appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agence France-Presse

A top lawmaker from Australia’s far-right One Nation party has grabbed headlines after exploding at a misbehaving dog as he was grilled on live TV.
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was being interviewed on national broadcaster ABC on Monday night when he interrupted the one-on-one to shriek: “Sit down!”
“Sorry, it’s the dog,” he told the journalist.
The errant pooch then interrupted the proceedings again, with Joyce saying: “I do apologise for this dog, it’s just started to bail up.”

“Don’t worry about the dog, just answer the question,” replied journalist Sarah Ferguson, who was grilling Joyce on his party leader Pauline Hanson’s recent meeting with far-right British figurehead Tommy Robinson.
“Don’t be rude. Otherwise, this interview will come to a grinding halt, Sarah,” Joyce snapped back.
It is not the first time the cattle-farming politician has fallen foul of man’s best friend – he once threatened to kill Johnny Depp’s dogs.
His outburst drew ire across Australia, with Victoria state lawmaker Georgie Purcell of the Animal Justice Party writing on social media: “If you think this is a normal way to speak to your dog, sit down!”
Asked about the feedback, Joyce told The Sydney Morning Herald the outcry reflected a divide between the cities and rural Australians. “People in the regions laugh about it,” he said. “People in the inner city think it’s a war crime.”
Podcast appearance
Hanson has defended her decision to appear on a podcast with Robinson, a former football hooligan turned anti-Islam activist whose profile has soared in recent years.
She drew outrage back home for telling Robinson the end of the “White Australia” policy – which restricted non-white immigration – in the 1970s was partly responsible for the country’s current ills. Hanson later denied she was calling for a return to that policy.
She also spoke last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference in London, and travelled to Italy to meet Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, who is a supporter of the One Nation party and gave Hanson a plane earlier this year.

Opinion polls show One Nation, for decades a fringe group led by provocateur Hanson, has become Australia’s most popular party in recent months.
Support for the party has soared over the past year as voters increasingly desert the two centre-right parties in the opposition coalition, which has been riven by division since losing government in 2022.
One Nation has also benefited from Labor’s growing unpopularity and is aiming to translate that surge into election wins after gaining its first federal seat in May.
Labor’s primary vote dropped to 30 per cent in the latest Newspoll carried in The Australian newspaper. Meanwhile, One Nation garnered the same share of support, rising to near its historic best, according to the survey of 1,238 voters.
The next electoral test for the party will be at the end of next month, when it contests a seat in suburban Perth in the west of the country.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg


Pacific island states are trapped in Cold War 2.0

US Congress investigates diversion of sensitive F-35 parts to Hong Kong: report

Named as an enemy: Indonesia’s uneasy Aukus moment

China-led study reveals ‘Greater Gondwana’ was 80% of Earth’s crust 500m years ago

Australia

Australian politician barks ‘sit down’ at dog during live interview

Barnaby Joyce yells at his dog while being interviewed on ABC on Monday night. Photo: ABC 

Then Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull (front) and deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce take questions in the House of Representatives on February 15, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson walks in the senate chamber in Parliament House, Canberra, on June 29. Photo: AFP

Can Australian uranium fuel India’s nuclear future without sparking an arms race?

A nuclear reactor complex in Maharashtra, India. Photo: NPCIL/AFP

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia on Friday. Photo: Reuters

A long-range ballistic missile bursts out of the sea during a test launched from a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine in the South Pacific on July 6. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Pacific security axis grows as New Zealand eyes Australia-Fiji defence pact

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shakes hands with Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka (right) before the Ocean of Peace Alliance signing on July 6. Photo: AFP

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called joining the alliance the “logical” choice. Photo: AFP

The low-lying coastline of Tuvalu’s Funafuti Atoll. Observers say Pacific island leaders regularly rank climate change, rather than hard security concerns, as their biggest threat. Photo: AFP

Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Jotham Napat (left) and Australia’s Anthony Albanese pose for photographs after signing the Nakamal Agreement on June 29. Photo: EPA

14-nation South China Sea statement is an expansionist overreach

The China Coast Guard vessel Dong’an patrolling in the South China Sea on June 22. Photo: Xinhua

Tourism appeal adds to Australia’s edge in drawing mainland Chinese, Hong Kong homebuyers

Australia’s tourism appeal helps draw investors from mainland China and Hong Kong, according to agents. Photo: AFP

Between July 2025 and March 2026, mainland Chinese buyers were the largest group of foreign investors in the Australian housing market. Photo: Reuters

Singapore telecoms company slashes CEO’s salary over outages

The headquarters of Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) in Singapore. Photo: AFP

A customer waits for service at an Optus store in Sydney, Australia. Optus is a subsidiary of Singtel. Photo: AP

News

Asia

Australasia

When the journalist asks him to ignore the dog and answer her question, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce tells her not to be rude


When the journalist asks him to ignore the dog and answer her question, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce tells her not to be rude.


Australian politician barks ‘sit down’ at dog during live interview

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}When the journalist asks him to ignore the dog and answer her question, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce tells her not to be rude

When the journalist asks him to ignore the dog and answer her question, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce tells her not to be rude