David Littleproud says Barnaby Joyce should take a break after Daily Mail Australia’s video of him lying on a footpath

National leader David Littleproud has ‘strongly encouraged’ Barnaby Joyce to say goodbye in person after he was filmed talking loudly on his phone as he lay on the footpath overnight.

Video published by Daily Mail Australia on Friday showed the shadow cabinet member, 56, on the ground in Braddon, Canberra, after sitting on a planter and falling late last Wednesday night.

The former deputy prime minister could be heard mumbling on the phone as he lay flat on his back on the ground, including an outburst in which he said: ‘dead f***ing c***’.

Mr Littleproud spoke about the incident on Sunrise on Wednesday morning, saying it was best for Mr Joyce to take a break.

“Barnaby has embarrassed himself and his family, and while he has clearly articulated some of the underlying issues and circumstances, there are other circumstances about which I will not betray his confidence,” he said.

“I made it very clear to him that my responsibility is primarily for his well-being and that if he wants to take some time off to make sure he can address all these issues and get himself back to the level that we expect, he’d be fully supported.

“He has stood up and acknowledged that he has embarrassed not only himself but his family and that he needs to make sure he addresses this, and we feel the best course of action is for him to take a break.”

‘Get him sorted out and come back when he’s done. But that is a decision for Barnaby and of course we will have further discussions in the coming days.”

The former deputy prime minister explained on Monday that he takes prescription medication and was told “certain things can happen” if he mixes alcohol with it.

National leader David Littleproud has ‘strongly encouraged’ Barnaby Joyce to say goodbye in person after images of him lying on the footpath circulated

Mr Joyce said he fell from a planter after walking home from an evening party while on the phone to his wife Vikki Campion.

Breakfast show host Natalie Barr asked Mr Littleproud to confirm his advice as the Nationals leader had to take a break before Mr Joyce.

“I have strongly encouraged him that I think this is the best course of action, but these are clearly very personal circumstances that Barnaby needs to address, and it goes beyond the medication,” he said.

‘I don’t want to intervene too much in people’s private lives, that’s not my job, but my job is to create the environment where he knows that he is supported, that his behavior was not acceptable, but that there were circumstances that took care of that. and that it is my job to create the environment in which he can tackle that.

“I strongly encouraged him to take that leave.”

Mr Littleproud also said Mr Joyce had some ‘personal circumstances’ surrounding his family and that ‘unfortunate circumstances have prevailed with other family members’.

“I don’t intend to talk about that publicly,” he said.

“That’s up to Barnaby. But he wants those things to stay private. If he does that, that’s up to him, whether he wants to express that, that’s up to him. But I have no intention of betraying his trust.”

Mr Joyce had previously told Sunrise he had made a “big mistake”.

“There’s no excuse for it,” he said.

Barnaby Joyce has returned to parliament for the first time since the video scandal

“There’s a reason… they say certain things happen to you when you drink (while on medication) and they were absolutely 100 percent right.”

His father-in-law, Peter Campion, labeled the politician a ‘shocker’ because he was taking a course of medication.

‘He’s working on something. I know when it comes to medicine he is a shocker,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

‘Vikki is always at him to take them, but he doesn’t.

“He forgets to take them, forgets to stay the course of whatever he’s on.”

Mr Campion defended Mr Joyce, saying his son-in-law had received devastating family news on the day of the incident.

‘He has already lost a brother to cancer, you have to start with that. “He had very bad similar news, which is not for me to reveal, but of the same magnitude and which affected him deeply,” he said.