Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has tried to walk back comments he made to a newspaper in which he claimed his $211,000 income was "spread thin".

Key points: Barnaby Joyce insists he's not "skint" following an interview with News Corp

Barnaby Joyce insists he's not "skint" following an interview with News Corp He's attracted criticism for saying he's struggling to support his families on $211,000

He's attracted criticism for saying he's struggling to support his families on $211,000 Mr Joyce used his personal circumstances to advocate for an increase in Newstart payments

Under the headline "I'm skint", the Nationals backbencher used his personal circumstances supporting two families to explain his calls for an increase in Newstart payments for jobseekers.

The article prompted criticism from his fellow parliamentarians, prompting Mr Joyce to clarify his circumstances.

"I am not skint, very good headline," he told reporters at Parliament House.

"You've all read it but I am not skint … I am on an incredibly good wage and even on that there come times where you've really got to budget because of circumstances that I brought on myself," he said.

"If I am doing that on an incredible wage, how on Earth is someone doing it on 280 bucks a week?"

Mr Joyce supports two families, having separated from his wife, Natalie, the mother of four of his children.

He has since had two children with his new partner, former staffer Vikki Campion.

In the article, Mr Joyce said he eats his own sheep, rarely eats out and switches off the heater on cold winter nights.

Mr Joyce said he had called for an increase to Newstart because he had a new understanding for how tough it would be to live on.

"It's not that I'm not getting money, it's just that it's spread so thin," he told News Corp's The Courier-Mail.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 50 seconds 1 m 50 s Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce lends his voice to the calls for a re-think of Newstart.

The comments attracted the ire of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who slammed Mr Joyce.

"He feels skint? Where are the tissues, my God?" she said on Today.

"What a ridiculous, stupid way to explain himself and he is saying Newstart allowance, people need a helping hand, which I've been saying for some time now."

About 723,000 Australians receive the Newstart allowance. If they are single they live on about $40 a day.

The payment has not increased in real terms for 25 years.

Welfare groups, the business community and politicians across the political spectrum have called for an increase in Newstart payments.

The Government has repeatedly rejected those calls and insisted two-thirds of people on Newstart found work within 12 months.