Barnaby Joyce claim over paid interview shot down by Seven reporter

The former deputy PM insists a paid TV tell-all was his partner’s idea, but a Seven reporter has revealed a different story.

Whether it will be a TV interview to stop the nation remains to be seen, but at least one Labor MP won’t be watching when Barnaby Joyce reveals all.

The former deputy prime minister agreed to spill the beans in a $150,000 Seven Network interview with staffer-turned-partner Vikki Campion to air tonight, filmed about six weeks after they welcomed baby boy, Sebastian.

Asked if he will be glued to his TV set tonight, Labor frontbencher Brendan O’Connor joked: “I just think I would have to look away.” “I don’t think I can do it,” he told ABC television’s Insiders program on Sunday.

• TV interview: Vikki Campion apologises for Barnaby Joyce affair

However, Greens Leader Richard Di Natale is less amused, describing it as a “tawdry episode” involving “grubby” chequebook journalism.

“I would rather that this was something that was dealt with in private and that all the people involved were able to get through what’s been a difficult time without having to worry about a huge sum of money being waved in front of an MP who probably doesn’t need it,” he told ABC television.

While many of Mr Joyce’s colleagues have refused to weigh in on the matter, cabinet minister Kelly O’Dwyer did not hold back when she said most Australians were “pretty disgusted” by the interview.

A promotional clip was released last week by Sunday Night, while reporter Alex Cullen has spruiked the interview on morning television, contradicting Mr Joyce’s claims that the six-figure tell-all was his partner’s idea, saying: “They both did the deal.”

In the interview, Ms Campion tells the program of the affair with the former Nationals leader: “I couldn’t help it. You can’t help who you fall in love with.”

The former media adviser also alludes to “political pressure” from people who tried to stop the couple’s baby being born, claiming she was warned “they’ll come after you”.

Joyce adds: “They did”.

Senior Nationals and government staffers are reportedly unhappy with Ms Campions claim that she was pressured to “stop the baby being born.” Picture: Channel 7

Careful to avoid specifics when questioned over Campion’s suggestion of abortion pressure last week, Cullen told Sunrise it “came from Barnaby’s side of politics.”

“The pressure on her was immense,” Cullen said.

“You’ve got a 30-year-old woman who is having an affair with the deputy prime minister of Australia at that time.”

Nationals MPs and senior government staff have strongly denied the allegation, with one telling the Daily Telegraph: “I certainly didn’t do it and I can’t think of anyone that would have had the guts to.”

Despite the circumstances, Cullen said the couple was “in it for the long haul.”

“Having spent al lot of time with these two, it’s what you see off camera that shows you what the real story is,” he said.

“I see two people that are very much in love, holding hands. They told me they are absolutely in this for the long haul.

“They are very much a family … (but) there are innocent parties involved here and that is (estranged wife) Natalie and his four daughters, and yes he does speak about them. He is still married, he is not divorced.”

Ms Campion told the program “everything was worth it” after having their son.

“I would do anything to protect him,” she says.

Mr Joyce, who is on medical leave, has faced criticism for accepting $150,000 for the interview after earlier this year insisting the matter should be private.

But he now says he had no choice because he was doggedly pursued, with drones over his house and photographers waiting for the couple at an airport.

AAP