Barnaby Joyce has defended selling the story of his new family in a tell-all interview, saying it was his partner who decided to pocket the six-figure payment.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The former deputy prime minster, who was granted extended leave on Tuesday, said he and staffer-turned-partner Vikki Campion wanted privacy after the birth of their son last month.
Mr Joyce was granted leave until the end of June, AAP understands, but will not be expected back at parliament until August, after the Winter break.
"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," Mr Joyce told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
"We tried just burning this out and that didn't work."
Cabinet minister Kelly O'Dwyer believes most Australians are "pretty disgusted" about the interview.
Ms O'Dwyer said serving politicians should not put a price on being accountable to the public, and Mr Joyce had made a mistake.
"Ultimately it's a matter for him and his judgment. I personally wouldn't do it, I don't think it's right, and I think most Australians are pretty disgusted by it," Ms O'Dwyer told ABC radio.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he'll raise the matter privately with Mr Joyce.
"It's not something that I would have encouraged him to do, in fact quite the contrary," Mr Turnbull told Tasmanian radio station LAFM.
Mr Joyce said it was Ms Campion who made the decision to accept the money because she was being "screwed over" by the constant media attention.
"If we had a proper tort of privacy we would never have had to do this," he told The Australian.
The couple sold their story to the Seven Network's Sunday Night program for a reported $150,000.
The controversial interview, to air on Sunday, has prompted calls for a ban on serving politicians receiving cash for media comment.
Nationals frontbencher Darren Chester, who was dumped by Mr Joyce from cabinet in December, intends to raise the proposed ban with colleagues.
"This is unprecedented in my time in parliament and I'm open to the conversation about banning MPs from benefiting personally from selling stories to the media," Mr Chester told The Daily Telegraph.
He acknowledged the circumstances were complex, given Ms Campion was entitled to seek payment as a private citizen, but said the former Nationals leader could no longer complain about a breach of privacy.
Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek doubts a ban on politicians being paid for interviews will prove a solution, likening it to a prohibition on sex with staff.
"If common sense and common decency don't tell you that these things are the wrong thing to do, I don't think a ban is going to fix the problem," Ms Plibersek told reporters.
Australian Associated Press
