Former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has been granted personal leave from his parliamentary duties for one month.
Joyce was allowed to take the leave from Tuesday, meaning his absence will not affect votes in the Australian House of Representatives and will not jeopardise the coalition's slim one-seat majority, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Nationals backbencher applied for leave six weeks after he and his partner Vikki Campion welcomed a baby boy and just days after revelations the couple agreed to a paid interview of 150,000 Australian dollars ($112,500) with Channel 7's Sunday Night.
On Tuesday, Joyce told the Australian newspaper it was Campion who had made the decision to accept money for the interview, because she and their son Sebastian were being "screwed over" by constant media attention.
Joyce has not taken extended leave since his affair with former media advisor Campion was revealed earlier this year. The member for New England in New South Wales, stood down as Nationals leader in February and lodged a privacy complaint against the Daily Telegraph newspaper for reporting on his private life.
Joyce is expected to return to Parliament on August 13.
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--IANS
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