Father of Barnaby Joyce's pregnant mistress wants deputy PM 'roasted on a fire'

Peter Campion says he has a place for Barnaby Joyce 'over the fire'. Photo / Supplied

The father of Barnaby Joyce's mistress says he wants to see the politician burned alive and eaten "like the lamb he is".

Retired firefighter Peter Campion, estranged father of Vikki Campion, 33, roasted the Deputy Prime Minister on Thursday, saying he wanted to burn him on a fire.

"I just want to say 'bah' as we call him in our place," Campion said referring to Joyce as a sheep.

"We're saving a place by the fire and by the fire, I mean over the fire. I've got rather a taste for lamb roast at the moment and I think the Deputy Prime Minister on a spit would be quite a sight."

Campion first heard of his daughter's relationship with Joyce from media reports on Wednesday revealing the couple are expecting a baby in April.

Vikki Campion is a former journalist and Barnaby Joyce's media adviser. Photo / Supplied

"Vikki's mother and I think that with Baaa-naby [sic] as dad the kid will probably be a perfect little lamb," he said to the Cairns Post.

"Politics sure does make for strange bedfellows. We just never imagined our daughter would hop into one with a former Kiwi.

"Our future son-in-law should give himself an uppercut for failing to give one to the PM."

Campion said he has not spoken to his daughter, a former journalist and Joyce's media adviser, for years.

Campion attended high school in Tolga, in the Tablelands Region of Far North Queensland, and her father writes regular letters to the regional newspaper.

A critic of the Turnbull Government, Campion said he hopes Joyce "can find a respectable job" and referred to the Prime Minister as "Mr Talkbull".

The Deputy Prime Minister announced his separation from his wife of 24 years, Natalie Joyce, in December last year.

Barnaby Joyce separated from his wife of 24 years, the mother of his four daughters. Photo / Supplied

Barnaby Joyce broke his silence about Campion's pregnancy on Wednesday night, saying the breakdown of his marriage was painful for everyone involved.

"One of the greatest failures of my life was the end of my marriage," he said during an interview with the ABC.

Just hours earlier Natalie Joyce told the media she felt "hurt and deceived" by the Deputy Prime Minister.

"The situation is devastating, for my girls who are affected by the family breakdown and for me as a wife of 24 years who placed my own career on hold to support Barnaby through his political life," she said.

Natalie Joyce said her husband Barnaby's affair was devastating for her and her daughters. Photo / Supplied

"Our family has had to be shared during Barnaby's political career and it was with trust that we let campaign and office staff into our home and into our lives.

"Naturally we feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved.

"I am deeply saddened by the news that my husband has been having an affair and is now having a child with a former staff member.

"I understand that this affair has been going on for many months and started when she was a paid employee."

Joyce refused to comment on whether his relationship with Campion began when she was a paid staff member.

He shut down the question, saying he was "incredibly hurt that private issues were dragged out".

The separated couple have four daughters, aged in their late teens and early 20s, from their 24-year marriage.

They met during O Week while Barnaby Joyce was studying accountancy at the University of New England.

"The last day was a car rally in a ute and he just came up to me and went, 'You'll do',' Natalie Joyce said in an interview in March last year.

Joyce's family were opposed to their marriage, leaving his side of the church empty but for two pews, but they changed their minds over time.

The leader of the Nationals was forced to resign as Deputy Prime Minister in August last year, amid a dual citizenship saga, which embroiled Parliament.

The Government lost its majority in the lower house after the High Court ruled he was ineligible to sit because of his dual New Zealand citizenship.

Barnaby Joyce said ending his marriage was one of his greatest failures. Photo / Supplied

Mr Joyce, who has since renounced his New Zealand citizenship, comfortably won the New England by-election on December 2, and resumed his cabinet posts the same day.

What Australia's politicians said about Barnaby Joyce's baby news

Australia's political leaders have been asked for their views on Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce reportedly expecting a baby with his former staffer, Vikki Campion.

"It's something I view as none of my business," Labor frontbencher Tony Burke told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "This ricochets and affects families. There's a principle here that I've always abided by to not engage in anything that hits the private lives of other members of parliament."

Greens MP Adam Bandt agreed, describing the prominent media coverage as a "very dark day" for gender equality. "I don't really care who Barnaby Joyce or anyone else is sleeping with," he told Sky News, "unless it impacts on his job, or unless she chooses voluntarily to step into the public eye, it's not really anyone's business.

"If it's Barnaby Joyce's partner today, who else's will it be tomorrow?"
Cabinet minister Dan Tehan said the decision to put such information into the public domain should be up to the individuals involved.

However, gay rights campaigner Rodney Croome unloaded both barrels on the "hypocrite" deputy prime minister, who vehemently opposed same-sex marriage and demanded the issue be put to a national vote.

"You can't put the lives of tens of thousands of your fellow citizens under the microscope and then expect to avoid scrutiny yourself," Croome said.

He argued the scandal exposed what "traditional marriage" meant for people like Joyce.

"It is not a set of standards for heterosexual couples to live up to. It is a euphemism for prejudice against LGBTI people and our exclusion from the core institutions of society," Croome said.