The ABC has been slammed for having ‘the gall’ to have National Party MP Barnaby Joyce appear on a television show where he discussed ‘how to treat women’.
Mr Joyce, who notoriously cheated on his wife Natalie with a political adviser, who he had a child with, was booked as a guest on the national broadcaster’s Afternoon Briefing news show on Thursday to talk about the federal government’s plans to protect children online.
But the former deputy prime minister strayed off that brief into a broader discussion of the importance of family and how parents teach their children to respect women.
‘The most formative understanding of how you act around women, as a bloke, comes from your parents,’ Mr Joyce, who married his former mistress Vikki Campion last November, said.
‘How the father treats the mother is how they expect you to treat other women.’
The ABC has been slammed for having ‘the gall’ to have National Party MP Barnaby Joyce appear on a television show where he discussed ‘how to treat women’. Mr Joyce is pictured with his second wife, Vikki Campion, whom he had an affair with while married to his first wife, at the Mid Winter Ball in 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 presenter Mike Carlton was one of many who were outraged at the choice of Mr Joyce for the program, tweeting that he had been ‘invited by the ABC to offer his invaluable counsel 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 broken by Daily Mail Australia of shocking video footage of him lying by the side of the road and mumbling obscenities after he fell off a planter pot late at night.
But past lapses in behaviour did not deter Mr Joyce in telling ABC viewers that ‘You’ve got to go right back to your belief in the family, to belief in the structure and formation that comes from the house you grow up in.
‘That is overwhelmingly the pot which the seed grows from, and if you don’t support family structure and you let that fall apart… it’s not the grand elixir that cures everything, 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 disgust.
‘The gall of “Bonk Ban” Barnaby Joyce preaching the sanctity of “family structure” & advising it’s “where the seed grows” when he himself was off spreading his own seed to a staffer & betraying his wife,’ Ms Adatia wrote.
‘And the ABC deems him apt to discuss women. Woeful.’
The phrase ‘Bonk Ban’ was a reference to the then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull banning government ministers from having relationships with staffers, which was sparked by Mr Joyce’s extramarital relationship with Ms Campion.
Former political journalist Geoff Kitney also took to X to comment on Mr Joyce’s appearance on the ABC to talk about ‘how to treat women’.
‘Are there no senior editors at ABC news any more,’ Kitney asked.
‘How could anyone with basic journalistic skills think it a good idea to interview Barnaby Joyce on this issue.
Australian writer Sahar Adatia, who took to X to express her disgust. Her tweet is pictured
Former political journalist Geoff Kitney also took to X to comment on Mr Joyce’s appearance on ABC to talk about ‘how to treat women’
Former News Ltd journalist Tony Koch also joined the pile on, saying the ABC show amounted to ‘good ole “Can’t keep my zip up” Barnaby lecturing on how to properly treat women …
Mr Joyce did have some support for appearing on the ABC show, though, with one writing: ‘When it over its over. Being married for umpteen years doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness elsewhere.’
Another observed: ‘Doesn’t matter what happens. Family is still important.’
A third pointed out that ‘He was asked the question in his capacity of MP not as a virtue signallers in chief.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Joyce and the ABC for comment.