Barnaby Joyce, Vikki Campion: Deputy PM defends trip away with ‘partner’

BARNABY Joyce has defended a trip away with his now pregnant partner Vikki Campion, insisting the pair did nothing wrong.

A DEFIANT Barnaby Joyce has defended a trip away with now partner Vikki Campion, insisting she was acting as his media adviser at the time.

Mr Joyce, who is currently on personal leave, said Ms Campion was “most certainly not” his partner when she had travelled with him to the Sunshine Coast on a commercial flight in January last year.

Mr Joyce addressed questions surrounding the presence of Ms Campion during the 2017 trip which came ahead of his appearance on the ABC’s 7.30 program and other media engagements, during a family holiday.

He said Ms Campion was helping him prepare for media interviews about an outbreak of white spot disease affecting prawns and had flown back to Brisbane the next day.

“It’s unsurprising that a media adviser would come to help you with media on 7.30 on and a major biosecurity outbreak such as white spot,” he told Fairfax.

“There seems be an attitude from certain sections of the media now that any story is a fact, rather than making the facts stack up as a story.”

Mr Joyce also rejected ongoing questions about his travel expense and other entitlements.

“I am and continue to be confident that there has been no misuse of travel or entitlements, nor that any has been or will be found. I base that confidence on the fact that hundreds of inquiries have been made and nothing has been found,” he said.

His comments come as the latest Newspoll shows the majority of voters want Mr Joyce to resign as Nationals leader since the extramarital affair with his former staffer was revealed two weeks ago.

The couple are expecting their first child together in April and Mr Joyce announced he and wife Natalie had separated last December.

Up to 65 per cent of voters across the country believe he should resign with a third of those also supporting Mr Joyce to quit Federal Parliament.

Barnaby Joyce reads the Daily Telegraph in a service station yesterday. Picture: Supplied

Newspoll quizzed 1632 voters from across Australia including those from regional areas and cities for the findings released on Sunday.

Speaking on Sunrise this morning outspoken senators Pauline Hanson and Derryn Hinch agreed the scandal was drawing attention away from other issues.

Senator Hanson said she was not interested in commenting further and it was up to Mr Turnbull, Mr Joyce and the Nationals to decide how it was going to end.

“I’m so over this. I’m sick and tired of Barnaby Joyce,” she said. “No comment I’m going to make is going to change this.”

Senator Hinch said while he agreed it was sucking the oxygen out of other important issues, the fact remained Mr Joyce had to go.

“The man should not be there,” he said. “When you’ve got the Prime Minister saying there’s nothing to see here when he doesn’t trust his deputy with running the country or being acting Prime Minister, something’s rotten in the state of Denmark.”

BARNABY BACKLASH

The affair sparked Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to introduce a sex ban prohibiting cabinet ministers from having sexual relations with staffers.

Mr Turnbull has no regrets about the ban saying it reflected what Australians wanted.

He announced the ban on Thursday and called Mr Joyce’s extramarital affair with his media adviser a “shocking error of judgment”.

“I certainly felt that the values I expressed and the action I took, would have the overwhelming endorsement of Australians. I felt it was absolutely the right thing to do,” Mr Turnbull told the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes program on Sunday. He said the public wanted to hear his “heartfelt views” about what had happened.

Mr Joyce with and Ms Campion are expecting their first child together in April.

Mr Turnbull revealed he had also consulted with his wife of 38 years, Lucy, about the sex ban.

“Yes, Lucy and I talked about this. This is one of those classic issues where it’s good to take counsel from your wife, life partner,” he said.

The Prime Minister also maintained he was not interfering with the Nationals’ party processes despite saying Mr Joyce needed to “reflect” on his position.

Mr Turnbull described Mr Joyce’s affair as causing “a world of woe” which provoked an angry response from Mr Joyce, who said the remarks were “inept” and “unnecessary”.

Despite the apparent war of words, Mr Turnbull has hosed down talk of a rift between the party leaders.

The pair met in Sydney on Saturday to resolve the tensions which centred around Mr Joyce’s affair, which has dominated headlines for almost two weeks.

The government announced last week Mr Joyce would take personal leave and not stand in as acting PM when Mr Turnbull heads to the US later this week.

Speaking on Sky News this morning, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Mr Turnbull’s ban brought the ministerial code of conduct into line with workplaces across Australia.

Ms Bishop, who is deputy leader of the Liberal Party, also said there was no doubt the Barnaby Joyce saga had been a major distraction, but it was time “we got on with the job of government”.

She also said she had spoken with the PM about who would act in his place during his trip to the US and it was decided her duties and high level talks overseas were too important to cancel.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann will be Acting Prime Minister.

Labor was quick to seize on the spat with the Manager of Opposition Business, Tony Burke, saying Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce would struggle to put forward a convincing unified front when they return to work in a week’s time.