PM says he can’t pinpoint when he knew about Barnaby’s affair

The Prime Minister says he “cannot recall” when he first knew about Barnaby Joyce’s affair with his staffer, Vikki Campion.

And he has given another rogue Nationals MP a rap across the knuckles, calling George Christensen’s recent social media post “inappropriate”.

Responding to Neil Mitchell’s questions about when the PM was first notified of the Joyce/Campion affair, Mr Turnbull said he didn’t know.

“Barnaby at no time said to me that he was in a sexual relationship with this woman, Vikki Campion,” Mr Turnbull said.

“He never made that admission to me.

“I cannot recall when I first heard a rumour about it but probably, you know, about the same time, possibly later than others. Parliament house, as you would also know, is full of rumours.”

NEIL: You didn’t consider asking?

PM: I’m not going to go into the private discussion I’ve had with him.

NEIL: Were you misled?

PM: I’m not going to go into those discussions Neil. It’s important that I am able to have confidential discussions with ministers about sensitive matters.

NEIL: Do you trust him?

PM: I do, of course I do.

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The PM also tried to refrain from being drawn into speculation about Nationals MP George Christensen’s recent Facebook post.

The photo showed Christensen holding a handgun, accompanied by the caption, “You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?”

Amid growing backlash online, Christensen changed the caption to, “Do you have a sense of humour, greenie punks?”, before eventually deleting the image.

“It was very inappropriate, there’s been a referral to the Australian Federal Police,” Mr Turnbull said.

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