Barnaby Joyce reportedly said his lover was ‘lonely’ in order to cover up affair

Barnaby Joyce said his staffer and secret lover Vikki Campion was ‘lonely’ and needed ‘moral support’, in order to cover up their affair.

Barnaby Joyce reportedly said his staffer and then secret lover Vikki Campion was “lonely” and needed “moral support” in an effort to cover up their affair.

That’s one of the claims made by ex-PM Malcolm Turnbull who quizzed Joyce after becoming aware his then deputy had accompanied Campion on a visit to a Canberra doctor’s surgery.

The exchange happened around ten months before bombshell media revelations that Joyce and Campion were not only romantically involved, but expecting a baby.

Mr Turnbull says that he became aware in May 2017 that Daily Telegraph journalist Sharri Markson was asking about the joint doctor visit made by the pair.

“Barnaby had become aware of what Markson was chasing so I asked him what was going on,” Mr Turnbull writes in his new book.

“He told me Vikki was lonely, didn’t have family to support her and was concerned about her health, so to provide moral support he’d accompanied her to the doctor for some check-ups.

Vikki Campion and Barnaby Joyce began their affair in late 2016, but months later he told Malcolm Turnbull she was just ‘lonely’ and needed ‘moral support’. Picture: Channel 7.

The image of a pregnant Vikki Campion that led to the breakdown of Barnaby Joyce’s 24 year marriage. Picture: John Grainger

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“He gave me an unequivocal assurance that he wasn’t in a sexual relationship with Vikki.

“Without questioning his assurance, I reminded him, just for the record, that it was simply not defensible for him, as deputy prime minister, to be having an affair with one of his staff.

“It could only end badly, I told him, and he agreed.”

Markson’s award-wining story revealing Campion’s pregnancy was published with the headline “Bundle of Joyce” in February 2018, eventually leading to Joyce’s resignation as deputy leader.

The controversial couple welcomed son Sebastian in April 2018, and have since had a second boy, Tom.

It has since been revealed that things became romantic between Mr Joyce and his media adviser in late 2016.

By the time Mr Turnbull had questioned Mr Joyce about Campion, she had been confronted by Mr Joyce’s wife of 24 years, Natalie Joyce, who told her Barnaby was “off limits”.

Malcolm Turnbull’s memoir A Bigger Picture is due to be released next week.

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