Former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce had some scathing words for PM Malcolm Turnbull during his interview. Photo / Getty
Former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce had some scathing words for PM Malcolm Turnbull during his interview. Photo / Getty
Vikki Campion has broken her silence about her relationship with former Australian deputy PM Barnaby Joyce, revealing she had purchased the medicine needed to have an abortion after discovering she was pregnant.
Speaking to Channel 7's Sunday Night, Campion said she had been pressured to terminate the baby by "conservatives" within the National Party.
"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.
Vikki Campion, photographed in 2013. Photo / NewsCorp
"And I said, 'it's too late, it has a heartbeat.' And they said, 'If you don't, they're gonna come after you.'''
Refusing to name who had targeted Campion, 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.
Opening up about when their affair started, Campion said the pair was "close for a long time" before things turned romantic in "late 2016".
So far on Sunday Night..with less than 5 Minutes to go, absolutely no political accountability. No explanation of the sweetheart deals shunting Vikki around offices with the PM or at least the PMO’s sign off. All at taxpayers’ expense.
While the interview was touted by Seven as a "brutally honest" look at the political scandal, Joyce remained cagey when asked to comment on his estranged wife Natalie Joyce and four daughters.
"That's completely private," Joyce said, conceding he had been "living a lie" towards the end of his marriage.
But Campion acknowledged that a confrontation had occurred between her and Mrs Joyce in Tamworth but said she "can't repeat the words on television".
Mrs Joyce had become suspicious that her husband was having an affair with Campion and rumours had been circulating around Parliament House.
Discussing their son Sebastian, Campion said she was "overwhelmed" to discover she was pregnant in winter 2017 and had taken the pregnancy test alone.
Vikki Campion claims she was told to have an abortion by conservatives.
"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.
Panicking, 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," Campion said of how close she came to terminating the pregnancy.
In the end, she decided to keep their baby, citing Joyce's anti-abortion stance and the fact it had been a "miracle" for her to conceive.
Vikki Campion told the interviewer 'you can't help who you fall in love with'.
"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.
Bizarrely, Joyce said it was a joint decision for him to say the paternity of Campion's baby was a "grey area".
But Campion said: "I didn't say use the words 'grey area'. I didn't say use the words 'grey area'. I was deeply hurt by the 'grey area' headline."
Joyce added: "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."
But he slammed Malcolm Turnbull for saying his deputy had made a "shocking error of judgment" in his relationship with Campion.
"I don't think that will ever be his Gettysburg Address, will it?" Joyce said. "I never expected a gold star, and I did not expect the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia to go and do a doorstop on it."
Campion broke down in tears and had to be comforted by Joyce when discussing her father Peter Campion's comments on her pregnancy.
Campion says she was deeply hurt by the headlines after Joyce made a statement that the paternity of the baby was a 'grey area'.
The retired firefighter said he wanted to roast Joyce "on a spit" after his daughter had "hopped' into bed with him and gotten pregnant.
Campion she felt they had "been through more than many married couples" and their son was "forged in the fires".
#barnabyjoyce "Boy, you've caused some problems". WTF!!! You say this about YOUR child?! FFS!! YOU caused the problems Barnaby, NOT that innocent baby.
"You just look at the two blue eyes staring back at you, and you look at Sebastian, and you think, boy man, you caused some problems," Joyce said, stressing that money from the interview would be put in a trust fund for Sebastian.
Addressing the backlash surrounding Joyce and Campion's A$150,000 payment for the interview, Cullen told Weekend Sunrise earlier on Sunday that Seven had "earnt their trust and their respect" before they agreed to the interview.
"Don't think for a second that they were just offering out this story, no way. We chased and we chased and we chased," he said.
The former Deputy Prime Minister has faced criticism from both sides of politics after it emerged he and Campion were expected to receive the huge sum for their tell-all interview.
Turnbull told Tasmanian radio station LAFM he would be addressing the "widely criticised" issue in private with Joyce.
Joyce has since said the money will be put into a trust for their son Sebastian, who was born in April.
He told the Australian the interview was Campion's idea and the couple decided to accept the money because media outlets were profiting from invading their privacy.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"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," Joyce said.
"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.'"
A TV insider told the Sunday Telegraph the couple's $150,000 payment was good value for network — but not for Joyce.
"Barnaby is destroying his life and blowing up his career for $150,000," a former television negotiator said. "He has sold himself out cheap."
In February, Joyce resigned as Deputy Prime Minister after it was revealed he and Campion were expecting a child together.
In late 2017, he confirmed he and his wife had separated after 24 years of marriage.
The former couple raised four daughters together: Julia, Caroline, Odette and Bridgette.
Despite his relegation to the back bench, Cullen said he did not expect Joyce to retire anytime soon, predicting he will take a "second tilt" at the front bench.
