The Nationals MP, who told a TV interviewer he couldn’t enforce his views on others, says he is ‘obligated’ to lobby against the bill

Barnaby Joyce says he is “allowed, entitled and obligated” to lobby his state party counterparts to oppose a New South Wales parliament bill allowing safe zones for women attempting to access abortion clinics.

Joyce, who took medical leave in the last sitting of parliament, in the lead up to the controversial $150,000 tell-all interview he and his new partner, Vikki Campion, agreed to, has been contacting NSW Nationals MPs asking them to oppose the legislation.

The bill, which would implement a 150m “safe access zone” around clinics and prevent protesters from approaching women attempting to enter clinics for treatment, recently passed the NSW Legislative Council.

Key Nationals MPs have supported the bill, which is co-sponsored by Nationals MLC Trevor Khan.

Joyce, who had opposed marriage equality on the grounds that “the best protection” for his four daughters was they “get themselves into a secure relationship with a loving husband” and he didn’t want “any legislator to take that right away from me”, discussed his abortion views in his paid interview with Campion.

Campion said unnamed Nationals members she described as “God-fearing conservatives” had told her to have an abortion once they discovered her and Joyce’s extra-marital affair had resulted in a pregnancy. Campion said she told them it was “too late” and their son “had a heartbeat”. Joyce, known for his views, said he understood the pressure some people were under but couldn’t “enforce my views on people”.

At the same time, he was calling his state colleagues asking them to reject the passage of the safe access bill, telling local New England media it was his duty.

PRIME7 News Tamworth (@PRIME7Tamworth) .@Barnaby_Joyce speaks exclusively to PRIME7 about getting into the debate on protesters outside abortion clinics. See it only on PRIME7 Local News at 6pm. #PRIME7 pic.twitter.com/8Eejy1PYu0

“People know I’ve got a pro-life position. I am surrounded by people who don’t and I respect their views and they respect mine,” he told Prime News at the opening of a telecommunications tower in Tamworth on Thursday.

“And of course, all of us have a duty to express our views in a debate, and members of parliament are there to have your views expressed, that is precisely what, not only am I allowed to do, I am entitled to do and, I think, in some instances, you are obligated to.”

The NSW Nationals leader, John Barilaro, said he was proud of his party’s support of the bill adding that “Barnaby can do what Barnaby wants to do”.

Joyce applied for medical leave last month, leading to the government announcing he would not be back until the end of June, which would place his return to parliament at the conclusion of the winter recess, in August.



But Joyce released his own statement on Twitter saying he would return to work on 15 June, which would see him back in parliament for the 18 June sitting.

The legislation was due to be introduced and debated to the NSW legislative assembly on Thursday.