People have been bagging out Barnaby Joyce for rousing on his dog while doing an interview on an iPhone on his working farm. The interviewer, Sarah Ferguson of the billion-dollar-plus taxpayer-funded ABC, was in her well-staffed studio.

Barnaby (he told me to call him that when I referred to him as Mr Joyce) and his wife, Vikki Campion, had made the interview happen by accessing Starlink (whatever happened to Labor’s NBN?), running out extension cords for lights, and braving freezing outdoor temperatures to conduct the interview.

Nobody said thanks to Barnaby or Vikki. Instead, there was criticism.

‘Why couldn’t you lock the dog in a room with a toy?’

‘Does the dog even exist?’

Vikki tells me:

‘If we do not do the interview, they make out he is afraid of transparency or he is hiding from it.’

Far from hiding from it, Stella (their dog) was barking. Probably at a wild pig or a kangaroo. And Barnaby responded like any dog owner would: ‘Sit down!’

The scene is a metaphor for what is happening in Australian politics. One Nation is doing its best to represent ordinary Australians. Barnaby is doing his best to make it work. Yet the media storm is focusing on all the things that are part and parcel of rural, regional, and suburban life.

No self-respecting dog owner would begrudge Stella for doing her job.

Vikki tells me that she will not run as a One Nation candidate (or any other).

‘You can’t have two people in politics who have kids. Who looks after my children?’

Any job she takes has to be flexible enough to run a farm and be a rural mum. Working away would require a farm manager plus a full-time nanny. Like most Australian families, the economics simply do not work. Especially in the current economic environment.

So why has Vikki Campion suddenly reappeared in public life in support of her husband? She has launched her own Substack this week in addition to her writing for the Daily Telegraph and occasional media appearances.

She tells me she was previously unable to use social media before as a Coalition staffer.

They did the interview deliberately. Vikki tells me:

‘Barnaby’s doing you a favour by finding some power, getting the internet access, it’s freezing cold. It’s the first time we’ve managed to connect the shed to the internet successfully. We have no dedicated office, no epic studio. This is the best we can do. There’s no shirking, he shows up.’

Vikki is not asking for special treatment. She is asking for the most basic recognition that a farm is not a studio, a working dog is not a prop, and rural Australia does not run on the same clock or the same assumptions as the inner city.

She draws on the example of Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 1943.

Enid was highly supportive of her husband, Joe Lyons, throughout his political career. She acted as his closest political ally, campaign strategist, and trusted advisor. She was pivotal in encouraging Joseph Lyons to leave the Labor Party to form the United Australia Party in 1931, which propelled him to the Prime Ministership.

The United Australia Party is an important precursor to the Liberal Party. In many ways, the United Australia Party is to the Liberals what the Liberals are to One Nation.

If you want to mess with Barnaby, prepare to meet your match. There is an historical precedent for it.

The facts of the ABC interview with Barnaby are as straightforward as One Nation’s message.

Stella (the dog) is real.

She was at least 50 metres away.

Stella was not barking at Barnaby. She was doing what farm dogs do when there are kangaroos and feral pigs around, protecting her family.

Vikki says they can attack Barnaby all they like. He can handle it. What they cannot do is demand perfect conditions from a working farm and then act surprised when reality intrudes.

I doubt many Australians were worried about the reality that most of us live daily. But it sure does smack of the inner-city versus everywhere-else divide. One Nation is actively engaged in this space and the aftermath of Barnaby’s interview simply reinforced what the rest of the country knows. Many inner-city pundits have no idea about the realities of greater Australia.

Many people won’t know that Barnaby Joyce served in the Army Reserve and that both his and Vikki’s families have a history of military service. I believe Barnaby’s grandfather was an original Anzac, but more on this later.

Both families (Vikki’s and Barnaby’s) have deep military involvement. That background shapes how they see duty, resilience, and service.

Enid Lyons always defended her husband. Politicians have always used their spouses to carry part of the message. What has changed is the intensity and the detachment of the criticism. It has gone crazy.

Vikki has been too busy surviving to do more. She cares for their children and runs the farm while Barnaby does his duty for Australia. But now the alternative is letting other people write the story for them.

Vikki Campion is not seeking a platform. She is simply refusing to let other people write the story of her family. It’s what a truly Australian family would do.

Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.