Pressure on Barnaby Joyce as senior government figures abandon support over affair scandal
SENIOR government figures have abandoned Barnaby Joyce, saying the scandal engulfing the Coalition cannot be allowed to go on and that the Nationals leader’s position is “untenable”.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
SENIOR government figures have abandoned Barnaby Joyce, saying the scandal engulfing the Coalition cannot be allowed to go on and that the Nationals leader’s position is “untenable”.
National MPs have been engaged in discussions with the Deputy Prime Minister about his future, leaving open the option of overthrowing their party leader for the first time since 1989.
In a bid to hold on to his job, Mr Joyce yesterday morning made a public apology to his wife, daughters and, for the first time, acknowledged his new partner Vikki Campion, saying he was sorry the 33-year-old former staffer had been “dragged” into the matter, while confirming their baby was due in mid-April.
“I deeply regret the failure of my 24-year marriage, the tremendous hurt caused to Natalie and our four daughters and the unwanted public intrusion into what is an intensely private matter for all of us,” he said.
“My marriage was under pressure for some time.
“Natalie and I tried to make it work again in April last year but it subsequently came to an end.
“Vikki Campion has also been the subject of unwanted and deeply hurtful commentary at a difficult time, particularly as we are having a child together in mid-April.”
Mr Joyce’s belated comments coincided with a visit by a group of National MPs to Veteran Affairs Minister Michael McCormack’s office yesterday to express concern about the 50-year-old’s leadership.
MORE: Miranda Devine Live with Senator Lucy Gichuhi
MORE: Turnbull furious as Joyce said affair was over
Queensland senator Barry O’Sullivan has been involved in a push for some Nationals to ask Mr Joyce to consider his future.
It comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was forced to defend the definition of “partner” to justify why Mr Joyce was not in breach of the ministerial code of conduct in another humiliating day for the government during Question Time.
Mr Turnbull yesterday spoke with Mr Joyce, but is understood to have stopped short of asking for him to consider his future.
RELATED: Joyce ally says Deputy PM under pressure
MORE: Former MP Sam Dastyari dishes dirt on sex in politics
But the Prime Minister is also understood to have canvassed support for Mr Joyce among senior Nationals.
Senior government figures believe the crisis must end, but there is little they can do as leadership is solely a matter for the National Party.
There has been a change in mood in the Nationals Party, with colleagues shifting over the past day from arguing Mr Joyce could “ride out” the scandal to saying something has to give. “This is untenable,” one government source told The Daily Telegraph.
Matt Canavan, who briefly took Ms Campion into his office, and David Littleproud have formed a guard around their leader to try to protect his political future.
But last night support for the New England MP was waning. On Monday evening, a dinner was held at Canberra’s Thai Chiang Rai restaurant where Nationals Darren Chester, Michelle Landry, David Gillespie, Andrew Gee, Damian Drum (whose office Ms Campion was also transferred to at one stage) and Kevin Hogan discussed the situation in their federal party. Former Nationals leader Warren Truss last night said the leadership issue “certainly needs to be resolved and resolved quickly”.
He said Mr Joyce’s leadership had “undoubtedly been diminished” but said he had “enormous capabilities”.
“National Party Members of Parliament would be remiss in their duties to their electorate if they weren’t seeking to resolve this issue constructively and quickly so that the business of government can proceed,” he said.
Yesterday there were also fresh revelations taxpayers had footed the bill for Mr Joyce to spend 50 nights in Canberra in 2017, where Ms Campion then lived, when Parliament was not sitting.
It is not suggested that those claims were outside the rules.
Mr Joyce also yesterday vehemently denied the allegations first made directly to Malcolm Turnbull’s most senior adviser — his principal private secretary Sally Cray in December 2015 — that he drunkenly pinched a woman on the bottom following a 2011 awards ceremony.
“It did not happen,” he said.
In a series of statements designed to head off awkward questions about the ministerial code of conduct, Ms Campion’s employment history and the timing of their relationship, the Deputy Prime Minister sought to clarify when he and Ms Campion formally decided they were “partners”.
Mr Joyce said he did not raise Ms Campion’s employment with the Prime Minister when she moved to Mr Canavan’s office in April because “Vikki was not my partner”.
He said it was “without a shadow of a doubt that Vikki Campion is my partner now”.
“But when she worked in my office, she was not my partner … When she worked in Matt Canavan’s office she was not my partner and Damian Drum is not a minister.”
At the time Ms Campion worked for Mr Drum, from about August to December last year, he was the Chief Whip.