Vikki Campion, News Corp columnist and wife of Barnaby Joyce, begins role with NSW One Nation

Vikki Campion, the News Corp columnist and wife of the federal One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce, has begun working as an advisor for the party in New South Wales ahead of the March state election.

Campion, who assisted the NSW One Nation leader and candidate for Cessnock, Mike Newman, with a press conference in the Hunter electorate on Tuesday, told Guardian Australia she had started working for the party’s state executive as a contractor on a part-time basis this week.

She said it was “publicly disclosed that I [am] married to Barnaby on my website and the public are aware of my affiliation with One Nation through many media reports”.

“I’ve worked as a political contractor for around six years across a range of campaigns and candidates while writing regularly and running a farm.

“I report to the NSW state executive which is a separate entity to the federal One Nation, and I have previously worked for the state Nationals in similar arrangements.”

Campion writes a weekly column for The Saturday Telegraph, with her most recent published on 9 October.

Asked if she would disclose her work for the party in future columns for the paper, Campion said that “as an opinion writer, I don’t think anyone who has read my column would be shocked that I would want to help One Nation”.

After Guardian Australia put questions to The Daily Telegraph about Campion’s work with One Nation, the paper published an article about her new role in the party, which she told them was a “natural extension” of her career as a conservative commentator.

“Campion will continue to write her weekly column appearing every Saturday as a contributor,” the paper wrote.

After speaking to the Guardian, Campion subsequently posted to social media about her role, saying “the party is a phenomenon and unlike anything Australian politics has seen in a very long time”.

Campion, worked as a media advisor to Joyce when he was deputy prime ministerThe pair married in 2023. Joyce had announced in late 2017 that he and his first wife had separated, and The Daily Telegraph subsequently published a photo of a pregnant Campion on its front page in February 2018.

In an appearance on the ABC’s Australian Story in August, Campion said she felt “suicidal” during a press conference called by prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, after the story broke. The ABC issued an apology to Campion after the ABC News Instagram account published a clip from the episode with Campion discussing her experience of postpartum depression without disabling comments under the video.

Joyce, the federal MP for New England, defected from the Nationals to One Nation in December last year.

The revelation about Campion’s work for the party came after News24 reported that another high-profile former Coalition figure, 2022 Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves, would run as an upper house candidate in the NSW election. Deves had previously announced she had joined One Nation in September.

But after News24 reported that Deves, who reported receiving death threats after comments she had made about transgender people surfaced during the 2022 campaign, would run as an upper house candidate, One Nation put out a statement saying it had only confirmed three candidates – Newman, and upper house candidates Stuart Bonds and Jeff Bacon, a firearms manufacturer based in Tamworth.

“We have received more than 800 applications from community leaders, advocates and business people,” a spokesperson said. Campion told Guardian Australia she had no plans to run as a candidate for the party.

One Nation and The Saturday Telegraph were contacted for comment.