The ABC has been criticized for having “the audacity” to allow National Party MP Barnaby Joyce to appear on a television program discussing “how women should be treated”.
Mr Joyce, who notoriously cheated on his wife Natalie with a political adviser with whom he had a child, was booked as a guest on the national broadcaster’s afternoon show on Thursday to talk about the federal government’s plans to protect children online .
But the former deputy prime minister strayed from that brief and into a broader discussion about the importance of family and how parents teach their children to respect women.
“The most formative understanding of how to treat women as a guy comes from your parents,” said Joyce, who married his former mistress Vikki Campion last November.
“How the father treats the mother, they expect you to treat other women.”
The ABC has been criticized for having “the audacity” to allow National Party MP Barnaby Joyce to appear on a television program discussing “how women should be treated”. Mr Joyce is pictured with his second wife, Vikki Campion, with whom he had an affair while 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 presenter Mike Carlton was among many outraged by Mr Joyce’s choice for the programme, tweeting that he had been ‘invited by the ABC to give his invaluable advice on “how to deal with the near women”.
Carlton also added a sly comment about Mr Joyce ‘sitting up’, which was a reference to a Daily Mail Australia exclusive story showing shocking video footage of him lying on the side of the road muttering obscenities after falling off. a planter late at night.
But past behavioral mistakes did not stop Mr Joyce from telling ABC viewers: ‘You have to go right back to your belief in the family, to the belief in the structure and formation that comes from the home in which you grow up.
“That’s largely the pot from which the seed grows, and if you don’t support the family structure and you let it fall apart… it’s not the great elixir that cures everything, but it’s a very, very, very good start. ‘
His use of the word “seed” prompted Australian writer Sahar Adatia, who turned to X to express her disgust.
“The bile of ‘Bonk Ban’ Barnaby Joyce who preaches the sanctity of the ‘family structure’ and advises that it is ‘where the seed grows’ while he himself spread his own seed to a staffer and betrayed his wife,” Ms Adatia wrote .
‘And the ABC considers him suitable to talk about women. Shame.’
The phrase ‘Bonk Ban’ was a reference to then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull banning ministers from having relationships with staffers, which was sparked by Mr Joyce’s extramarital affair with Ms Campion.
Former political journalist Geoff Kitney also joined X to comment on Mr Joyce’s appearance on the ABC to talk about ‘how women should be treated’.
“Are there no more editors-in-chief at ABC News,” Kitney asked.
‘How can anyone with basic journalistic skills think it’s a good idea to interview Barnaby Joyce about this issue?
Australian writer Sahar Adatia, who turned to X to express her disgust. Her tweet is pictured
Former political journalist Geoff Kitney also joined X to comment on Mr Joyce’s appearance on ABC to talk about ‘how women should be treated’
Former News Ltd journalist Tony Koch also joined the pile, saying the ABC show boiled down to “good old ‘Can’t keep my zipper down'”, while Barnaby lectured on how to properly treat women to deal with…
However, Mr Joyce did have some support for his appearance on the ABC show, with one person writing: ‘When it’s over. Just because you’ve been married for countless years doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness elsewhere.’
Another commented: ‘It doesn’t matter what happens. Family is still important.’
A third noted that ‘he was asked this question in his capacity as an MP, and not as a virtue signaller.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Joyce and the ABC for comment.