Barnaby Joyce on relationship with ex-staffer: ‘I want private matters to remain private’
DEPUTY PM Barnaby Joyce, who is expecting a baby with his ex-staffer, is sad his private life has been thrown into the public arena.
National
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DEPUTY Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says he feels “incredibly hurt” that his private life has been thrown into the public arena.
His comments, in an interview with the ABC’s 7.30 host Leigh Sales, have come after The Daily Telegraph reported Mr Joyce had moved in with his former staffer, 33-year-old Vikki Campion.
Mr Joyce, who has separated from his wife of 24 years and the mother of his four daughters, is now expecting a baby with his former employee.
Mr Joyce told 7.30 he wanted to “make sure that private matters remain private”.
“So it’s a private matter and 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 a public discussion. As much as I can I will keep private matters private.”
Mr Joyce’s wife, Natalie Joyce, issued a statement today saying she feels “deceived and hurt” by her husband for starting an affair with a person who was his employee at the time.
.@Barnaby_Joyce tells @leighsales the end of his marriage was “one of the greatest failures of my lifeâ€. #abc730 #auspol pic.twitter.com/maRfgpuL4u
— abc730 (@abc730) February 7, 2018
When asked if it was accurate that the relationship started when his partner was a member of his paid staff, Mr Joyce told Leigh Sales he didn’t want to go through “a salami slicing” of his private life.
“They have FOIed (Freedom of Information) everything to do with my travel and nothing has been turned up because there’s nothing there.”
Mr Joyce said “one of the greatest failures” of his life was the breakdown of his marriage, but that it did not make him “terribly unusual”.
Host Leigh Sales pointed to accusations on social media that Mr Joyce was a hypocrite for refusing to back same-sex marriage in favour of traditional families.
“Just because my relationship didn’t work it doesn’t mean I changed what I think.
“On that instance I failed, OK. I’ll be upfront I failed on that one but I am not going to say therefore just because I failed I’m going to completely change my views and definition.
“I don’t think anybody walks down the aisle with a view that they think that it’s going to come to an end or finish. You don’t. You make the commitment to try and see it through, now I acknowledge that.
“I failed, and I’m incredibly sorry about that, but I’m also — like other people — incredibly hurt that private issues get dragged into the public arena.”
Originally published as Barnaby Joyce on relationship with ex-staffer: ‘I want private matters to remain private’