‘Rent-a-root’: Vikki Campion unleashes in unseen interview footage

It was supposed to be the tell-all interview event of the year, but Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion’s $150,000 interview with Sunday Night left people with more questions than answers.

While the pair opened up about some details of their relationship, which started when Campion acted as Joyce’s media adviser when he was the leader of the National Party and deputy prime minister, there were some questions the couple refused to answer.

Taking to Twitter, interviewer Alex Cullen said it wasn’t because he didn’t ask the hard-hitting questions.

“I’d like to make it clear that q’s about Joyce’s alleged tax-payer funded travel rorts and claims of sexual misconduct were asked in our @sundaynighton7 I/V [sic],” he wrote. “The response to these q’s was the same as we’ve heard time and time again. Vehemently denied hence nothing new.”

I’d like to make it clear that q’s about Joyce’s alleged tax-payer funded travel rorts and claims of sexual misconduct were asked in our @sundaynighton7 I/V. The response to these q’s was the same as we’ve heard time and time again. Vehemently denied hence nothing new. #Auspol

— Alex Cullen (@alextcullen) June 4, 2018

Cullen then shared a video of unseen footage from his interview with Australia’s most talked about couple.

“For those who asked,” he said.

The clip was described as “the exchanges viewers didn’t see”, where Campion opened up about some of the nastiest names she was called on social media.

For those who asked. #auspol https://t.co/RR4F8g2upK

— Alex Cullen (@alextcullen) June 4, 2018

“Oh yeah, I’m a ‘rent-a-root’,” she explained, using air quotes when explaining the name she was called online.

The pair also denied any misuse of taxpayer money. Joyce said he’d faced comprehensive questioning by the Parliamentary Expenses Authority.

“They have investigated this to death,” the politician said. “I’ve had like, 160 enquiries and at this point, not one, not one has come up with saying, ‘oh, this is a problem’.”

Campion said her travel expenses were also being investigated and claimed she was actually owed money. She also denied she profited from high-paid jobs, insisting she actually earned less working for Joyce.

“My wage actually dropped significantly,” she said, with the interview noting she didn’t get paid maternity leave.

As for Joyce, he also denied sexual harassment in the workplace by other women in parliament.

“This is garbage,” he said. “The purpose of this, I believe, was to blow me out of my job.”

During footage that aired during Sunday’s interview, Campion said she wanted to speak out because everyone else was profiting from her newborn son, Sebastian.

Read more: Barnaby Joyce’s mistress Vikki Campion apologises for hurt caused by affair

“Everybody else is making money out of Sebastian except for Sebastian … Let’s take some that, put it in a trust, and he can use that for his education and his health,” Campion said.

“Not a cent is going to us, this is a trust account for Sebastian. Nothing’s going to me, nothing’s going to Vikki, this is for a young bloke called Sebastian Joyce,” Joyce added.

Campion, who was speaking on camera about their relationship – which came about while Joyce was still married to wife Natalie, with whom he has four daughters – for the first time, admitted she was nervous about the interview.

“I’m very nervous because we said we’d never talk about this and it got to the point where we had to end the circus,” she said, holding back tears. “When you’re walking around with a three-week-old baby being papped, I’d do anything to protect him.”

Meanwhile, radio presenter Alan Jones has defended the couple on his popular 2GB show, explaining the affair wasn’t a “scandal”.

Read more: ‘Given the choice between adulterer or backstabber, gimme the cheat’: Jones

“Every man and his dog is delivering a moral sermon to Barnaby Joyce,” Jones said. “I am one of those people who doesn’t regard this as a scandal.”

What do you think? Did you watch the interview? What do you think of the new interview footage?