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“Absolutely humbling”: Barnaby Joyce returns as deputy PM

Barnaby Joyce has been re-elected as the leader of the National Party and will return as deputy prime minister, following a leadership spill triggered on Monday that ousted Michael McCormack. A spill motion was called by Matt Canavan, the former resources minister, with Mr Joyce securing a majority of 21 votes to reclaim the top job. Nationals whip Damian Drum said that “nothing changes” as a result of the spill other than the change in leadership. “He has to go through a process now to be sworn in, to have the conversations, to talk to the prime minister, and effectively get on with the job of representing our people,” he said. McCormack’s departure Speaking to reporters outside of Parliament, McCormack said: “I’m proud to have held the position.” “It’s absolutely humbling.” McCormack will continue as deputy prime minister until Joyce is sworn in, and will take Scott Morrison’s chair during Monday’s Question Time while the prime minister is in quarantine. David Littleproud, the agriculture minister, will also continue as deputy leader of the Nationals, though Mr Joyce is likely to change the Nationals’ ministry representation under a new coalition agreement to be negotiated with Mr Morrison. Despite his loss, McCormack noted that there are “a lot of Australians out there doing it tougher today”. When asked whether Mr Joyce’s personal life and history of sexual assault allegations would have an impact on female voters, Mr McCormack declined to comment. “You’d have to ask women in regional Australia that,” he said. A statement from Mr Morrison’s office welcomed Mr Joyce to the role and thanked Mr McCormack “for his dedicated service as deputy prime minister”. Barnaby speaks When asked by reporters whether he was expecting something to happen today, Mr Joyce said that if he had he would have brought his hat. “I’d like to say to my colleagues how humbled I am and that the task going ahead first and foremost is to make ourselves a team that is formidable for the next election,” he said. “The most important thing is this is about, first and foremost, the people of Australia, the people of regional Australia and to be brought about by that wonderful team, the Nationals.” Mr Joyce was also asked about how women might feel about his return and why he resigned in the first place. “Let’s start with the most difficult one first,” Mr Joyce said. “I believe that you have to clear the air, that even though I absolutely clearly said that if there was ever an issue of that sort, it should be taken to the police, I completely deny it and said that they were spurious and defamatory. “I will try, always, to be the better person. I acknowledge my faults. I resigned, I’ve spent three years on the backbench. I don’t walk away from making sure that I can be a better person to do a better job.” Mr Joyce was asked about whether Mr McCormack was not reflecting the values of the Nationals Party, but abruptly ended the press conference to attend question time. “I’m not gonna give a press conference about anything but the path forward. I absolutely respect Michael McCormack. “We all have different attributes, and he has a suite of attributes and I have another suite of attributes, and they apply in different ways to the circumstances that come before us. And now I’ve got to go to question time,” he said before turning and walking away. Image: ABC News

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Alan Jones shocks Q&A audience with brutal advice to bullied MPs

Alan Jones drew audible gasps when he said bullied female MPs should “take a teaspoon of cement and toughen up”, on last night’s Q&A. Speaking of the Liberal leadership spill, the 2GB broadcaster said the party were right to depose former PM Malcolm Turnbull. “Turnbull started this by attacking a democratically elected leader and imagines the same rules shouldn’t apply to him,” he said. He also rebuked Turnbull for resigning from parliament and flying off to New York and said he should have defend his seat. But it was the fiery commentator’s remarks about the alleged bullying of female MPs that shocked the audience. “Politicians know the game they’re going in to and it is tough and it is confrontational and it is antagonistic at times. “I would recommend some of them who are saying they’re being bullied — they need to take a teaspoon full of cement and toughen up.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> .<a href="https://twitter.com/AlanJones?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlanJones</a> thinks some of the politicians need to toughen up. <a href="https://twitter.com/AlboMP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlboMP</a> says it can't be dismissed. <a href="https://twitter.com/StevenCiobo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StevenCiobo</a> says we need to enforce standards <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/QandA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#QandA</a> <a href="https://t.co/ldgXEgC4B8">pic.twitter.com/ldgXEgC4B8</a> — ABC Q&A (@QandA) <a href="https://twitter.com/QandA/status/1036591916765204480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2018</a></blockquote> He said he had little sympathy for people in that position and that accusers should name names or stay quiet. “If these people have complaints, surely they should articulate against whom the complaints are being made? Otherwise you can accuse anybody of anything.” Defence industry minister Steven Ciobo, who was on the panel, distanced himself from Jones’ comments, calling Banks “a terrific woman”. “Our Westminster system is an adversarial system. The table is broad enough to stop two swords from touching. That doesn’t mean that anything goes. We need to tackle the cultural issues. We need to be seen to be doing it because we’re enforcing it in other workplaces,” he said; Prime Minister <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/the-last-straw-scott-morrison-vows-to-stamp-out-bullying-culture-in-liberal-party">Scott Morrison has vowed to stamp out bullying</a> of MPs after Julia Banks quit over what she claims were pressure and intimidation tactics used during the leadership spill.

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Julie Bishop's final fashion power move

After last week’s Liberal leadership spill which saw Malcolm Turnbull deposed as PM and Scott Morrison instated, former Deputy of the Liberal Party Julie Bishop officially resigned from the frontbench yesterday with a classy exit speech to media. The former foreign minister deployed her usual calm and collected demeanour as she answered a barrage of question during her press conference in Canberra. As <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/julie-bishops-classy-exit-speech">Bishop was praised for her classy exit speech</a> where she refrained from sniping on her Liberal colleagues, eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice her killer red heels. Women took to social media to applaud her style choice as a bold power move in her final press conference before she moves to the backbench to represent her Western Australian seat of Curtin. <img src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/e2492ac8ffac135e3f2a8929e1f0b5f9" alt="Julie Bishop at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith" width="650" height="1000" /> Teamed with a conservative navy dress and coat, Bishop’s red satin block pumps matched with a red manicure certainly stood out in the sea of darkly-clothed politicians and journalists in Canberra. While some media commentators have questioned Bishop’s fashion choice, many women on social media celebrated her choice to bring style and grace in to a “week of madness” in Australian politics. <img src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/156c991282cabd475a91fe65af013c7a" alt="Picture: Kym Smith" width="650" height="488" /> <img src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/37cba6034f15b0448dc92aab94d0d948" alt="Julie Bishop's hands during her press conference at Parliament House. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP" width="650" height="488" /> At her press conference, the 62-year-old thanked her colleagues and said she was still considering what her future holds. “I want to say to my Liberal colleagues — thank you for supporting me as the deputy of the party for the past 11 years,” she said. “It’s far too early to even contemplate what I might do but I will have plenty of time to reflect on my options and reflect on what has been an extraordinary time.”

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Voters’ brutal verdict of the new Morrison government

Voters have given their furious verdict in the first Newspoll after the Liberal leadership coup by delivering the party its lowest poll results in 10 years. The Australian's Newspoll has support for the Coalition plunging four points to just 33 per cent – while Labor's vote has increased from 35 per cent to 41 per cent. While Bill Shorten had never beaten Malcolm Turnbull in poll results for “better prime minister”, the opposition leader now holds a 39-33 per cent lead over new prime minister Scott Morrison. It was only two weeks ago Turnbull had a 12 point advantage as better PM and this latest poll results is the first time since February 2015 that Shorten has led on this measure. The disastrous polling results for the government comes after an extraordinary week of infighting and back-stabbing among the Liberals in Canberra, which resulted in sitting PM Malcolm Turnbull being deposed from the top job. On a two-party preferred split Labor leads at 56 per cent to the government's 44 per cent, a big change from the narrow 51-49 per cent margin only a fortnight ago. Mr Morrison became Australia's 30th prime minister on Friday in a leadership spill instigated by Peter Dutton. Mr Morrison on Sunday revealed his new ministry, with Mr Dutton returning to home affairs but stripped of the immigration section of the portfolio. Mr Morrison also added another woman to cabinet and split the energy and environment portfolios. He placed conservative Angus Taylor in charge of energy. “This new Liberal-National team is a next-generation team,” Mr Morrison told reporters on Sunday, pointing that he would also bring 'healing' after a divisive week in Australian politics.

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Australia, this is your new Prime Minister

The new Prime Minister of Australia is Scott Morrison. Current Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has been elected as the deputy Liberal leader. Morrison beat out Peter Dutton after Julie Bishop was knocked out of contention in the first round of voting in a Liberal leadership spill this afternoon. Eighty-five Liberals voted for a new leader, with the votes coming in at 45 to 40 in Morrison's favour. Former PM Malcolm Turnbull did not stand as candidate, but his preferred candidate - his former Treasuer - has won. This is a bitter blow for Dutton's camp, who instigated the move against Turnbull. It follows an extraordinary few days in Canberra, which has been marked by vicious infighting within the Liberal Party. Malcolm Turnbull survived a leadership spill on Tuesday, where he defeated Peter Dutton by a narrow margin of 48-35. However, by Thursday it was clear he had lost the confidence and support of his party when key frontbenchers Mathias Cormann, Michaelia Cash and Mitch Fifield tendered their resignations. No prime minister has lasted a full term since John Howard lost the 2007 election.

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Julie Bishop slaps down Karl Stefanovic over PM dig

Today show host Karl Stefanovic’s attempt to skewer Julie Bishop fell flat in an interview this morning as the Foreign Minister fired back with a shot of her own. Following the failed Liberal leadership spill yesterday – where Malcolm Turnbull narrowly emerged victorious over former Homer Affair minister Peter Dutton – Stefanovic asked the deputy leader: “What’s it like to talk to a man on death row?” Not missing a beat, Bishop quipped back: “Well, I’m talking to you so what are you suggesting?” Bishop went on to insist Mr Turnbull would unify the party, and denied the 48 to 35 vote margin was worrying for the Prime Minister. “A win of 13 votes in leadership contests is an endorsement. You know about sporting contests – if you win, you win,” she said. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fiwakeupwithtoday%2Fvideos%2F2216084515292510%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> Bishop also made easy work of David Koch on Sunrise when he tried to ask her about her own leadership ambitions. After Bishop replied with the same message of loyalty to Turnbull, Kochie invited her to come back on “in a few days” when another challenge has been predicted. She knew exactly how to change the course of the conversation. Playing to his AFL allegiances as chairman of Port Adelaide, she replied: “Why don’t you have me on again and we can talk about footy?” Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage poked fun at Kochie, saying: “She knows how to change your direction, doesn’t she?”

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“She wanted my life”: Natalie Joyce opens up about the moment she confronted Vikki Campion

Barnaby Joyce's estranged wife Natalie has revealed the moment she confronted her husband’s mistress Vikki Campion in a last ditch bid to save her marriage. “I was very measured. I didn't raise my voice. She and Barney were smoking outside. He bolted when he saw me,” she said. “I turned to her and said, ‘My husband is out of bounds, off-limits, he's a married man with four children'', and then I called her a home-wrecking wh***. It was not one of my finer moments but, looking back, I'm proud I stood up to her.” Amid the months of scandal surrounding her husband’s affair with his former media advisor, Natalie Joyce has been praised for her “quiet dignity”. But now in an unpaid tell-all interview with <a href="https://www.nowtolove.com.au/news/local-news/natalie-joyce-breaks-her-silence-49318">Australian Women’s Weekly</a>, she feels compelled to break her silence to “defend our (family’s) name” and so her four daughters – Bridgette, 21, Julia, 20, Caroline, 19, and Odette, 15 - “feel empowered, and know their mum stood up and defended our fine name”. <img width="432" height="431" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/06/20/16/4D6F8E5C00000578-5865291-Happier_times_Barnaby_Joyce_celebrates_International_Women_s_Day-a-42_1529510078397.jpg" alt="Happier times: Barnaby Joyce celebrates International Women's Day with his girls and wife, Natalie, in 2016" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" id="i-5696daf5447bafeb"/> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2018/06/barnaby-joyce-ex-wife-finally-breaks-her-silence/">In the interview</a>, Natalie, 48, recalls her first impressions of Vikki Campion in 2016 at the Joyces' family home. "She was so cold," Natalie said of Vikki’s icy demeanour. "She wanted my life from the get-go. This was a whole lot more than a fleeting office romance." A few months later Natalie suspected something between her 50-year-old husband and his 33-year-old staffer. “After watching them at the Nationals Christmas party, I had a feeling they were having an affair," Natalie told The Weekly. "As it turned out their tawdry union was the worst kept secret in Canberra.” <img width="454" height="292" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/06/20/23/4D6F8E8C00000578-5867529-Controversial_interview_Natalie_Joyce_said_she_was_tempted_to_th-m-5_1529532645537.jpg" alt="Natalie Joyce said she was 'proud she stood up' to her husband's mistress at his Tamworth electorate office in last March. Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion pictured with son Sebastian " class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" id="i-b95ca988ad51b302"/> As their marriage crumbled and the news broke that Vikki was carrying Barnaby’s baby, Natalie was still determined to save her marriage of 24 years. "I asked him to come home," she recalls. "He said, 'I can't, she's pregnant and I have to be there for my son.' He always wanted a boy and, while the girls really are the epicentre of his universe, we had no chance: she was giving him a son." But there was more humiliation to come. When the name of Barnaby and Vikki's son was revealed in April to be Sebastian, it was a personal kick in the guts for Natalie. "It felt like another malicious taunt in a very long line of appalling behaviour," said Natalie. Had they ever had a son, they had always planned to name him Sebastian. Of the much-talked about Sunday Night interview, Natalie labelled it an “absolute disgrace”. But it didn’t come as a surprise to Natalie that Vikki was the driving force behind it. "I wasn't surprised she sold their 'exclusive' story, and certainly not surprised the $150,000 went to her child, but it begs the question, if Barney agreed to be a part of it, how could he allow his four girls to be overlooked? In saying that, I wouldn't want a cent of that money. It was all we could do to watch it without throwing a brick at the TV!" she said.

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Barnaby Joyce regrets doing paid tell-all interview

Barnaby Joyce has admitted he regrets the paid tell-all interview with his partner Vikki Campion, after a confrontation with a photographer outside a church in Armidale. The former deputy PM ramped up calls for more stringent privacy laws after arguing with the photographer on the street a week after the pair gave a $150,000 television interview to Seven’s Sunday Night. “We certainly wouldn’t have done the interview if we thought [the media scrutiny] was just going to continue on, obviously it is,” he told Seven on Monday. Mr Joyce said while he accepted public figures would get media scrutiny, the law needed to be changed to protect people such as partner Ms Campion and their baby son Sebastian from paparazzi. “These people have the capacity to destroy someone’s life,” Mr Joyce said. “Private individuals, kids especially, should have greater protections than what they’ve got. They haven’t got any.” He said Ms Campion, his former media adviser, had been harassed for months after it was revealed in February this year that Mr Joyce was having an affair with Ms Campion, who was pregnant with their child. The backbencher took to Twitter on Sunday to plead for privacy after spotting a man with a camera "hiding in the bushes" outside the Catholic cathedral where he attended Mass.

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The most gobsmacking moments in the Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion interview

Barnaby Joyce’s new partner Vikki Campion has broken her silence about her relationship with the former Deputy PM, revealing she was pressured into having an abortion after she discovered she was pregnant. Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunday Night, Ms Campion said she had purchased the medicine to terminate her baby after “conservatives” within the National Party pressured her. “They came to me and they said ‘You’re pregnant and you have to get an abortion’. And they said, ‘If you don’t, they’re gonna come after you’,” she said. “And I said, ‘it’s too late, it has a heartbeat.’ And they said, ‘If you don’t, they’re gonna come after you.’’’ “And they did,” Mr Joyce said. Ms Campion said she was “overwhelmed” to discover she was pregnant in winter 2017 and that she had taken the pregnancy test alone. “I took the pregnancy test and that was it … I felt overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation which we’d caused ourselves,” she said. Ms Campion said she considered everything from abortion to adoption. “I bought the medicine online. You can’t do it in the ACT. I drove interstate. I walked in. And then I walked out again,” Ms Campion said of how close she came to terminating the pregnancy. In the end, she decided to keep their baby, citing Mr Joyce’s anti-abortion stance and the fact it had been a “miracle” for her to conceive. “I had medical issues which made me believe and what I had been told, certainly by doctors, that I wouldn’t have children,” she said. The couple, however, refused to name who had targeted Ms Campion but Mr Joyce said those involved were “absolute scum of the earth people.” “Their contribution to it is they’re gonna try and make an incredibly difficult situation almost unbearable by saying to you that, ‘Woman, you will do this if you want a career in this place.’ And that’s your Australian Parliament,” he said. But the most awkward moment of the interview came when the couple clashed over Mr Joyce’s controversial statements that the paternity of Ms Campion’s child was a “grey area”. In the interview, Mr Joyce attempted to distance himself from the comments. “Yeah, well, it was actually a decision we made together,” he said. Ms Campion responded: “I didn’t say use the words ‘grey area’. I was deeply hurt by the ‘grey area’ headline.” The former Nationals leader then blamed the media and sleepless nights for saying “something crazy”. “If I lock you in this house and put a heap of journalists outside, and stop you sleeping, and have drones at your window, coming up to your window. And they go and knock all your neighbours and then film you through your back fence, I reckon after a couple weeks, you’ll probably say something crazy,” he said.

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Barnaby Joyce takes a month’s personal leave after backlash over $150K interview

Barnaby Joyce will take a month’s personal leave from Parliament until the end of June after the backlash he faced over his $150,000 cheque for an interview with Channel Seven’s Sunday Night. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull approved the request last night and Labor granted a pair, which means Joyce’s absence will not affect votes in the Lower House. Earlier on Tuesday, Joyce defended selling the story of his new family with staffer turned partner, Vikki Campion, in a tell-all interview, pointing the finger at Vikki who he said decided to accept the six-figure payment. <img width="436" height="245" src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/59be25c791628cf1439b4eee57704e2a?width=1024" class="tge-imagecaption_img" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/> “Remember there are other people in this interview, being Vikki and Seb, so if it was just an interview with me as a politician, sure, I am not going to charge for that,” he told <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/i-wouldnt-have-charged-barnaby-joyce-says-partner-vikki-campion-made-call-on-interview-payment/news-story/f7583aa67acf2079fcd1943edf75107b">the Australian</a>. “But that is not what they wanted, they wanted an interview obviously to get Vikki’s side of the story and, like most mothers, she said: ‘Seeing as I am being screwed over and there are drones and everything over my house in the last fortnight, paparazzi waiting for me, if everybody else is making money then [I am] going to make money out of it.’ “If we had a proper tort of privacy we would never have had to do this.” He told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday that he and Vikki were being hounded by the media. “In the last fortnight we’ve had drones over our house, we’ve had paparazzi waiting for us outside Armidale airport, we’ve had people following us to Uralla,” he said. “We tried just burning this out and that didn’t work.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> VIDEO: First PROMO for Barnaby Joyce & Vikki Campion chat with Ch7 on Sunday Night. More NOW <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pmlive?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#pmlive</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SkyNewsAust</a> <a href="https://t.co/CSeCb65PRh">pic.twitter.com/CSeCb65PRh</a> — Paul Murray (@PMOnAir) <a href="https://twitter.com/PMOnAir/status/1001429054484955136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2018</a></blockquote> A short promo for the Sunday Night interview has been released ahead of the interview this weekend, with Vikki saying: “You can’t help who (you) fall in love with.”

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Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion paid $150,000 for Sunday Night interview

Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and his new partner Vikki Campion are set to give an exclusive interview to Seven's Sunday Night program that reportedly cost the broadcaster $150,000. Mr Joyce and Ms Campion’s relationship has been the centre of a publicity storm since news of their affair broke on February 7. Their son Sebastian was born on April 16. Mr Joyce has repeatedly appealed to the politicians and the public to stop scrutinising his private life and “move on”. Seven paid $150,000 to secure the interview rights following a bidding war with Nine's 60 Minutes, News Corp reported. The Daily Telegraph – which first broke the story by publishing photos of the pregnant Ms Campion on its front page in February – has hit back at the interview, revealing that Mr Joyce has complained to the Australian Press Council that his privacy was breached. “Yet in an extraordinary decision by a senior politician who still believes he should be deputy prime minister, the pair have sold their privacy to a tabloid TV show,” the <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/mps-outraged-over-barnaby-joyce-and-vikki-campions-decision-to-sell-their-story/news-story/0a4a51ffdc850961fe1f03990f170b10?login=1">paper wrote</a>. Mr Joyce has four daughters with his estranged wife Natalie. At the time the story first broke, Natalie said she was “deeply saddened by the news that my husband has been having an affair and is now having a child with a former staff member”.

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Barnaby Joyce declares he’s a "house husband" to Vikki Campion

Barnaby Joyce has declared he’s a “house husband” for his new partner Vikki Campion and their baby son, Sebastian. Speaking on Sky News yesterday, the former Deputy Prime Minister said the public would be “surprised” by how much he did around the home. “I am,” he told Sky News host Sam Maiden when she asked if he was a ‘house husband’. “I think people are surprised. When I’m at home I do all the cooking and the washing.” Mr Joyce said his specialty dish is a roast that could be turned into a risotto or curries. The former Nationals leader quit the frontbench in February after weeks of scandal over his affair with his former staffer Campion, who was pregnant with his child. Mr Joyce, who has four daughters with his estranged wife, <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2018/04/barnaby-joyce-and-vikki-campion-welcome-baby-boy/">welcomed his first son last month.</a> He said he had copped some teasing from his mates about being a new dad at 51. Mr Joyce told Sky News that his friends had joked they would have to chop down trees at the local retirement home so that when his son was old enough to play rugby, he’d be able to watch. He also hit out at the person who <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2018/05/first-glimpse-of-barnaby-joyces-newborn/">took photos of his new family</a> while they were sitting at Armidale Airport and then sold the images to Seven News earlier this week. “You don’t want to lock yourself up forever but when you go back out into the public, you don’t expect people to go through the process of slyly taking a picture of you,” he said. “And the next time you see yourself you’re on the front of the paper.” He added: “You don’t want to be on display like some exotic animal in the zoo.” Mr Joyce said he knew the woman who had taken the photos. She had shared them with her mothers’ group, and someone in the group had sent them to the media. “She’s desperately unhappy,” Mr Joyce said.

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Barnaby Joyce's ultimatum to Malcolm Turnbull: Former deputy says PM must resign

Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has called on Malcolm Turnbull to resign if he can't turn his fortunes by the end of the year, after the Prime Minister lost his 30th consecutive Newspoll on Sunday. The benchmark of 30 consecutive losses was used by Turnbull to roll former PM Tony Abbott back in 2015. And it appears the bitterness of Turnbull’s handling of the Barnaby Joyce affair has not abated as Joyce, who promised no sniping as he resigned from the leaders of the Nationals, looks to give the PM a difficult time. Joyce told Sky News on Monday night the party was watching and would expect the leader to stand down if polling didn’t improve. “If you truly believe [the Newspoll] is exactly the sentiment of the people, then you also have an obligation not to drive your party, or the government, off a cliff,” he told Sky’s Peta Credlin, who had been chief advisor to Abott. “Towards the end (of the year) near Christmas you'd have to start asking those around you what do they believe is the proper course of action from that point forward. “Malcolm's not a fool, he'd know that himself.” Joyce said he was staying the “bleeding obvious” that not everything in the party room was fine, but also firmly stated the Coalition was a “long long way” from a spill. “We’re stating here the bleeding obvious. Nobody wants to actually go to a federal election which you know you’re going to lose,” Joyce said. “You have an obligation to all around you that if you honestly believe that is the case, then you must do something about it and do the honourable thing and start grooming an alternative. “Now we are a long, long way from that at the moment. But if I said ‘Oh well, no-one ever considers it, everything’s fine’, well that is also not telling the truth. “The first thing you’ve got to be with the electorate is truthful.” Credlin also offered her own harsh assessment on the PM over his ousting of her former boss. “Malcolm Turnbull got the job he’s coveted all his life,” she told viewers. “The loser has been the Liberal Party and its supporters, not to forget all those voters who believe they get to choose their leader. “And the most of all, the ordinary Australian who just wants government to focus on them.”

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Bill Shorten cops grilling from Leigh Sales as he makes pitch for PM

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was left flustered on Monday making his pitch for Prime Minister after he copped a grilling from Leigh Sales. In his first appearance on ABC’s 7.30 for 2018, Mr Shorten stuck to script and attacked the Government instead of focusing on his own policies. Coming off Malcom Turnbull’s 30th successive loss in the polls, Sales opened the interview by saying: “If the polls keep going the way they are for the Coalition, Bill Shorten will be moving into the Lodge”. “You have been Labor leader for nearly five years. They still don’t see you as preferred prime minister although they would currently vote out the Coalition. How worried are you that you are acting as a drag on your party?” Shorten replied he wasn’t worried and in veiled sledge at the Turnbull government, said he is glad his “united” team has “put forward three of the biggest economic reforms to our tax system in living memory.” But as Shorten repeatedly ignored questions about his own party’s policies, Sales eventually demanded answers. “As we said at the start of this, you could be the Prime Minister in a few months’ time,” she said, adding, “I am trying to get to what you want to do and not critique what they want to do.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> What does <a href="https://twitter.com/billshortenmp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@billshortenmp</a> say to the suggestion he has one message on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Adani?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Adani</a> for Queenslanders & another for inner-city Greens in Sydney & Melbourne? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/abc730?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#abc730</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/leighsales?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@leighsales</a> <a href="https://t.co/s2BNVUxGpe">pic.twitter.com/s2BNVUxGpe</a> — abc730 (@abc730) <a href="https://twitter.com/abc730/status/983291223052976128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2018</a></blockquote> But there was one guarantee Shorten couldn’t give when asked: “Could you promise no pensioner would be worse off under what you call the ‘pensioner guarantee’ on that plan?” He avoided giving a guarantee, instead saying he could “promise that we will protect pensioners”. Sales pointed out Shorten had backed down on his original pensioner plan. “By your own numbers, 92 per cent of Australians are unaffected by this policy, but when you have got a bit of backlash to your original plan you went to water quickly and scaled it down. “Is that how you will be as Prime Minister — announcing a policy and backing down when the heat gets a bit much?” He replied: “Let’s be fair here. This is a big change. I think most of the political class were surprised that Labor was willing to tackle one of these Howard government tax-funded largesses. Grilled again by Sales that he “backed down when you got a bit of heat”, Shorten stuck to his guns. “I think you will find we are still going with it. There is nothing wrong with big policy-making calibrations and what we have done is make a good policy even better,” he said. “What we have here is a system, the only place in the world where you can pay no income tax and you can, because of particular circumstances, get an income tax refund. How is that possible that you get a tax refund, an income tax refund when you pay no income tax? It is not sustainable.”

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Vikki Campion’s ex-fiance denies he is the father of her baby

Vikki Campion's former fiance has denied he is the father of her unborn child after Barnaby Joyce revealed over the weekend there was a “grey area” over paternity. Ms Campion, 33, was due to marry media executive John Bergin in November 2016 but the couple split up in August and “haven’t spoken to each other since”. She is now pregnant with her first child due in April and is in a relationship with the former deputy prime minister. However, Joyce claimed in a new interview on Saturday the child's paternity is “a bit of a grey area” because he was on a trip to Europe at around the time she conceived. On Monday, Bergin denied he could be the father of Campion’s baby, telling <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/" target="_blank">The Daily Telegraph</a>: “I haven’t seen Vikki since late 2016, any suggestion that I am the father of Vikki’s child is incorrect.” “I'm sure you can appreciate that I don't have anything further to add,” he said. The former couple were due to marry in the NSW Southern Highlands in November 2016 however they split three months before the wedding day. He did not comment on how the relationship ended, simply saying, “I’m just a spectator in this like everybody else.” He also denied reports Campion had refused to return the ring. “It seems that some people feel like they can just make things up,” he said. The issue of paternity was thrown into doubt when Joyce himself said he cannot be sure if he is the father of Campion’s child, but he does not plan to get a paternity test and will raise the child as his own. “It's mine, on the record, there it is. And can I say, even if it wasn't, I wouldn't care, I'd still go through this, I'd still love him,” Joyce on Saturday. But on Monday, he said questions about the baby are “nobody’s business” but his and Campion’s. “Anything that’s personal in nature is nobody else’s business but mine and Vikki’s, nobody else’s business. So we’re not here to be part of some ongoing litany of discussions about this,” he said.

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Q&A panel to Barnaby Joyce: “Staying quiet would be a good idea now”

They tried to talk about anything else but in the end, the ABC’s Q&A was always going to have to tackle the Barnaby Joyce affair that has beset Australian politics for the past two weeks. It did take 20 minutes to get to the subject but when they did, the feeling was unanimous. Barnaby: Just stop talking, mate. The Q&A panel consisting of Deputy Opposition leader Tanya Plibersek, Greens leader Richard Di Natale, Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Angus Taylor, British author Kamila Shamsie and the Daily Telegraph journalist who broke the Barnaby Joyce story Sharri Markson all were stunned with Joyce’s comments made on the weekend. Despite resigning a week ago and asking for privacy, the former deputy PM had on the weekend given an interview claiming there was a “grey area” over whether he is the biological father of partner Vikki Campion’s baby. Both sides of politics on the panel were agreement that Joyce should just stop talking. “I have to say, having read his comments over the weekend, I was lost for words,” said Di Natale. “I thought it was a particularly low thing to do, to accuse somebody of that. “And at this point I think there’s the welfare of former staffer, family with four kids, a child and I think we should just let them get on and sort out what is a very difficult situation.” <img width="437" height="246" src="http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/70880088f590fa191ab3b4a3eec9efef" alt="“I think staying quiet would be good idea,” Ms Plibersek said. Picture: ABC" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/> Plibersek concurred, saying, “I think if I were advising Barnaby Joyce, I would think staying quiet would be good idea.” “He’s feeding the hand that bites him at the moment,” she added. When an audience member challenged Markson on why Joyce didn’t deserve the same level of privacy “surrounding his private life and offered the same courtesy you believe the targets of Michaelia Cash’s rant does”, Markson said they were two completely different topics. “In the one instance with Michaelia Cash, she threatened to name young women who are the subject of rumour when nothing had been proven at all and they are not public figures. And it’s not even true as far as I’m aware,” Markson said. <img width="466" height="262" src="http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/edb2671b1a8fbc952a07b8274fc355bc" alt="The Michaelia Cash topic was rumour. Barnaby Joyce was fact, Sharri Markson said. Picture: ABC" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/> “In the other instance, you had the Deputy PM of the country ... who has conservative family values, has campaigned against same-sex marriage, has campaigned against a vaccine because it might make women more promiscuous, a Deputy PM who has left his wife and four daughters for a media adviser who is now pregnant. “Not only that, but then authorised, so he signed off on the creation of new jobs for her with two politicians within his own party. While living for six months in a free rental from a National Party donor. The two things couldn’t be more different.” Markson said added, “when he was Deputy PM, deserved every ounce of scrutiny that we in the media apply to him. His family didn’t and we were very respectful to his wife and his four daughters. We never once hassled them”. “In that role he deserved every ounce of scrutiny and politicians, when they go into this job, they know they need to be accountable to voters,” she said. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Why did Mr Joyce not deserve a level of privacy? <a href="https://twitter.com/SharriMarkson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SharriMarkson</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/kamilashamsie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kamilashamsie</a> respond <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/QandA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#QandA</a> <a href="https://t.co/hpryFT6hOP">pic.twitter.com/hpryFT6hOP</a> — ABC Q&A (@QandA) <a href="https://twitter.com/QandA/status/970615143204704257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2018</a></blockquote> Shamsie observed the scrutiny was fair game “if you’re going to make a big deal about being all ‘family values’, then you’re setting yourself up for someone to come at you”. “It’s very striking to me that in Britain Jeremy Corbyn’s wife is never seen with him. They made a conscious effort that he’s not going to do that. He’s not going to use his marriage or wife, she will not hold his hand or make tea for interviewers or do anything of that sort. “So if someone is doing that, if they’re putting themselves forward in that way, then I’m afraid they are opening themselves up and their private life to scrutiny.” Host Tony Jones asked now that Joyce has stepped down, is it time to leave him alone. Plibersek said while people have a right to their private lives, “they don’t have a right to spend taxpayers’ money in any way they choose without accounting for it. They don’t have a right to fail to disclose gifts from donors, That’s our [the Labor Party’s] only interest. “The Labor Party has not been interested in his personal life. I feel sorry for everybody involved,” she added, suggesting that Joyce might want to stop giving interviews.

News

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 <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/a-grey-area-barnaby-joyce-raises-doubts-over-whether-he-s-the-biological-father-of-vikki-campion-s-baby-20180303-p4z2ob.html">Fairfax</a> 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.

Relationships

Barnaby Joyce lashes out at Malcolm Turnbull

Barnaby Joyce has directly hit back at Malcolm Turnbull accusing him of “inept and damaging” <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/2018/02/malcolm-turnbull-bans-sex-between-ministers-and-their-staff/">comments on the breakdown of his marriage.</a> In an extraordinary public statement, the embattled deputy prime minister and Nationals leader, lashed out at the prime minister within minutes of Turnbull again addressing media on the Joyce controversy. “I thought that was completely unnecessary and all that is going to do is basically pull the scab off to everybody to have a look at,” Joyce said. “Comments by the prime minister yesterday at his press conference ... I thought that was completely unnecessary and all that is going to do is basically pull the scab off to everybody to have a look at,” he said. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F9News%2Fvideos%2F1817960018251827%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> Joyce again apologised to his wife and to his daughters but said he would not be standing down over his relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion. “This was a personal issue that was dragged into the public arena, and I don’t believe people should resign in any job because of personal issues. “I am incredibly sorry for the hurt I have caused Natalie, my daughters, and Vikki, since my marriage broke up last year. I say that again, I am incredibly sorry and I apologise to the people of New England and I appreciate the immense support I have received.” He also warned against the Liberal party intervening in the National party leadership. “In regards to the National Party, there is nothing that we dislike more than implied intervention into the party processes of the National Party,” he said. Joyce said he accepted Turnbull’s new rule banning sex with staffers, but also said it would create problems of its own. “It is the prime minister’s code, we will support it, and we will do our best endeavours to see it through. It goes without saying that this will create immense fodder for the good people in the media and it will obviously reverberate across all political parties,” Joyce said.

News

Malcolm Turnbull bans sex between ministers and their staff

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has banned his ministers from having sex with their staff, in his first press conference addressing Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce's affair with his former media advisor Vikki Campion, who is now pregnant with his child. Following the announcement that his scandal-plagued deputy would be taking “personal leave” next week, the PM declared the ministerial code of conduct had been changed to forbid ministers engaging in sexual relations with their staff, regardless of whether they were married or single. “I do not care whether they are married or single, I don't care. They must not have sexual relations with their staff, that's it,” Mr Turnbull said. He added: "Today, in 2018, it is not acceptable for a minister to have a sexual relationship with somebody who works for them, it is a very bad workplace practice and everybody knows that no good comes of it," he said. "This is the standard that I will hold — from this day forth — all my ministers to." Mr Turnbull said the ministerial code of conduct had been rewritten to formally ban relationships between ministers and their staff. “Doing so will constitute a breach of the standards and while this new standard is very specific, ministers should be acutely aware of the context in which I am making this change and the need for them always to behave in their personal relations with others.” He added that politicians had to accept giving up some privacy. "We have to recognise that here in this place we have such important responsibilities and we don't, in practical terms, have the privacy that many others do, we have to acknowledge that we must have a higher standard," he said. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsydneymorningherald%2Fvideos%2F10156388861236264%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> In the strongest sign that the prime minster has lost confidence in his deputy, Mr Turnbull publicly dressed down Mr Joyce, calling his affair and subsequent handling of the situation "a shocking error of judgement" that "set off a world of woe". "Barnaby made a shocking error of judgement in having an affair with a young woman working in his office,” he said. "In doing so he has set off a world of woe for those women, and appalled all of us. "Our hearts go out to them." The PM also encouraged Mr Joyce to use his time off to “consider his position”. Asked repeatedly by the media whether Mr Joyce should resign, Mr Turnbull indicated his hands were tied and could not sack his deputy. "These are matters for Barnaby Joyce to reflect on," he said. <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2018/02/why-barnaby-joyce-wont-be-acting-pm-next-week/">Senate leader Mathias Cormann will be acting Prime Minister next week</a> when Mr Turnbull is visiting the US.

Legal

Why Barnaby Joyce won’t be acting PM next week

Embattled Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is taking a week of personal leave next week and will not serve as acting prime minister while Malcolm Turnbull is visiting the United States next week, the prime minister has just announced. The last-minute announcement comes after a week of intense scrutiny on Joyce, after his affair with former media advisor Vikki Campion and breakdown of his marriage was revealed by The Daily Telegraph. “The deputy prime minister will be taking leave from 19 February to Sunday 25 February and accordingly will not be able to be Acting Prime Minister while I'm overseas," Mr Turnbull told parliament at the start of Question Time on Thursday. With foreign minister Julie Bishop overseas, the government's Senate leader Mathias Cormann will be acting Prime Minister next week. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten immediately asked if the announcement meant "that the Deputy Prime Minister cannot do his job? Or are we simply meant to believe it's all a big coincidence?" Mr Turnbull dismissed that question and replied that "the Deputy Prime Minister is on leave next week". Labor has ramped up pressure on the PM to sack his deputy over a “gift” of free accommodation. Joyce has consistently denied he breached ministerial rules.

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