Barnaby Joyce to speak out on affair with staffer
BARNABY Joyce will face questions over his affair with a former staff member in a major interview tonight, while a Labor figure says the relationship has been an open secret for months.
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BARNABY Joyce will face questions over his affair with a former staff member in a major interview tonight, while a senior Labor figure says the relationship has been an open secret in Canberra for months.
Mr Joyce was in Canberra today for the first sitting week of the year as the reports broke.
He entered Question Time at 2pm flanked by Treasurer Scott Morrison and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop.
The Deputy Prime Minister will appear on the ABC’s 7.30 program tonight.
It comes after The Daily Telegraph reported this morning Mr Joyce had moved in with his former staffer, 33-year-old Vikki Campion, and the couple were expecting a baby in April.
Sources told The Daily Telegraph the couple were “madly in love”.
Mr Joyce confirmed he had separated from his wife of 24 years, Natalie, the mother of his four daughters, in a speech to Parliament in December amid the same-sex marriage debate.
Mr Joyce was all business this afternoon when he addressed the House after a question from Nationals MP George Christensen on regional infrastructure spending.
Rather than using the Dorothy Dixer to attack the opposition, Mr Joyce outlined spending on upgrades for key regional roads.
The Nationals leaders’ closest colleagues in federal parliament declined to comment this morning on whether they knew about the couple.
But federal Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen confirmed that the relationship had been well-known in Parliament House for months.
Mr Bowen wished the Nationals’ leader and his family “nothing but the best” but said their personal lives were “none of anybody else’s business”.
“The Labor Party has made no public statement about Barnaby Joyce’s personal situation for the last six months, despite the fact it’s been well-known in this building, and we’re not about to start today,” Mr Bowen told reporters in Canberra.
“I have plenty of criticisms of Barnaby Joyce. I think he’s a very poor Deputy Prime Minister. “But my criticisms of him are of his job. And frankly, his personal situation is none of my business.
“With respect, it’s none of anybody else’s business.”
Mr Bowen added: “In terms of his personal life, I wish him nothing but the best, and his family nothing but the best, and I have absolutely nothing else to say on the matter.”
Mrs Joyce said this morning her husband’s affair had been “going on for many months” and she was “deeply saddened” by the news he was expecting a child with his former staffer.
“I understand that this affair has been going on for many months and started when she was a paid employee,” Mrs Joyce told The Daily Telegraph.
“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.
“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.
“The situation for myself and the girls has been made worse by the fact it’s been played out in public at this time.
“I would ask that the girls and I are given some privacy to come to terms with the consequences and take steps to plan our future.”
The report about Mr Joyce’s affair comes as the United States House of Representatives on Tuesday banned relationships between members of the House and staffers.
The House voted unanimously to explicitly ban the relationships between members and “any employee of the House that works under [their supervision]”.
Senior Government minister Christopher Pyne said MP’s private lives should be “off-the-record” when asked about the relationship this morning.
The Defence Industry Minister praised the standard of political reporting in Australia, compared to the tabloid exposes of the UK.
“I think it’s a great pity that this has happened to Barnaby Joyce and his family and it must be very traumatising for everyone, made much worse by being publicised on the front page of the newspapers,” he told Adelaide radio station 5AA.
“I agree with Anthony [Albanese] that we should argue a lot about good policy for Australia.
“MPs private lives, business people’s private lives, journalists private lives should be off the record.”
Mr Albanese, Labor’s Infrastructure spokesman, said he believed there was no public interest in discussing Mr Joyce’s personal life.
Nationals MP George Christensen did not confirm if he was aware of the relationship this morning after The Daily Telegraph report.
It comes after Mr Joyce confirmed he had separated from his wife, Natalie, the mother of his four daughters, during the same-sex marriage debate in early December.
“You hear all sorts of rumours in this place,” Mr Christensen told News Corp outside of Parliament this morning.
“All I’m going to say is I support Barnaby Joyce 100 per cent as leader, there’s no question about that.
“Personal lives are personal lives.”
Mr Christensen said he would not make any comments on the personal lives of members of Parliament.
“That’s up to them and it’s not the sort of country we are in Australia to be doing scandal-type exposes on politicians personal lives,” he said.
Fellow Nationals MP Darren Chester wished the couple well but agreed “private matters really should stay private”.
“I don’t think it helps the operation of this place [Parliament] if I was to comment on those personal matters,” Mr Chester told Sky News.
“I wish Barnaby well, I wish his new partner well and I wish their impending arrival well. I think it’s best left to that,” he said.
Turnbull Government Minister Dan Tehan, a colleague on the frontbench, also declined to comment on the relationship.
The Social Services Minister told ABC radio he believed it was a private matter and it should be up to individuals to decide on what they share with the public.
Labor MPs have been equally reluctant to comment.
“It’s something I view as none of my business,” Labor frontbencher Tony Burke told reporters in Canberra this morning.
“This ricochets and affects families. There’s a principle here that I’ve always abided by to not engage in anything that hits the private lives of other members of parliament.”
Mr Burke faced accusations from the Coalition in 2015 that he used taxpayer funds to travel with his adviser, Skye Laris, who became his partner after his marriage ended.
His marriage ended in 2012. His relationship with Ms Laris became public in 2014.
Fellow Labor frontbencher Catherine King also declined to comment on Mr Joyce’s relationship, saying it was a private matter and obviously a difficult time for the family.
Ms Campion, a former journalist and deputy chief of staff at The Daily Telegraph, declined to comment on her relationship with Mr Joyce yesterday.
She left Mr Joyce’s office in April last year and went to work for his colleague, Resources Minister Matt Canavan.
After Senator Canavan resigned from Cabinet during the citizenship saga last year, Ms Campion joined the office of Nationals’ Whip Damian Drum.
She then reportedly lost her job when Mr Drum moved from his role as Whip to the Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Joyce.
Mr Joyce’s office told The Daily Telegraph yesterday Ms Campion was no longer working for the Turnbull government.
“Due to ministerial changes at the reshuffle last year, the staff member’s contract ended,” a spokesman said.
“(She) is subject to the same provisions as all other staff.”
Mr Joyce’s office did not comment on the relationship.
His wife, Natalie, and four daughters did not appear alongside Mr Joyce during his campaign for New England during last year’s by-election.
Rumours of the relationship were widespread in the community and on social media during the campaign.
— with Danielle Gusmaroli