A freedom of information request for the travel expenses of Barnaby Joyce’s former staffer and current partner has been denied on the grounds it would undermine an independent investigation, and the “expectation and risk” of the information being “misinterpreted and misrepresented”.

More than four weeks ago, Fairfax Media lodged an FOI request seeking Vikki Campion’s travel records for the first quarter of 2017, to investigate whether public funds were misused while she worked for Mr Joyce, who she is now in a relationship with.

Vikki Campion, right, at Parliament House in 2017 with Barnaby Joyce, left. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In the response from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority – the body in charge of monitoring parliamentary travel expenses – branch manager Petra Gartmann wrote she was “of the view” that disclosing the documents would be “widely published” and would “generate public discussion, including on social media”.