Questions over Barnaby Joyce’s former staffer Vikki Campion’s next appointments

MALCOLM Turnbull is yet to explain his involvement in the newly-created positions Barnaby Joyce’s ex-staffer was handed.

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull reportedly had a hand in the creation of two plum jobs for the now-pregnant partner of Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.

Earlier this week news.com.au revealed former media adviser Vikki Campion was moved to Nationals Senator Matt Canavan’s office after Mr Turnbull was informed of her and Mr Joyce’s relationship.

Now the Daily Telegraph reports a second role was created in the Nationals Chief Whip’s office, with the PM’s authorisation.

According to the Telegraph, after Ms Campion’s position in Senator Canavan’s office ended, a new job was created for a media adviser in Damian Drum’s office, despite the fact he already had one.

The Prime Minister’s office is believed to have signed off on both moves, and according to the ABC, intervened to ensure Mr Joyce and Ms Campion were distanced professionally.

The development comes amid reports the expecting couple are living rent-free in a townhouse owned by a multi-millionaire businessman in Armidale, according to The Australian.

Mr Turnbull yesterday refused to comment on his involvement in or knowledge of Ms Campion’s employment and her affair with thee Nationals Leader saying he didn’t want to add to public comment on “these private matters”.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has made his first public comments on the affair. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

“I’m very conscious of the distress this causes to others, in particular Natalie Joyce and her and Barnaby’s daughters, so he it is a private matter, a tough matter, and I don’t have any more to say about it,” he said.

“Lucy and I are very conscious of the hurt occasioned to Natalie and their daughters in particular. So that’s why I don’t want to add to the discussion about it.”

Mr Turnbull did not discuss the appointment of Ms Campion to an “invented” job in Senator Canavan’s office, senior government minister Christopher Pyne yesterday defended the move.

A “high-salary” digital and social media position was reportedly created for Ms Campion in the office of Nationals Senator Matt Canavan — who previously served as Mr Joyce’s chief of staff — and wasn’t filled in the months she left, the Daily Telegraphreported.

Mr Pyne defended the appointment, saying the position was “entirely appropriate”.

“I’m not in the gun on this story and I think it’s highly unlikely anything untoward occurred,” he told Nine’s Today.

“I’m sure it was all entirely appropriate but again that’s a matter that Matt Canavan needs to respond to, not me.”

Vikki Campion was given a job in Matt Canavan’s office after the Prime Minister was made aware of her and Barnaby Joyce’s relationship.

The Telegraph on Friday cited a spokeswoman for Senator Canavan, who was resources minister at the time, as saying Ms Campion was “suitably qualified” for the role given her work history. There is no suggestion otherwise.

Mr Pyne said, “maybe that’s the job that Matt Canavan wanted in his office at that time”.

Details of Ms Campion’s government employment follow the revelation this week that the 33-year-old is now in a private relationship with Mr Joyce, 50.

The relationship has prompted calls for a relationship ban between politicians and their staff.

Independent federal member for Indi Cathy McGowan suggested following the lead of the US when it came to workplace liaisons.

“There is a belief that parliament is behind community expectations and corporate practice,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

“There are examples set by the process undertaken by the United States Congress and in the Australian corporate sector, including the action of the AFL in July last year regarding relationships in the workplace.”

Earlier this week, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution banning members from engaging in sexual relationships with their staff.

There has been little enthusiasm for a proposal to ban relationships between politicians and their staff.

The move was part of a package of legislation aimed at improving the reporting of sexual harassment, but a resolution is effectively a rule of the chamber and has no legal force.

While Ms McGowan said she was happy to begin a conversation before tabling a similar motion for Australia’s parliament, senior MPs have disagreed such a provision is necessary.

Mr Pyne said he didn’t think the government should be “legislating for the private lives of consenting adults”.

Mr Turnbull was lukewarm on the proposal saying members of parliament, like all adults, had to be accountable for their actions.

“As grown-ups, we are all accountable for our actions, and when relations between consenting adults — it’s not something that normally you would be justified in, if you like, seeking to regulate,” he said.

“People are adults (and) can conduct their relationships. If it’s consensual, respectful, that’s their right, but all of us have to be accountable for how we live our lives.”

- with AAP