Barnaby Joyce, Vikki Campion move out of townhouse, Nats leader says he has support of locals

Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion claim they’ve been hounded from their rent-free home as the Nationals leader says he has the support of locals.

National Party Leader Barnaby Joyce (R) takes a selfie with Ryan Jans, 18, from Ballarat, at The Royal Armidale after a Nationals Party NSW branch general meeting on Wednesday evening. Picture: Hollie Adams

Barnaby Joyce has used his week off from federal politics to defend his hold on the Nationals leadership and rally grassroots supporters, while blaming intrusion into his private life for forcing him to move out of his rent-free Armidale townhouse.

Amid the widening political ­crisis triggered by his affair with his former staffer and mother of his unborn child, Vikki Campion, the Deputy Prime Minister has launched an orchestrated media campaign to restore his image and buttress his position ahead of Monday’s crucial party room meeting.

Despite agreeing to take a week of personal leave to “support his family” at the urging of Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Joyce and Ms Campion conducted a sit-down interview with Fairfax Media at their Armidale townhouse to try to seize back control over the love-child scandal.

Mr Joyce said he feared their baby son would be viewed “somehow less worthy than other children”, while vowing to love him as much as his four daughters.

After a meeting with about 20 party members at Armidale’s Royal Hotel last night, Mr Joyce declared the locals remained on side.

“Really humbling,” he said with a lemon squash in hand after 90 minutes in the hotel’s conference room. “Unanimous. People in the pub are really strongly supporting me.”

He told The Australian he was “pretty confident” he still commanded the numbers in the ­Nationals party room and was “only too happy” to talk to ­colleagues about this week’s Newspoll showing 65 per cent of Aus­tralians wanted him to stand down.

Mr Joyce, who is staying at the townhouse owned by local businessman Greg Maguire rent-free, told Fairfax he and Ms Campion had spent only 14 nights at the property since early January but would move out.

Asked why the pair were leaving, Mr Joyce reportedly gestured to the front gate, where a local television crew had been waiting that morning and said: “Because of that.”

Mr Joyce was also asked when Mr Turnbull first learnt about the relationship. “He never asked any direct questions and to be honest, if I believed it was private, I wouldn’t have told him either,” he said.

In her first public comments since the affair became public, Ms Campion told Fairfax her son’s middle names would honour her brothers.

“Their support has meant so much,” she said. “They are the only people who knew.”

Mr Joyce said: “The one thing that has deeply annoyed me is that there is somehow an inference that this child is somehow less worthy than other children, and it’s almost spoken about in the third person.

Barnaby Joyce enjoying a soft drink at The Royal Armidale after the Nationals Party NSW branch general meeting in Armidale last night. Picture: Hollie Adams

“I love my daughters. I have four beautiful daughters and I love them to death. And now I will have a son. I don’t pick winners, I’m not gonna love one more than ­another, but I’m not going to love one less than another either.’’

Mr Joyce said he believed the “tide will turn because people will get bored of’’ of the scandal surrounding the affair.

“This should be a very simple story — a bloke whose marriage broke down is in a relationship with another person and they are having a child. Now it seems to have gone into some sort of morality discussion. That’s between me and my God. I can understand how Natalie can be angry, absolutely, but how it’s other people’s business, I don’t know.”

Mr Joyce lashed out at those calling on him to resign, including the West Australian ­Nationals, who withdrew support for his leadership on Monday, ­arguing that he was damaging the party brand.

Speaking to Prime7 in Armidale, Mr Joyce said the breakdown of his 24-year marriage to wife Nat­alie and his affair with Ms Campion had not diminished his ability to perform his job as Deputy Prime Minister.

“I believe that I have the confidence of my party and the numbers in my party and I’m never scared of democracy,” he said.

“Personal issues are personal issues and I’ve always tried to keep my personal life separate from my public life and desperately wanted that. I don’t think it affects my job.

“I continue to work incredibly hard. Everybody knows that; they know the delivery that we’ve had while I’ve been the local member and I want to continue on with that delivery.”

Mr Joyce said: “Obviously in the last fortnight it’s been a ­tumultuous time. It happened ... started while I was in Canberra.

“It’s unsurprising that after a period like that you might want to take a week off, and I’m doing that. Nonetheless, I’m going to a branch meeting and talking to people in Armidale tonight.”

Nationals whip Michelle Landry, responsible for organising Monday’s party room meeting, said she had called a number of her colleagues and believed Mr Joyce had majority support.

“From the phone calls I’ve made, he has the numbers in the party room,” she said.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott also backed the Nationals leader on Monday night and cautioned Nationals MPs against dumping Mr Joyce, saying he was a very accomplished politician.

“In the end it’s up to the ­Nationals party and Barnaby to decide what they should do, but yes, I certainly think in terms of a very strong and very well known retail politician, the government would be weaker without him,” Mr Abbott told Sky News.

Barnaby Joyce was all smiles at The Royal Armidale after the Nationals Party branch general meeting in Armidale. Picture: Hollie Adams