Barnaby Joyce’s much-younger girlfriend Vikki Campion has declared the pain of having an affair with Australia’s former Deputy PM and ending his 24-year marriage was worth it.
The couple, who now have a five-week old son Sebastian, has controversially accepted $150,000 from the Seven Network to tell their side of a major political scandal, which includes pressure for an abortion.
Ahead of the Sunday Night program airing that interview, Seven’s Sunrise breakfast show has aired a clip of Mr Joyce’s 33-year-old former media adviser.
‘Everything was worth it for this,’ she said, as she held the hand of her baby son.
Barnaby Joyce’s girlfriend Vikki Campion (pictured) has declared the pain of having an affair with Australia’s former deputy PM and ending his 24-year marriage was worth it
The couple, who now have a five-week old son Sebastian, has controversially accepted $150,000 from the Seven Network to tell their side of a major political scandal
Barnaby Joyce, who turned 51 last month, is estranged from his wife of 24 years Natalie and their four adult daughters as a result of the extramarital affair that forced him to quit as Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister.
The backbench MP for the New South Wales seat of New England told the Seven Network he had let his family down.
‘I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed,’ he said.
The maverick former accountant’s salary has also halved from $416,000 to $203,000 after the affair raised character questions about the Catholic, family values politician who had last year campaigned against gay marriage.
Despite the pain that caused to her much older boyfriend, Vikki Campion said that was the price of love.
‘I couldn’t help it. You can’t help who you fall in love with,’ she said.
Barnaby Joyce (pictured holding his baby son Sebastian) has taken time off work to spend time with his girlfriend who is also a first-time mother
The backbench MP for the rural, northern New South Wales seat of New England told the Seven Network he had let his family down
Despite the pain the affair caused to her much older boyfriend Barnaby Joyce, Vikki Campion said that was the price of love
Joyce refused to accept sole responsibility for the revealing tell-all – which many are calling hypocritical given the politician’s previous demands for privacy – due to the fact that Vikki will be interviewed as well
She also revealed she was pressured to have an abortion.
‘They said, “If you don’t, they’re going to come after you,’ she said.
The pair’s decision to go forward with the interview has angered Mr Joyce’s own conservative side of politics.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was opposed to the paid media interview.
‘It’s not a course of action I would have encouraged,’ he said.
Mr Joyce said the money from the interview would go into a trust fund young Sebastian and his mother.
His successor as Nationals leader Michael McCormack had a similar view point as the Prime Minister when it came to a federal MP accepting cash, albeit indirectly, for a paid interview.
The affair between Barnaby Joyce and his former media adviser Vikki Campion caused his salary to halve from $416,000 to $203,000 as backbencher with no portfolio (the couple are pictured here at a bar at Glebe in Sydney’s inner west last year before the news broke)
The pair’s decision to go forward with the interview has divided the public and parliament (pictured is Barnaby)
‘I wouldn’t have done it, but you know that’s a decision that Barnaby has taken,’ he said.
Mr Joyce has taken personal leave for several weeks to spend time with Ms Campion and their son Sebastian.
Joyce has refused to accept sole responsibility for the revealing tell-all – which many are calling hypocritical given the politician’s previous demands for privacy – due to the fact that Vikki will be interviewed as well.
The former Deputy Prime Minister says the decision was made after weeks of relentless media pressure that showed no signs of ‘burning out’, as the mother of his newborn realised she may as well benefit from the ordeal, New Corp reported.
‘We tried for privacy,’ said Mr Joyce.
‘In the last fortnight we’ve had drones over our house. We’ve had paparazzi waiting for us outside Armidale airport… we’ve tried just burning this out and that didn’t work.’
The former deputy prime minister said his former staffer and the mother of his newborn Vikki Campion realised she may as well benefit from the ordeal after weeks of relentless media pressure
The former Nationals leader claimed that if it were an interview with just him as a politician he wouldn’t charge.
‘But that is not what they wanted,’ he said. ‘They wanted an interview… to get Vikki’s side of the story and like most mothers she said, ‘Seeing as I am being screwed over… if everybody else is making money then [I am] going to make money out of it’.’
Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer said that while she didn’t go so far as to talk Mr Joyce out of doing the interview, she could see that it didn’t sit right with the majority of Australians.
‘Ultimately it’s a matter for him and his judgment,’ she said in an interview with ABC radio. ‘[But] I don’t think it’s right, and I think most Australians are pretty disgusted by it.’
Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer said that while she didn’t go so far as to talk Joyce out of doing the interview, she could see that it didn’t sit right with the majority of Australians