Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has been grilled about whether his relationship with a former staffer began while she was under his employ and the recipient of taxpayer money.
The Leader of the Nationals appeared on ABC’s 7.30 with Leigh Sales on Wednesday, one day after bombshell reports claimed he was expecting a child with his former staffer, Vikki Campion, 33.
When Sales asked Mr Joyce, 50, if his relationship with Ms Campion started while she was a paid member of staff, he dodged the question and said his private life was not in the public interest.
‘What I want to do is make sure private matters remain private, I don’t think it profits anybody to drag private matters out into the public arena,’ he said.
Mr Joyce, 50, is expecting a child with his former media advisor Vikki Campion, 33, (together) who he has reportedly fallen ‘madly in love’ with
‘I can’t quite fathom why a pregnant lady walking across the road deserves a front page.
‘I don’t think it helps me, I don’t think it helps my family, I don’t think it helps anybody in the future to start making this part of a public discussion.’
Sales went on to tell Mr Joyce she had no interest in asking him intimate questions about the pregnancy rumours, but wanted to establish if ‘personal conduct had any intersection with your professional role as an elected official’.
‘Is it accurate that this relationship started when this person was a member of your staff?’ she said.
He shut down the question and said he was ‘incredibly hurt that private issues were dragged out’.
Barnaby Joyce’s wife of 24 years said the situation has been devastating for her and their four daughters (pictured are Mr Joyce and Ms Campion)
Sales asked Mr Joyce if he thought it was appropriate to start a relationship with an employee.
‘You were a powerful boss and the woman was on your staff and had everything to lose. Do you think that’s the right way for a boss to act?’
Mr Joyce maintained he would not discuss a ‘private matter’ but said his relationship with Ms Campion was ‘nothing beyond consensual’.
Sales continued to prod Mr Joyce, asking him if he had anything to hide.
‘If someone did examine your travel records, is there any evidence that you used taxpayer funded trips or hotels to conduct a relationship with a staffer who is now your partner,’ she said.
Mr Joyce replied saying a number of Freedom of Information requests had already been lodged and ‘nothing’s turned up because there’s nothing there’.
Ms Campion (pictured) worked as Mr Joyce’s media advisor before she moved into a more senior role with Resources Minister Matt Canavan in April last year
He maintained he kept his professional and private life separate.
‘Anything on a public account has been to do with my work as a politician,’ he said.
‘I’m not going to even entertain a discussion about my private life in the public arena.’
While he remained tight lipped about his relationship with Ms Campion and the baby they are reportedly expecting together, he did use the platform to speak about his broken marriage.
‘One of the greatest failures of my life was the end of my marriage,’ he said.
‘That was obviously a tumultuous time, but I’m not going to start disseminating beyond that.
‘It is very painful for everyone involved. I’m not proud of it.’
Natalie Joyce (pictured with Barnaby Joyce) has revealed she feels ‘deceived’ by the Deputy Prime Minister, and said she sacrificed her own career to support him
Meanwhile, Barnaby Joyce’s ‘devastated’ wife has claimed that the Deputy Prime Minister had a months-long affair with Ms Campion.
Natalie Joyce said she felt ‘deceived’ by the news that Vikki Campion, 33, was pregnant with her husband’s fifth child and claimed the extramarital fling began when she was a paid staffer.
In a statement, a ‘hurt’ Mrs Joyce claimed her husband’s affair went on for months, while she was sacrificing her own career to support him.
The news of the baby comes just two months after Joyce, 50, formally announced he was separated from his wife.
Natalie Joyce has revealed she feels ‘deceived’ by the Deputy Prime Minister, and said she sacrificed her own career to support him (pictured are Mr Joyce and Ms Campion)
Mr Joyce, the Minister for Agriculture, has not been seen publicly with his wife Natalie since the Canberra Press Gallery Mid-Winter Ball in June last year
‘The situation is devastating, for my girls who are affected by the family breakdown and for me as a wife of 24 years who placed my own career on hold to support Barnaby through his political life,’ she said in a statement, The Australian reported.
‘Our family has had to be shared during Barnaby’s political career and it was with trust that we let campaign and office staff into our home and into our lives.
‘Naturally we feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved.
Mr Joyce and Natalie have four daughters, aged in their late teens and early 20s, from their 24-year marriage.
Pictures have emerged of Mr Joyce looking relaxed with his now reportedly pregnant former staffer Vikki Campion in a Sydney bar (pictured)
In several of the photographs taken last year Ms Campion looks comfortable with Mr Joyce, who revealed in December he had split from his wife
‘I am deeply saddened by the news that my husband has been having an affair and is now having a child with a former staff member.
‘I understand that this affair has been going on for many months and started when she was a paid employee.’
Pictures have emerged of Mr Joyce looking relaxed with his now reportedly pregnant former staffer Vikki Campion in a Sydney bar.
In several of the photographs taken last year Ms Campion looks comfortable with Mr Joyce, who revealed in December he had split from his wife.
Witnesses said the pair appeared to be relaxed with each other inside the Different Drummer bar at Glebe in Sydney’s inner-west.
‘I am deeply saddened by the news that my husband has been having an affair and is now having a child with a former staff member,’ Mrs Joyce said (pictured are Mr Joyce and Ms Campion)
‘I understand that this affair has been going on for many months and started when she was a paid employee,’ said Natalie Joyce (pictured are Mr Joyce and Ms Campion)
Witnesses said the pair appeared to be relaxed with each other inside the Different Drummer bar at Glebe in Sydney’s inner-west (pictured)
Mr Joyce (pictured, right) was present during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House on Wednesday
While Mr Joyce previously announced his separation from wife Natalie, he is yet to make a public statement about the rumoured pregnancy.
Mr Joyce and Ms Campion have reportedly moved in together ahead of the birth of their child in April.
A friend of the Deputy Prime Minister said the pregnancy was shrouded in secrecy because he was concerned about the well-being of his daughters.
‘He has been struggling with the family breakup, it’s put an enormous pressure on him,’ a source told the publication.
‘He’s had some pretty dark times.’
Mr Joyce and Natalie (pictured) have four daughters, aged in their late teens and early 20s, from their 24-year marriage
A friend of the Deputy Prime Minister (pictured on Wednesday February 7) said the pregnancy was shrouded in secrecy because he was concerned about the well-being of his daughters
Mr Joyce (pictured on Tuesday) has previously announced his separation from wife Natalie, but is yet to make a public statement about the rumoured pregnancy
Ms Campion worked as Mr Joyce’s media advisor before she moved into a more senior role with Resources Minister Matt Canavan in April last year.
She later worked for Nationals chief parliamentary Whip Damian Drum but was left without a job when Mr Drum changed roles and became Assistant Minister to Deputy Prime Minister Joyce.
Mr Joyce, who was born in Tamworth, acknowledged he was separated and said he was ‘not a saint’ in a parliamentary admission last year.
‘I do support the current definition of marriage as it stands,’ he said in the lead up to the same-sex marriage vote on December 7.
Mr Joyce (centre) and Natalie (left) have four daughters, pictured here claiming an election victory in 2016
‘It is a special relationship between a man and a woman, predominantly for the purpose of bringing children into the world.
‘I don’t come to this debate pretending to be any form of saint, but I do believe in the current definition of marriage, which has stood the test of time.
‘I acknowledge that I’m currently separated, so that’s on the record.’
Mr Joyce, a Catholic and outspoken economic and social conservative, said he would ‘never vote against the view of the Australian people’ before he abstained from the final vote on December 7.
Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the National Party Barnaby Joyce, at coffee with his wife Natalie and dog Missty
Barnaby Joyce celebrates at The Nationals Party at West Tamworth Leagues Club in Tamworth on Saturday, December 2, 2017
Mr Joyce’s wife Natalie has not been seen publicly with the Deputy Prime Minister since the Canberra Press Gallery Mid-Winter Ball in June last year.
The pair met during O Week while Mr Joyce was studying accountancy at the University of New England.
‘The last day was a car rally in a ute and he just came up to me and went, ‘You’ll do’, Natalie said in an interview in March last year.
Joyce’s family were opposed to their marriage, leaving his side of the church empty but for two pews, but changed their minds over time.
The Leader of The Nationals was forced to resign from his position as Deputy Prime Minister in August last year, amid a dual citizenship saga which embroiled Parliament.
The government lost its majority in the lower house after the High Court ruled he was ineligible to sit due to his dual New Zealand citizenship.
Mr Joyce, who has since renounced his New Zealand citizenship, comfortably won the New England by-election on December 2, and resumed his cabinet posts the same day.
Barnaby Joyce (pictured) the speaks to the media after winning the New England by-election