Barnaby Joyce reveals he’s engaged to Vikki Campion

Ashleigh GleesonNCA NewsWire
Camera IconBarnaby Joyce has popped the question to Vikki Campion. Instagram Credit: News Corp Australia

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has revealed that he popped the question to partner Vikki Campion on Sunday – and she said yes.

A spokesman for Mr Joyce confirmed the pair was now engaged after he asked her to marry him with a Parti Sapphire ring at a restaurant in Coffs Harbour.

The couple share two children, three-year-old Sebastian and Thomas, aged two.

“We are both very happy and have been overwhelmed by the good wishes we have been offered, and we thank everyone for them,” Mr Joyce said in a statement on Monday.

Mr Joyce, 54, stood down from his high-profile role as the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of The National Party in early 2018 after news of his affair with ex-staffer Ms Campion was first made public in The Daily Telegraph.

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Camera IconDeputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce with his partner Vikki Campion and their children, Sebastian and Thomas. NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia

Mr Joyce’s 24-year marriage to wife Natalie ended in the wake of the scandal.

But he was then re-elected in 2021, after a leadership spill ousted Michael McCormack from the role.

“I acknowledge my faults and I resigned as I should have and I did. I’ve spent three years on the backbench and, you know, I hope I come back a better person,” he said after the successful challenge.

After the affair with Ms Campion first became public, then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described Mr Joyce’s behaviour as a “a shocking error of judgment”.

“I think we know that the real issue is the terrible hurt and humiliation that Barnaby by his conduct, has visited on his wife, Natalie and their daughters and indeed, his new partner,” he said at the time.

Camera IconVikki Campion said yes when Barnaby Joyce proposed. NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage Credit: NCA NewsWire

“Barnaby made a shocking error of judgment in having an affair with a young woman working in his office. In doing so, he has set off a world of woe for those women and appalled all of us.”

Since then Ms Campion has spoken out about the situation she was in when she was pregnant.

“At the time, I was jobless, heavily pregnant, distressed, effectively living out of my car and AirBnBs booked by my brother, with a prepaid phone,” she wrote in her column for The Saturday Telegraph.

Originally published as Barnaby Joyce reveals he’s engaged to Vikki Campion

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