Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce once asked nicely that journalists refrain from delving “unnecessarily into [his] private life”.
On Wednesday morning, his request was, unfortunately for Joyce, denied.
The 50-year-old, according to The Daily Telegraph, is in a relationship with former staffer, 33-year-old Vikki Campion, who is pregnant with Joyce’s fifth child. The leader of the National Party is yet to comment.
Natalie Joyce, his wife of 24 years from whom he is now estranged, spoke to journalist Caroline Overington at The Australian today and shared her “devastation” at the news.
“I am deeply saddened… that my husband has been having an affair,” she said. “For my girls who are affected by the family breakdown and for me as a wife… who has put my own career on hold to support Barnaby through his political life.”
A substantial pillar of his ‘political life’ has been his vocal opposition to same-sex marriage in Australia, particularly last year during the public debate prior to the postal vote.
Joyce has always advocated for ‘traditional marriage’ – which one might assume means a heterosexual, monogamous and lifelong union.
“I don’t believe we should be redefining marriage,” he told ABC’s Insiders in 2015. “Marriage for me is in the traditional form.”
Joyce has, historically, positioned himself as a voice of authority on what marriage is and what it is not.
LISTEN: We discuss the news of Joyce’s infidelity on Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues below.
He gripped onto the Marriage Act so tightly, no matter who it hurt, even implying that our trading and diplomatic partners in Asia might view Australia as “decadent” if same-sex marriage were legalised.
“In life everybody doesn’t get everything they want, sometimes it’s a tough game,” he told the ABC at the time.
And today, Joyce certainly learned that to be true.
Because the man who so fiercely denied LGBTQI Australians the right to marriage – has, in an act of profound irony – made a complete mockery of his own.
In parliament, Joyce stood across from Penny Wong, who has been in a relationship with her partner, Sophie Allouache, for almost 13 years, and argued their union could not be legitimate in the eyes of the state.
Top Comments
It's so funny - we never really saw Barnaby's family in the media until last year.. The year he chose to blow his family up.. Good luck trotting out the girls for photo ops now.!.
So Barnaby was ‘protecting’ his daughters by not telling them about the baby that’s coming in 2 months, in Armidale. Much better for them to find out in the newspaper.
Armidale is a small town and he’s installed the new girl there.
His poor wife. Betrayal, humiliation, loss of the Nationals community who have to support their guy, and having to keep her chin up if she runs into the young blonde. What a nightmare.
I have no idea why New England supports this snake.
Has he really been that obtuse and dense that installed her in Armidale? What a thoughtless, heartless bastard.