Why is this a story, Barnaby? Let me count the ways

THE private lives of public figures have been news fodder for decades, and Barnaby Joyce should expect no different, writes Claire Harvey.

HYPOCRISY, thy name is the Canberra Press Gallery.

I’ve worked there. I have friends who work there. Many of them are outstanding journalists of the highest calibre. Some are presently working themselves into a holier-than-thou lather about the story of Barnaby Joyce’s extramarital affair and impending baby.

In my view, there are two types of journalist in Australia. The first kind understands perfectly well the legitimate public interest in an extramarital affair with an employee by the self-declared devout Catholic deputy Prime Minister, who has previously invited journalists including myself into his home to write stories about himself and his lovely wife, and who heralds marriage as the ultimate safe harbour for women like his four daughters.

That kind of journalist, including me, wanted this story and believed it should be told, and were trying to obtain proof of the relationship everyone was denying. (That, by the way, is the kind of journalist Vikki Campion was during her days at the Telegraph: a tenacious, lively, courageous reporter who churned out the yarns and wasn’t afraid to take anyone on.)

The second kind of journalist? People who have absolutely no idea how to stand up a story like this and/or who are nervous about working in a climate where they might have to ask their politician ‘friends’ some tough questions from time to time. Their response to this story is to sneer that it’s nobody’s business.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce continues to claim the matter is a “private issue.” (Pic: Mick Tsikas)

Oh, yeah? So when, according to this rule, would it have been OK to report the relationship? When Barnaby was pushing a pram around Lake Burley Griffin? When he brought the new partner and baby to his next swearing-in ceremony?

The truth is this became a legitimate subject of reporting when proof was obtained that Barnaby Joyce’s girlfriend was pregnant (the photos) and when, given the opportunity to deny the relationship and the baby, both parties declined.

And, as Mr Joyce knew perfectly well, the ministerial code of conduct brought in by Tony Abbott in 2013 declared ministers were not to employ any family members, including de facto partners, although it is not clear when Mr Joyce and Ms Campion formally became de facto partners. So when he organised for a young woman with whom he was romantically involved to be employed by another minister — is that a legitimate story? You bet.

What about if it were Mike Pence, the US vice-president? Or Donald Trump? What about the UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson with a pregnant girlfriend who happened to be a former employee, and an enraged wife?

Oh, by the way — this did happen to Boris Johnson, in 2010 when he was mayor of London. The Court of Appeal ruled the story was in the public interest. Lord Justice Dyson, take it away: “The core information in this story, namely that the father (Boris) had an adulterous affair with the mother, deceiving both his wife and the mother’s partner, and that the child, born about nine months later, was likely to be the father’s child, was a public interest matter which the electorate was entitled to know when considering his fitness for high public office.”

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Chief of Staff Peta Credlin were constantly talked about in Canberra. (Pic: supplied)

Of course this is a legitimate story. And the hypocrisy? Well, just consider some of the ‘personal matters’ it has been considered OK to report in Australian public life in recent years.

PETA CREDLIN AND TONY ABBOTT: Despite the fact that both were married and that Credlin (now my Sunday Telegraph colleague) was undergoing a gruelling series of IVF procedures, Labor and Coalition elected officials, staffers and press gallery journalists gossiped about nothing but the alleged ‘affair’ between Abbott and his chief of staff for years. Innuendo was printed and broadcast. One commentator wrote a book whose central premise was that the relationship between Credlin and Abbott essentially cruelled his prime ministership, without giving either a right of reply. No proof was ever obtained. Both are still married.

TIM WORNER AND AMBER HARRISON: This was another consensual relationship between a powerful man and a younger woman, in this case the Channel Seven boss and his secretary. None of the millions of stories about this in the high-minded business pages seem particularly concerned with the couple’s right to privacy — so presumably it’s OK to report a consensual relationship, but only if it’s all turned nasty?

AFL EXECUTIVES AND GIRLFRIENDS

Simon Lethean and Richard Simkiss, two very senior (and married) Australian Football League executives, were sacked by chief executive Gillon McLachlan after it was revealed they had consensual relationships with younger co-workers, respectively, Maddi Blomberg and Ali Gronow. McLachlan said their conduct did not live up to the AFL’s standards as a family game.

The relationship of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and partner Tim Mathieson was routinely in the headlines. (Pic: supplied)

ROMAN QUAEDVLIEG AND LOVER

The married Border Force boss is on extended leave after being accused of helping his unnamed love interest get a job at Sydney Airport — a little like, you might think, Mr Joyce ensuring his girlfriend moved out of his office into another job with the Nationals in Parliament.

JULIA GILLARD AND TIM MATHIESON

Remember the constant speculation and gossip about this relationship? Like, for example, when radio host Howard Sattler asked the then-PM, on air, if her partner was gay?

Look, I don’t care what Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion do in their downtime. Marriages end. We all get that. But one of the risks of extramarital sex is that a child will be conceived. When one partner in the relationship is famous and powerful, the existence of that child is, like it or not, a matter of public interest.