This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Barnaby Joyce can no longer complain about his privacy being invaded after reportedly accepting a $150,000 payment for a tell-all interview, said the man dumped from the frontbench by the former Nationals leader.

Darren Chester said his former boss had lost any right to demand privacy after Joyce and his partner, Vikki Campion, reportedly accepted the six-figure sum to talk about their relationship and new family on air. Network Seven won a bidding war with rival Nine for the interview.

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“Well, no, he can’t,” Chester told Sky in answer to whether Joyce could still complain about his private life being questioned.

Party insiders have told News Corp the money is to be held in a trust for the couple’s newborn son.

Joyce’s colleagues have shied away from publicly criticising the decision, with most only saying it was a private matter, following a pattern set on Sunday, when the news of the interview payment broke.

“What Barnaby and Vikki decide on is their decision – I’m not going to be second-guessing what they should or shouldn’t be doing,” David Gillespie told Sky News. “I wouldn’t be doing interviews for cash, but that’s their choice.”

National party stalwart John “Wacka” Williams told ABC radio it was “up to him to decide” what Joyce did with his private life. “I’m not going to make a judgment one way or another about whether he’s doing right or wrong.”

But privately, Joyce’s colleagues are fuming that the former deputy prime minister has, according to one Coalition colleague, “once again grabbed the headlines, just as we were making some leeway”.

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“Every time we start to get back on track, he comes out with something new,” the colleague said. “Every single time. Every time.

“He popped up last week, talking to the cameras again [about the live sheep export trade], so he has obviously decided he’s had enough time in the wilderness, and now we are dealing with him accepting money to talk about the relationship which derailed everything we have been trying to do all year. He just needs to shut the hell up.”

The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, declined to comment when asked if politicians should be accepting money for interviews, only saying he did not believe there needed to be legislation to prevent it from happening.

He did not address whether the regulations that dictate MPs’ behaviour and responsibilities needed to change. But Chester said he was “uncomfortable” with politicians accepting money for interviews.

“It is a personal matter and it has been played out very publicly, and I am uncomfortable about chequebook journalism as a rule. My background is as a journalist, so I am uncomfortable about that,” he said.

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“And I am also uncomfortable about members of parliament being paid for interviews. This one is a bit different because, as I understand it, the payment is to go into a trust fund for his son.

“And there is a third party involved – Miss Campion – who has every right as a private citizen to sell her story if she likes. It is pretty complex, but as a matter of principle, I am not a big fan of chequebook journalism or MPs being paid for interviews.”

Joyce has not publicly confirmed the amount, or that it was either he or his partner who are responsible for a complaint to the Australian Press Council about News Corp coverage of their relationship, which ultimately led to his forced resignation as Nationals leader.

Earlier this year, Joyce, in an unpaid interview with Fairfax, asked for privacy for his family, declaring it was time to “move on”.

