Barnaby’s bizarre TV ‘tell-all’ avoids questions
BARNABY Joyce finally admitted he was “living a lie” as he slept with adviser Vikki Campion while married But it was a rare moment of insight in last night’s trainwreck $150K paid interview that ignored many questions, like the creation of new jobs for his lover.
NSW
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BARNABY Joyce has described some of his Coalition colleagues as “the absolute scum of the earth people” after his former staffer turned girlfriend Vikki Campion accused them of “coming after’’ her when she refused to abort their love child.
Mr Joyce admitted during his paid interview with Channel 7’s Sunday Night program that, in the end, he had clung on as deputy prime minister as the scandal worsened “more from spite than logic” and that he was “living a lie” by appearing in public with his wife of 24 years while in a relationship with Ms Campion.
“I knew that the day would come that I had to step down,” Mr Joyce conceded, as he sat next to Ms Campion for the cameras.
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“I suppose towards the end I was fighting more out of spite than logic, and just thinking ‘I’m not going to let these people beat us’.”
Sebastian Curtis Scott Joyce was born six weeks ago.
But both Mr Joyce and Ms Campion — in a controversial interview for which they were paid $150,000 — refused to answer questions about how their relationship started, how it had impacted on Mr Joyce’s wife Natalie and their four girls, and who specifically had threatened Ms Campion in relation to her pregnancy.
“People within the parliament, so they came to me, they said, ‘you’re pregnant’ and ‘you have to get an abortion’,” Ms Campion said.
“And they said ‘if you don’t, they’re going to come after you’ and they did.”
Mr Joyce, who resigned after the revelations about his love child were first published in The Daily Telegraph in early February, said those who made the threats were “the absolute scum of the earth people” who formed part of Canberra’s dark side.
“There is something insidious and dark and horrible that happens inside that mad boarding school and their contribution to it is they’re going to try and make an incredibly difficult situation almost unbearable, by saying to that woman ‘you will do this if you want a career in this place’,” Mr Joyce said. A nervous Ms Campion last night revealed she had taken steps towards an abortion but she was unable to go through with it, and that she had considered moving overseas.
But Mr Joyce and Ms Campion said that they “knew exactly what the ramifications were” of their office relationship, which The Daily Telegraph has previously revealed caused strain among senior advisers and drove long-serving chief-of-staff Di Hallam to leave.
“The entire ordeal — you know, being pressured for an abortion, and, you know, the frenzy of having to hide — it was all totally worth it,” Ms Campion said, speaking of her son.
“He’s just beautiful.”
Mr Joyce said he had taken his wife Natalie to the Midwinter Ball in Canberra last June in an attempt to repair his marriage but admitted he was also in a relationship with Ms Campion at the time.
“Show me a person who’s had a perfect marriage and I’ll show you a perfect liar,” Mr Joyce said.
“Yeah, well, I suppose it was … there you go … yep, I suppose it was living a lie.”
In early February, The Telegraph revealed Ms Campion had moved to several newly created highly-paid positions with Resources Minister Matt Canavan and later with chief Nationals whip Damian Drum in a possible breach of the ministerial code of conduct. At the time, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rejected those claims because Ms Campion was not considered to be Mr Joyce’s “partner” at the time.
The ministerial code of conduct makes it clear partners cannot be employed in the office of other ministers without explicit approval from Mr Turnbull. Mr Joyce also took aim at Mr Turnbull and said his criticisms of the affair — which he made in a speech outlining what was later referred to as a “bonking ban’’ — would “never be his Gettysburg Address”.
Mr Joyce is currently on leave and is scheduled to return to work on June 15, despite applying to be away until the end of the month.
I t’s all in the body language: little affection as Vikki takes charge
A BODY language expert has claimed Vikki Campion wears the pants in the new Joyce household.
Dr Louise Mahler, an Australian body language and voice expert, said that Ms Campion overrode and interrupted Barnaby Joyce on several occasions during last night’s interview.
Dr Mahler said that former media adviser Ms Campion walked in ahead of Mr Joyce, shook the interviewer’s hand and sat down first. She said Ms Campion was stony faced and leaning away from Mr Joyce throughout the interview and gestured away from him.
Dr Mahler said they looked like a couple who “were arguing”.
Despite a number of cuddles and touches exchanged between the pair during the interview, Dr Mahler said: “There were no signs of affection between them.” She said that Ms Campion’s body was slightly angled away from her partner throughout the interview and she overrode him several times.
“They are two people — not a couple — doing the best in a bad situation,” she said. Dr Mahler said both parents adore the baby.
She said she believes Vicki Campion is struggling to cope with all the pressures of their situation, and that Mr Joyce is trying to protect her.
- By Stuart McLean
Labor banks on love lost
LABOR last night launched a new campaign ad trying to tie Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to his former deputy, hours before Barnaby Joyce’s big-money tell-all interview.
Titled Canberra’s Greatest Love Story, the ad was launched on social media using a number of clips from last year’s New England by-election win, including Mr Joyce saying of Mr Turnbull: “I’m really looking forward to going back to work with this fella here.”
In another Mr Turnbull says: “I’m so thrilled we’re getting Barnaby back.”
But the ad also highlights their war of words at the height of the scandal, with Mr Turnbull calling Mr Joyce’s actions “dreadful” and Mr Joyce retorting that Mr Turnbull’s comments were “inept”.
Paid interview excuse ‘pathetic’
NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott slammed Barnaby Joyce as being “pathetic” for “prostituting your story” for a $150,000 tell-all interview.
On social media the Liberal MP said Mr Joyce “should be paying for (son) Sebastian’s education and healthcare, like every other Aussie Dad”.
“Suggesting that selling your soul for cash is somehow ‘for the kid’ is pathetic,” Mr Elliott wrote.
“What kind of man forfeits his fatherly responsibilities by humiliating their wife/mistress/daughters in the mass media.”
Ms Campion, in the interview, defended the move and said “everyone else is making money out of this kid, except for him”, while Mr Joyce said: “This is a trust account for Sebastian, so nothing’s going to me, nothing’s going to Vikki. This is for a young bloke called Sebastian Joyce.”
Nationals colleague Darren Chester said he was watching the ABC, not the interview, adding: “Judging by the texts I’m receiving (it) was a great call.”
- By Kylar Loussikian
