohol with prescription medication, did you, and this is what happened?’
Joyce responded: ‘That’s exactly what I said, yep.’
Barr then asked: ‘Are you kinda angry that you were lying on the ground and someone filmed you and no-one helped you?’
Joyce said: ‘Well, that’s a question for them, you know. For me, the good Samaritan was the…was the Indian taxi driver who pulled over as I was walking home and said, “Do you need a lift, mate?”, which I obviously did.’
More to come.
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