There are growing calls for Barnaby Joyce to resign from parliament after he was found lying on his back near a gutter muttering swear words into his phone.
Daily Mail Australia revealed an exclusive video last Wednesday of the former deputy prime minister, 56, sprawled on the footpath on Lonsdale Street, in the Canberra suburb of Braddon.
Sources said the Nationals frontbencher was sitting on a large potted plant while having an animated phone conversation with his wife, Vikki Campion, when he fell off, ‘rolled on the floor’ and continued with his phone call.
Aussies have demanded Joyce resign following the embarrassing incident.
Mr Joyce (pictured) was found lying on his back near a gutter muttering swear words into his phone
Barnaby Joyce (right) and Vikki Campion (left) are pictured at their wedding at Joyce Farm in Woolbrook
“He takes Australians for granted and he needs to have some dignity and resign,” one person wrote.
Another added: “But we all know he won’t resign because he’s a greedy grub.”
A third wrote on
‘What other public employer would condone this farce. Resign,” they wrote.
Others cited what they saw as parallels to a famous Australian cartoon character.
“I don’t think Barry Humphries ever intended for people to emulate his character Sir Les Patterson,” one person wrote.
‘Barnaby Joyce, you are a disgrace. Resign’.
Many people tried to show some sympathy for Mr Joyce, while at the same time saying he should leave politics.
“Has Barnaby Joyce offered to resign and get help yet,” someone asked.
Another said his coalition colleagues “enabled his behavior.” This man cannot hold elected office, he should resign and seek help. Show some self respect @Barnaby_Joyce.’
Hello colleagues have raised concerns about his health, with opposition spokesman Angus Taylor saying Mr Joyce’s welfare must be the top priority.
“Look, people like to jump to conclusions about these things and I certainly don’t do that and I don’t think anyone should,” he told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning.
“I think the main issue for us is Barnaby’s well-being, and we will do that. We will continue to focus on that. I will certainly continue to focus on that.
“He obviously wasn’t (OK) at the time.”
Mr Joyce, the Opposition Veteran’s Affairs spokesman, dismissed the video as “embarrassing” and said he had fallen over a planter after walking home from a late night parliamentary meeting.
“I was walking back to my accommodation when Parliament got up at 10pm,” he said.
‘While I was on the phone, I sat on the edge of a planter, fell over, kept talking on the phone and very animatedly referred to myself as having fallen.
“I got up and walked home.”
Barnaby Joyce is pictured with his wife Vikki Campion on Tuesday – the day before the Lonsdale Street scene
Barnaby Joyce is pictured in the Bolt report on Thursday, the day after his ’embarrassing’ phone call on the sidewalk
A fake plaque (photo) has appeared at the spot where Barnaby Joyce fell last Wednesday evening
But to add to that shame, a fake plaque appeared this weekend at the spot where he fell.
The artist was in such a hurry that they got the date wrong and said it happened in January instead of February.
A local who saw it told Daily Mail Australia: ‘It’s pretty hilarious. Everyone stops and laughs.
“It’s glued down, so it’s going to be there for a while.”
Although it sometimes makes the public laugh, the government has been careful not to give the impression that it is taking advantage of the situation.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was a matter for the opposition but called on Mr Joyce to explain his behavior to the public.
‘I know people will enjoy it, but from a personal point of view I don’t like to see anyone in that condition. I find it a bit disturbing,” Dr Chalmers told Sky News on Sunday.
Peter Campion (pictured left with Barnaby Joyce) said he was disgusted by the way his son-in-law was treated
‘I’m not going to call Barnaby on it. He has to explain.’
Peter Campion, father of Joyce’s wife Vikki Campion, said the former deputy prime minister had received a devastating message shortly before the incident.
“He had some really bad family news that day,” Campion told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday.
‘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 it affected him deeply.
‘As my daughter said, he was in a very, very bad situation and deeply depressed.
‘Any decent human being who came across someone in that position, who was so sad that he or she had collapsed on the footpath, would stop and help, not just make a video clip and sell it to the media.
“The biggest part of this story wasn’t Barnaby being an emotional wreck on the sidewalk, but the lack of caring nature of his countrymen, his fellow Australians.”