Joyce colleagues won’t judge his $150k TV tell-all

FEDERAL coalition colleagues are refusing to judge Barnaby Joyce, pictured, over his decision with partner Vikki Campion to pocket $150,000 for a tell-all interview about their new family.

Nationals senator John ‘Wacka’ Williams, a good friend of the former deputy prime minister, says he would instead judge Mr Joyce on his work for the people of his New England electorate.

“What he does with his private life with him and Vikki and his son Sebastian, that’s up to him to decide, it’s not for me to judge,” Senator Williams told ABC radio yesterday.

“If he decides to do that, it’s his business, none of my business, and I’m not going to make a judgment one way or another about whether he’s doing right or wrong.”

It is unclear how much tension the saga will still stir with- in the Nationals, with Senator Williams conceding while “it’s getting plenty of headlines”, it’s yet to be determined if “people are going to be annoyed about it”.

Seven’s Sunday Night program reportedly won out in a bidding war with the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes to secure the exclusive interview.

Mr Joyce is doing the paid interview despite lodging an Australian Press Council complaint against the Daily Tele- graph for breaching his privacy by exposing the affair in February.

Asked whether the complaint passed the pub test, Nationals MP David Gillespie said, “It depends which pub you’re in.”

“There’s a lot of supporters for Barnaby and people in my electorate were disappointed to see him go,” Dr Gillespie told Sky News.

“What Barnaby and Vikki decide on is their decision, I’m not going to be second- guessing what they should or shouldn’t be doing. I wouldn’t be doing interviews for cash, but that’s their choice.”

Liberal MP Tim Wilson also said the complaint was a question for Mr Joyce.

“I’m not in the habit of making complaints to the Press Council, but I’m also not in the habit of taking sums of cash for interviews either,” Mr Wilson said.

Mr Joyce was forced to resign to the backbench after his relationship with Ms Campion, his former staffer, became public in February.

Their son was born in Armidale on April 16.

Mr Joyce said late in 2017 that he had split from his wife and mother of his four daughters, Natalie.