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Barnaby Joyce says he responded to a grilling about superannuation on ABC’s 7.30 “with mirth” after he accused host Sarah Ferguson on air of a gotcha question, but says he welcomes the tough questions bowled up by high-profile hosts including Sarah Ferguson, Sally Sara and Patricia Karvelas.
In a testy interview on Monday night, Ferguson and Joyce clashed several times over the details of the new policy – at one point Joyce declared “I’m the treasury spokesman, not Jesus Christ!” – in his first appearance on the program since the One Nation MP yelled at his dog Stella live on air seven weeks ago.
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At one point, after Ferguson moved her line of questioning on from superannuation to the party’s Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, Joyce offered the aside “that was fun though, that other stuff”.
Ferguson says the One Nation treasury spokesman missed an opportunity to have a serious debate about the party’s newly unveiled superannuation policy, which would allow people to access a quarter of their superannuation contributions for three years.
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“I am ready to take Barnaby seriously for a policy debate on super and I don’t think he responded in kind [on Monday night],” Ferguson said.
“So for me that’s a missed opportunity, but he and his colleagues from One Nation are welcome on the show. I last interviewed Pauline Hanson during the last election about her relationship with the Liberals and the policy relationship with the Liberals. She hasn’t been on since but I look forward to her next appearance.”
While One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has regularly declared that she will ban the ABC from her events, Joyce regularly appears on the national broadcaster. On Tuesday, One Nation again excluded ABC journalists, as well as reporters from The Guardian, from a press conference in Melbourne called by the party’s Victorian leader Warren Pickering.
On budget night in May, 730 had Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor and, for the first time, Joyce as One Nation’s treasury spokesman appear on the program. Joyce played it straight on that occasion, but the former deputy prime minister has taken a more combative approach to recent interviews.
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Joyce told this masthead that “sometimes I just get the sense that they’re not interested in interviewing me, they want to tear me to pieces”.
“They ask a question, I start to give a relevant answer, so they move on,” he said. “I won’t treat them with contempt, but I will with mirth.”
Joyce said that Monday night’s interview had run for about 28 minutes, but only about six minutes had gone to air – which is common for pre-recorded TV interviews – and claimed “what you are seeing is what they wish you to see, not the whole interview”.
Despite his obvious frustrations, and those of hosts such as Ferguson and Sara during an interview on ABC Radio National on Tuesday morning, Joyce said he would keep turning up for interviews because doing so is in One Nation’s interests.
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“I like Sky After Dark as well, but you have to do both, I think it is good for us, I call it ‘media chin music’, I think it’s good to show people you can play with the ball on your toes. The party is growing, broadening, it’s not losing its conservative roots.”
One TV industry veteran, who asked not to be named, said Joyce’s approach could blow back on him.
“At a moment when their policies are being taken seriously, it doesn’t make sense, even allowing for tapping into the Trumpian thing,” they said.
A source in One Nation said Joyce had not been formally chosen as the MP who appears on the ABC, but “he’s experienced, he can handle the flagships like 730 and Karvelas’ show”.
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“Pauline’s office doesn’t dictate his media,” the source said.
“Can you imagine anyone telling Barnaby what he should do? And now he is in One Nation, there are less restraints, but he feels like ABC still needs to be engaged.
“The ABC, when you divorce it from Melbourne and Sydney, it is far more balanced and reasonable outside of those two capitals. They understand the regions, and they have big audiences out there.”
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James Massola is Chief Political Commentator. He has previously been National Affairs
Editor and South-East Asia Correspondent, and has won Quill and Kennedy awards and is the 2026 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Connect securely on Signal @jamesmassola.01Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement