Betrayed wife’s pain
Joyce expecting child with ex-staffer
DEPUTY Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce’s wife Natalie has told of the “deceit” and “hurt” she has suffered at learning he is expecting a child with a much younger woman who worked in his office.
Mrs Joyce, who shares four daughters with the embattled politician, said: “I am deeply saddened that my husband 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.
“This situation is devastating on many fronts – 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.”
Friends say news of the affair with former staffer Vikki Campion, 33, who is expecting the couple’s child in April, has left Mrs Joyce reeling.
She and her daughters yesterday left the family home in Loombarah to stay with relatives in Bundarra near the Northern Tablelands of NSW to escape the humiliation.
In a statement she said: “Our family life has had to be shared during Barnaby’s political career and it was with trust that we let campaign and office staff into our homes and into our lives.
“Naturally we also feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved.
“The situation for myself and the girls will be made worse by the fact that this will all be played out in public so at this time, I would ask that the girls and I are given some privacy and time to come to terms with the consequences.”
Mr Joyce, 50, has set up home with Ms Campion after months confessing to friends that “he is madly in love”.
A Nationals leader, Joyce is a conservative who campaigned on family values in New England and is opposed same-sex marriage and abstained from the vote in Parliament.
The senior Turnbull Government minister revealed his 24-year-long marriage had broken down last year during a parliamentary debate on same-sex marriage.
“The current definition of marriage has stood the test of time – half of them fail, I acknowledge that,” he told the House of Representatives.