British comedian John Oliver has delivered a stinging roast of Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce over his affair with his former media adviser, Vikki Campion.
Oliver, who hosts Last Week Tonight on US television network HBO, started off his segment about the political scandal that has dominated national headlines for days by describing Australia as "70 per cent uninhabitable because of desert and 30 per cent uninhabitable because of Australians".
He also reminded viewers of Mr Joyce's past international fame after he threatened to euthanise US actor Johnny Depp's illegally imported dogs, Pistol and Boo.
"Joyce is a social conservative and opposed same-sex marriage in their referendum last year because he believes in traditional family values, and you can probably see where this is going," Oliver said before running a news segment summing up Mr Joyce's affair.
John Oliver has delivered a stinging roast of Barnaby Joyce over his affair with a former staffer. Source: HBO
"You might think that is hypocritical. But in reality Joyce has such incredible family values that he can't restrict them to just one family.
"The Australian media has understandably jumped on this like a deputy prime minister with a wife and four children jumping on his 33-year-old former media adviser."
Oliver also poked fun at the father of now-pregnant Ms Campion, who Channel Seven managed to track down.
Peter Campion, who was first seen holding a rolled-up newspaper in one hand and slapping it into his other, told the TV news outlet: "I think a deputy PM on a spit would be quite a sight."
The interview amused Oliver who dubbed Mr Campion "the most Australian man that ever lived".
"In Australia they actually don't have Santa Claus they just have that guy [Mr Campion] coming down your chimney and whether you've been bad or good he just beats you with a newspaper," Oliver said.
