Barnaby Joyce’s wife has gone on the attack to defend her husband and praise people who resisted the temptation to “kick a conservative when he’s down.”
In her regular column for News Limited publications, Vikki Campion criticized “armchair doctors” who spent last week mocking her husband over a shocking video showing him lying on a Canberra street late at night.
Daily Mail Australia revealed an exclusive video of the former deputy prime minister, 56, lying on the sidewalk on Lonsdale Street in the Canberra suburb of Braddon around midnight last Wednesday.
writing for the advertiserMs Campion praised “strong female leaders” such as Labor Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek for choosing “compassion over cruelty”.
He also singled out MPs Sussan Ley, Holly Hughes, Jane Hume and Perin Davey for showing understanding towards Mr Joyce’s situation.
Vikki Campion has hit out at her husband’s critics who criticized the former deputy prime minister and Nationals leader over a shocking leaked video of him apparently drunk.
Campion also praised the “strong leaders” who did not take advantage of the situation.
The images sparked intense debate in the country’s capital last week, when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted that Joyce was “clearly (in) difficult circumstances” and asked him to explain himself.
Nationals leader David Littleproud suggested Joyce take time off following the incident.
In her column, Ms Campion, who married Mr Joyce at a country wedding last November, said Mr Joyce had been greeted with “false sympathy” by hypocritical politicians who, in their opinion, they had behaved similarly in private.
Since the incident, Mr Joyce came forward to defend himself, explaining that he had inadvertently mixed prescription medication with alcohol.
Mr Joyce could be heard mumbling obscenities in the video, but the Nationals MP took to Sky News to deny having any substance abuse problems on Thursday.
“I don’t have a drinking problem, you just shouldn’t drink on medication, mate,” Mr Joyce said.
‘If I hadn’t had those drinks, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity for someone to film me in the street.
‘So the only thing that put me there was myself. I accept responsibility for it and I apologize for it.’
Sources told Daily Mail Australia that Joyce was sitting in the large flower pot having a lively phone call with his wife when he fell, “rolled” on the floor and continued the conversation.
Sources told Daily Mail Australia that Mr Joyce was sitting in the large flower pot having an animated telephone conversation with his wife when it fell and “rolled” on the floor.
In her regular newspaper column, Ms Campion praised the government’s Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, especially for choosing “compassion over cruelty”.
Campion thanked the female politicians he mentioned by name for “injecting a shot of humanity into a city that had shown itself sorely devoid of it.”
“Plibersek, especially since he got up at dawn Monday to debate him, resisted what others were babbling about, an exploitative opportunity to kick a conservative when he’s down,” he wrote.
Plibersek and Joyce have been fierce political rivals for many years, debating issues such as Indigenous affairs and housing in the past.
Last Saturday, Ms Campion’s father Peter, who is standing as a One Nation candidate in the upcoming Queensland state election, told Daily Mail Australia that the New England MP ““I had very bad family news that day.”
‘He already lost a brother to cancer, that’s what you have to start with. He had similar very bad news, which is not my place to divulge but of the same magnitude and it affected him deeply.
‘Any decent person who came across someone in that situation, so sad that they let themselves collapse on the road, would stop and help, not just take a video clip and sell it to the media.
“The most important part of this story was not that Barnaby was an emotional wreck along the way, but the lack of affection from his countrymen, his fellow Australians.”
In a statement to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, Joyce admitted what happened was “very embarrassing.”
“I was walking back to my accommodation after Parliament rose at 10pm,” he said.
‘While talking on the phone I sat on the edge of a flower pot, fell, continued talking on the phone and very animatedly referred to myself for falling.
“I got up and walked home.”
Ms Campion harshly criticized the “armchair doctors” who intervened in the situation without knowing the facts.
His father, Peter Campion (pictured left with Barnaby Joyce), said he was disgusted by the way his son-in-law had been treated.
Campion, who is running as a One Nation candidate in the upcoming Queensland state election, said he believed Joyce was being singled out because he was a Conservative politician.
The day after Joyce’s video was leaked, he arrived at parliament almost an hour after question time began before a meeting in the National party room.
Mr Littleproud said Mr Joyce had matters he needed to take care of, but was hoping to return to work in the afternoon or later in the week.
“This is something he is deeply ashamed of,” Littleproud told Sky News.
“He has made it very clear that this is not normal behavior that he engages in and that there are extenuating circumstances surrounding it and obviously we will support him to make sure that whatever he needs he gets.”
To add to Mr Joyce’s embarrassment, a fake plaque appeared over the weekend at the spot where he fell.
The artist was in such a hurry that he got the date wrong and said it happened in January, instead of February.
One local who saw it told Daily Mail Australia that “it’s pretty funny.” Everyone stops and laughs.
Another pop-up showed a schematic of the location where Mr Joyce was seen next to a sign advertising the location as a lodge with free bread and breakfast.
The white chalk outline comically showed Mr. Joyce’s trademark wide-brimmed hat.
A fake plaque (pictured) appeared at the spot where Barnaby Joyce fell last Wednesday night.
Another pop-up monument showed a sketch of the location where Mr Joyce was seen, advertising it as a bread and breakfast lodge.