Barnaby Joyce and his partner Vikki Campion have a baby son, Sebastian, together.
Barnaby Joyce and his partner Vikki Campion have a baby son, Sebastian, together.
Barnaby Joyce has opened up about his highly publicised affair and marriage breakdown in a new tell-all.
The book, Weatherboard And Iron: Politics, The Bush And Me, details everything from his hopes for his children to the "salacious" details of his life pursuing women in Canberra while drinking heavily.
But amid all the confessions, the book made one glaring omission — photographs of his daughters.
When asked on Today why there were no pictures of his four daughters in the new book, the former Deputy Prime Minister said he was just trying to protect them.
"Bridgette, Julia, Carolyn, Odette and now Sebastian are the loves of my life," Mr Joyce said this morning. "As I said, I dedicated the book to them, and I know I'm also kind of protective in a way.
"I know the public spotlight can sometimes be damaging, and I know about the damage it creates … so I'm less inclined to throw other people out there.
"If I had my time again, even with all of the great honour it was to be the Deputy Prime Minister — if I lived it again I would have lived it entirely differently."
But Mr Joyce did include a photo of Sebastian — his first son with his current partner Vikki Campion.
When asked whether he thought it would be "hurtful" to feature the baby boy and not his daughters, Mr Joyce said he wanted to shield them from the public spotlight.
"What's different is obviously people have been discussing Sebastian, and he's been on television, and I just think young children are different," he said. "Adults have their own personalities and I just know what it's like to be in the public spotlight, and I don't particularly want my daughters to be any more in the public spotlight than what I have already put them in."
The former Nationals leader dedicated the book to all five of his children, writing: "I could have given you a life outside the spotlight I turned on you. I wanted the best for you but was blinded in the glare of the exertion."
He then describes Ms Campion as "my at times, typist, editor, critic and ever-patient partner, sitting tortured behind her keyboard trying to make sense of me".
It's been a tumultuous year for Mr Joyce. He was forced to resign from his position as Deputy Prime Minister in February after The Daily Telegraph revealed he was having an affair with Ms Campion, his former media adviser, and that the pair were expecting a child together.
The affair was publicly slammed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who accused Mr Joyce of making "a shocking error of judgment".
Barnaby Joyce, pictured with his wife and four daughters in 2016. Photo / Instagram
Six months on, Mr Joyce confirmed he is still in touch with his girls, but noted repairing their relationship is going to take place "over a long period of time".
In the book, Mr Joyce writes: "Sebastian is going to know me in a different way from how the girls know me."
He told Today: "I made mistakes.
"In hindsight you can look back and see the mistakes you made and see how you can be a better person. I actually note that in the book — how I could be a better person, a better man.
"I don't want to dwell on that. This is not a book about me, it's issues that are permanent to how we drive ahead with the people of rural Australia. How we don't end up in a position like America, which ended up with Donald Trump, because they felt disconnected."
Pressed about his infidelity in Canberra, Mr Joyce said he was "basically alone" in that period.
"In the higher office, you are alone. You are not with other people … the higher you go, the more insulated and lonely you get.
"I was basically living in a house with a lady who had lost her husband, and that was a large part of my life. But there needed to be more."
At one point in the book, Mr Joyce noted that he just wanted to go away and die.
"When I was at home I was a lie, and when I was in Canberra I was ashamed," he wrote.
"Winston Churchill had his black dog: mine was a half-crazed cattle dog, biting everything that came near the yard.
"When you stop thinking about how sad it will be when you have gone, to thinking, I have hurt so many that I want to go without anybody knowing."
In an interview with Fairfax Media, published yesterday, Mr Joyce said he had to seek the help of a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with depression and advised he should get structure into his life if he did not want to slide further "into the darkness".
He said the "turning point" was when the people closest to him started saying something was seriously wrong with him.
But at the end of it all, Mr Joyce says he is happy now.
"In life, you have to make sure that if you see a problem, you fix the problem and move on."
