Calls mount for Barnaby Joyce to resign over embarrassing video of his late night tumble

There are growing calls for Barnaby Joyce to resign from parliament after he was found lying on his back near a gutter and mumbling profanities into his phone.

Daily Mail Australia revealed exclusive video of the former deputy prime minister, 56, sprawled on the footpath at Lonsdale Street, in the Canberra suburb of Braddon, close to midnight last Wednesday.

Sources said the Nationals frontbencher was sitting on a large pot plant while having an animated phone conversation with his wife, Vikki Campion, when he fell off, ‘rolled around’ on the ground and continued with his call.

Aussies have demanded Mr Joyce hand in his resignation following the embarrassing incident.

Mr Joyce (pictured) was found lying on his back near a gutter and mumbling profanities into his phone

Barnaby Joyce (right) and Vikki Campion (left) are pictured at their wedding at the Joyce farm in Woolbrook

‘He takes Australians for granted, and he must have some dignity and resign,’ one wrote.

Another added: ‘But we all know he won’t resign because he’s a greedy grub.’

A third wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that ‘it’s totally unacceptable and allowing it to continue is just enabling his appalling behaviour’.

‘What other public facing employer would condone this farce. Resign,’ they wrote.

Others mentioned what they saw as parallels with a famous Australian comic character.

‘I don’t think Barry Humphries ever intended for people to emulate his character Sir Les Patterson,’ one wrote.

‘Barnaby Joyce you are a disgrace. Resign’.

Many people tried to show some sympathy for Mr Joyce while also saying he should quit politics.

‘Has Barnaby Joyce offered to resign and get help yet,’ one asked.

Another said his Coalition colleagues ‘are enabling his behaviour. This man cannot hold elected office he needs to resign and seek help. Show some self respect @Barnaby_Joyce.’

Hi colleagues have expressed concern for his health, with Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor saying Mr Joyce’s welfare must be the top priority.

‘Look, people like to jump to conclusions on these things and I’m certainly not doing that and I don’t think anyone should,’ he told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning.

‘I think the primary issue for us is Barnaby’s welfare and we will – we will remain focused on that. I certainly will remain focused on that.

‘He clearly wasn’t (OK) at the time.’

Mr Joyce, who is the Opposition Veteran’s Affairs spokesman, brushed off the video as ’embarrassing’ and said he had fallen over a planter after walking home from a late night parliamentary function.

‘I was walking back to my accommodation after Parliament rose at 10pm,’ he said.

‘While on the phone I sat on the edge of a plant box, fell over, kept talking on the phone and very animatedly was referring to myself for having fallen over.

‘I got up and walked home.’

Barnaby Joyce is pictured with his wife Vikki Campion on Tuesday – the day before the scene on Lonsdale Street

Barnaby Joyce is pictured on the Bolt report on Thursday, the day after his ’embarrassing’ phone call on the footpath

A fake plaque (pictured) has appeared at the spot where Barnaby Joyce fell over last Wednesday night

But compounding that embarrassment, over the weekend a fake plaque appeared at the spot where he fell.

The artist was in such a hurry they got the date wrong, saying in happened in January, rather than February.

One local who saw it told Daily Mail Australia that ‘It’s pretty hilarious. Everyone’s stopping and having a laugh.

‘It’s glued down, so it’ll be there for a while.’

Though it is the cause of some laughs for the public, the Government has been careful not to be seen to take advantage of the situation.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was a matter for the Opposition, but called on Mr Joyce to front up and explain his behaviour to the public.

‘I know that people will have their fun with it, but from a personal point of view – I don’t like to see anyone in that state. I find it a little disturbing,’ Dr Chalmers told Sky News on Sunday.

Peter Campion (pictured left with Barnaby Joyce) said he was disgusted by the way his son-in-law has been treated

‘I’m not going to take shots at Barnaby about it. He needs to explain it.’

Peter Campion, father of Mr Joyce’s wife Vikki Campion, said the former deputy prime minister had received a devastating message shortly before the incident.

‘He had some very bad family news on that day,’ Mr Campion told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday.

‘He’s already lost a brother to cancer, that’s what you’ve got to begin with. He had some very bad similar news, which is not up to me divulge but of the same scale and it affected him deeply.

‘As my daughter said he was in a very, very bad place and was deeply depressed.

‘Any decent person coming across someone in that position, so sad that they have let themselves collapse on the footpath would stop and help, not just take a video clip and sell it to the media.

‘The biggest part of this story was not that Barnaby was an emotional wreck on the footpath, it is the lack of caring nature of his countrymen, his fellow Australians.’