The comments coming back to haunt Barnaby Joyce
BARNABY Joyce says his relationship with a former staff member should be private, but he can’t hide from these comments.
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DEPUTY Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is refusing to disclose details of his “private matters” but there are some comments the under-fire Nationals Leader can’t hide from.
Remarks about promiscuity and upholding family values are coming back to haunt Mr Joyce after his affair with a now-pregnant former staff member in his office was made public.
The latest comments proving problematic for the conservative MP were made during a 2006 debate about a breakthrough cervical cancer vaccine.
During discussion about the roll out of a national immunisation campaign using Gardisil, a vaccine that protects young women from the virus that causes 70 per cent of cervical cancers, Mr Joyce expressed fears it would encourage young women to be promiscuous.
“There might be an overwhelming backlash from people saying ‘don’t you dare put something out there that gives my 12-year-old daughter a license to be promiscuous’,” he said.
Mr Joyce argued against making the vaccine available because of the “social implications” and the implication of permissiveness around sex.
His frequent extolling of the values of traditional marriage during the recent same-sex marriage debate has also been brought up and seen him labelled a hypocrite.
Critics have taken joy in pointing out Mr Joyce spent years fighting to exclude same-sex couples from marriages arguing that it was a sacred institution between a man and woman, only to throw away his own 24-year union.
Again talking about his daughters, Mr Joyce told a 2011 Australian Christian Lobby conference: “The best protection for those girls is that they get themselves into a secure relationship with a loving husband.”
Asked about his perceived hypocrisy during a prickly interview on ABC’s 7.30 Wednesday night, Mr Joyce admitted that he had “failed” in his marriage, but said he was “hurt” that the truth had come out.
“Just because my marriage didn’t work out doesn’t mean I disregard what marriage are about. I acknowledge that I failed,” he said.
“I’m also incredibly hurt that private issues get dragged out in the public areas ... I think most people would say those things should stay in the realm of your private business.”
Mr Joyce then came out with a phrase that was repeated throughout the interview.
In the seven-minute discussion with interview Leigh Sales that focused on the affair, he argued to “keep private matters private” five times, and references a variation of “private matters”, including “private affairs”, “private issues”, and “private life” a total of 18 times.
He admitted that the breakdown of his marriage was “one of the greatest failures” of his life, but said that it did not make him “terribly unusual”.
When asked if it was accurate that the relationship started when his partner was a member of his paid staff, Mr Joyce told Sales he didn’t want to go through “a salami slicing” of his private life.
“The have FOIed (Freedom of Information) everything to do with my travel and nothing has been turned up because there’s nothing there.”
While Mr Joyce argued his relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion was off-limits, his wife yesterday released a furious and revealing statement.
Saying the affair had been going on for “months and months” Natalie Joyce said she and the couple’s four daughters were “devastated”.
“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,” she told the Daily Telegraph.
“Naturally we feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved.”
Ms Campion is reportedly due to give birth in April. Friends have told the Telegraph the pair are “madly in love”.
Originally published as The comments coming back to haunt Barnaby Joyce