Vikki Campion getting a new job means Malcolm Turnbull has to face tough questions

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and partner Vikki Campion at Palm Cove, Queensland in December. Picture: Supplied

Not everyone who gets elected to the House of Representatives is destined for stardom. While the Hawkes, Howards, Keatings or Costellos rise to fame and fortune, the life of a backbencher consists of doing their best to service their electorates and contribute all they can to the committees to which they are appointed.

There are only two ways the rest of us ever hear about them. For the few diehards who possess not even a semblance of a life and watch Question Time, they might see the little known ask a Dorothy Dixer. The only other time that backbenchers and minor office holders are ever heard is when they are enveloped in scandal.

Up until a couple of days ago I had never heard of Damian Drum. This bloke is the member for the Victorian rural seat of Murray. He may be a big deal in Shepparton but he is a complete, political non-event everywhere else. Drum was the National Party whip last year when Matt Canavan’s parliamentary career hit the citizenship hurdle and he was forced to resign from the Cabinet. Canavan had been kind enough to employ Vikki Campion, Barnaby Joyce’s lover, when her tenure in the Deputy Prime Minister’s office had become too hot to manage. I will refer to the job Canavan supplied a little later on.

Drum answered Barnaby’s plea and came up with a job, paying way north of $100,000 per year, and she became his second media adviser. His staff allocation went from five to six. The first question we should be asking is why the National Party whip needs a media adviser at all. He whips a grand total of 16 Nationals in the lower house. Given that I have never heard of him, or ever seen him in an interview, it is a fair bet his media adviser hasn’t ever had to deal with a posse of journalists clamouring to get an exclusive interview. He had a junior in the role being paid $80,000 per annum and suddenly a high flyer joins the team. You would think that the dynamism and talent of Drum had been well rewarded. You would think that becoming the Whip would be the pinnacle of his career. I will let you guess why a grateful Joyce would see him promoted to Assistant Minister. No doubt you will be as stunned and staggered as I was to find out which Minister he is assisting — the Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce

The rules for Ministers and office holders are simple enough. The Prime Minister approves a compliment of staff which can only be increased with the PMs approval. All Ministers fill their allocation so I will be really surprised if Malcolm Turnbull did not approve of an extra staff member for Matt Canavan. We know that Drum’s extra staffer was approved so Turnbull definitely has a difficult question to answer. So far, as he often is wont to do, Turnbull has waffled. He has tried to muddy the waters by throwing up the privacy argument. That’s pathetic given that the scandal of the magic jobs is far bigger than the personal situation of Joyce and his family.

The Prime Minister has been quoted as saying: “I am not aware of any inappropriate expenditure of public funds.” Either the PM is not telling the truth about his role or he has a very different view to the rest of us about the meaning of “inappropriate expenditure”.

Malcolm Turnbull has been caught out here and his personal credibility will take yet another hit. The irony is that the PM and his Deputy are so well connected to the world of business, they could easily have placed Ms Campion privately. Had they done so, this scandal would be long forgotten.