Barnaby Joyce stands by controversial comments about "grey area" over paternity
Barnaby Joyce is standing by his comments suggesting he may not be the father of the baby boy he is expecting with his new partner and former staffer, Vikki Campion.
The Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister claimed he had “no choice” but to speak out about the paternity of the baby.
In an interview with Fairfax yesterday, Joyce revealed for the first time during this scandal that he is not sure he is the biological father as it is a “grey area”, but said he would not be getting a paternity test and would raise the child as his own.
The interview immediately sparked criticism on social media, with Joyce’s New England rival Tony Windsor, tweeting: “If anyone had doubts about Joyce’s character I think they now have a clear picture of this grub, will sacrifice others on his blundering self centred path. How many more women does he have to damage?”
Joyce released a statement on Sunday afternoon, explain his reasons for raising doubt over the child’s paternity to the media.
“This issue has continued to be pursued by media despite my resignation ... media had also made requests around the issue which was printed today. Therefore we felt we had no choice but to tell the story,” Joyce said in the statement.
“Despite a flood of other allegations by media and political types being used as a proxy for being together, none of those allegations has been proven true.”
Joyce said he was physically apart from Campion for the period when the baby would have been conceived, believed to be around July or August of last year.
Campion was transferred from Resource Minister Matt Canavan’s office into a newly created social media adviser role for Nationals MP Damian Dunn during this time. But she did return to Joyce’s office for a number of weeks during this transition.
However, despite Joyce claiming he had never been asked if Campion’s child was his, the journalist who broke the story Sharri Markson tweeted an email that showed the Daily Telegraph did ask him before publishing the story.