THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BARNABY JOYCE
RURAL ROOTS
- Joyce is a Catholic and one of six children raised on a sheep and cattle farm in rural NSW's New England district.
- He studied financial administration in Armidale where he met future wife Natalie; they married in 1993 and had four daughters.
- He then worked on farms, as a rural banker and an accountant before setting up his own practice in St George, Queensland.
EARLY POLITICAL CAREER
- Joyce was elected a senator for Queensland in 2004, taking his seat in 2005.
- He was quickly branded a maverick for refusing to guarantee support for his own government's policies.
- He crossed the floor 28 times but stopped when he became a minister and was duty-bound to side with the government.
THE RISE
- Joyce resigned from the Senate before the 2013 election to return to NSW and contest the lower house seat of New England.
- His win gained him the agriculture ministry and the deputy leadership of the Nationals.
- He was famously described by Johnny Depp as resembling an inbred tomato after the then-agriculture minister berated the actor for illegally importing his pet dogs in 2015.
- Joyce has also held portfolios for water, resources, northern Australia, infrastructure and transport.
- He was elected Nationals leader unopposed in early 2016 replacing the retiring Warren Truss and elevating him to the deputy prime ministership.
- Joyce revealed in August 2017 that he may hold New Zealand citizenship via his father.
- The High Court ruled him ineligible to sit in parliament, triggering a by-election.
- Joyce reclaimed New England at the December 2 by-election, with almost two thirds of the vote and an increased majority after surrendering his New Zealand citizenship.
THE AFFAIR
- Joyce returned to parliament on December 6 and the next day confirmed long-running rumours his marriage was over but there was no mention of an affair.
- On February 7, News Corp splashed with a story that Joyce was expecting a baby with former staffer Vikki Campion.
- Joyce's wife Natalie said she and her daughters felt deceived and hurt and she understood the affair "started when she was a paid employee".
- Joyce confirms Campion is his partner but denies she was when she was working in his office, nor when she moved to a new job in cabinet minister Matt Canavan's office.
- He also denied breaching the ministerial code of conduct, which forbids frontbenchers from employing close relatives or partners or getting them work in other ministerial offices without the prime minister's approval.
- On February 15, Malcolm Turnbull announced Joyce would take a week of leave after his "shocking error of judgment" and won't serve as acting prime minister while Turnbull is in Washington.
- Joyce calls Turnbull's criticism of his affair inept and unnecessary.
- On February 20, the WA Nationals said Joyce had lost their support and he should go.
- On February 21, Joyce and Campion broke their silence, saying they wanted to protect their unborn son; Joyce calls some media reports malicious and says they have morphed into "some sort of morality discussion".
- On February 22, Andrew Broad became the first of Joyce's MPs to publicly call on him to quit as leader. The same day, the Nationals confirmed a formal sexual harassment complaint had been made against Joyce which he described as spurious and defamatory.
- On February 23, Joyce resigns as leader of the Nationals.
