The ABC has been criticized for having “the nerve” to have National Party MP Barnaby Joyce appear on a television program where he talked about “how to treat women”.
Joyce, who notoriously cheated on his wife Natalie with a political adviser, with whom he had a son, was booked as a guest on the national broadcaster’s Afternoon Briefing news program on Thursday to discuss the federal government’s plans to protect children online.
But the former deputy prime minister veered away from that charge into a broader discussion about the importance of family and how parents teach their sons to respect women.
“The most formative understanding of how you behave around women, as a man, comes from your parents,” said Joyce, who married his former lover Vikki Campion last November.
“The way father treats mother is how they expect you to treat other women.”
The ABC has been criticized for having “the nerve” to have National Party MP Barnaby Joyce appear on a television program where he talked about “how to treat women”. Joyce is pictured with his second wife Vikki Campion, with whom he had an affair while he was married to his first wife, at the Mid Winter Ball at Parliament House in Canberra on June 21, 2023.
Barnaby Joyce is pictured with his then-wife Natalie at the Mid Winter Ball at Parliament House in Canberra on June 14, 2017.
Author and former 2GB host Mike Carlton was one of many who were outraged by Joyce’s casting on the show, tweeting that he had been “invited by the ABC to offer his valuable advice on ‘how to act around women’.” ;
Carlton also included a sly comment about Mr Joyce being “in an upright position”, which was a reference to an exclusive story revealed by Daily Mail Australia of shocking video footage of him lying on the side of the road and mumbling. obscenities after falling. a pot late at night.
But past behavioral failures didn’t stop Joyce from telling ABC viewers that “you have to believe in family again, to believe in the structure and training that comes from the house you grow up in.”
“That’s overwhelmingly the pot from which the seed grows, and if you don’t support the family structure and let that fall apart… it’s not the great cure-all elixir, but it’s a very, very, very good start.” ‘
His use of the word “seed” triggered Australian writer Sahar Adatia, who took to X to express her displeasure.
“The nerve of ‘Bonk Ban’ Barnaby Joyce preaching the sanctity of the ‘family structure’ and advising that it is ‘where the seed grows’ when he himself was spreading his own seed to an employee and betraying his wife,” wrote Ms. .Adatia.
And ABC considers him suitable to talk about women. Regrettable.’
The phrase ‘Bonk Ban’ was a reference to then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s ban on government ministers having relationships with staff, which was sparked by Joyce’s extramarital affair with Campion.
Former political journalist Geoff Kitney also took to X to comment on Joyce’s appearance on the ABC to talk about “how to treat women”.
“Are there no senior editors at ABC News anymore?” Kitney asked.
‘How could anyone with basic journalistic skills consider it a good idea to interview Barnaby Joyce about this topic?
Australian writer Sahar Adatia, who took to X to express her displeasure. Her tweet is in the photo.
Former political journalist Geoff Kitney also took to X to comment on Joyce’s appearance on the ABC to talk about “how to treat women”.
Former News Ltd journalist Tony Koch also joined the group and said the ABC program amounted to “good old ‘I Can’t Keep My Zip Up'”, Barnaby lecturing on how to treat women properly. .
However, Joyce did have some support for appearing on the ABC show, with one writing: “When it’s over, it’s over.” Being married for countless years doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness elsewhere.
Another observed: ‘It doesn’t matter what happens. “Family is still important.”
A third noted that he was “asked the question in his capacity as an MP and not as a virtue signaller-in-chief.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Joyce and ABC for comment.