Vikki Campion's NSW One Nation job, explained: contract, column and the March election

Vikki Campion has started part-time work for NSW One Nation's state executive, giving media advice.

Campion is a News Corp columnist and the wife of federal One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce. She started in the week of 13 October 2026, ahead of the March NSW state election, according to The Guardian.

Campion said she reports to the NSW state executive, which she described as separate from federal One Nation. She said she did similar contractor work for the state Nationals before. It is a bit like bringing in a tradie for a short job rather than hiring full-time staff. Such contractors sit outside the permanent staff and answer to the state secretary and executive, not to the federal leader's office.

She was first seen in the role helping NSW One Nation leader Mike Newman with a press conference in the Hunter electorate on Tuesday. Newman is the party's state leader and its candidate for Cessnock.

Campion writes a weekly column for the Saturday Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph said she will keep writing her weekly column each Saturday as a contributor. She called the NSW One Nation role a "natural extension" of her conservative commentary work, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Campion previously worked as a media adviser to Joyce when he was deputy prime minister. The pair married in 2023. Joyce left the Nationals for One Nation in December 2025 and now sits as a federal One Nation MP. Separately, Katherine Deves was the 2022 Liberal candidate for Warringah and announced she joined One Nation in September.

The broader context here is structural. One Nation's state and federal organisations are legally and financially distinct, but voters do not make that distinction. A reporting line to Macquarie Street does not keep the Canberra brand separate, or vice versa. Anyone who has worked a state campaign from party head office knows the paperwork says one thing and the politics says another.

Looking at what this means for the March campaign, the hire shows where NSW One Nation thinks the fight is. Cessnock and the Hunter are local-media ground. A press conference needs pictures, locals and a clean grab for the nightly bulletin. Hiring a former deputy prime ministerial adviser with a weekly tabloid platform is a bet on cut-through. It is also a bet that disclosure will manage the conflict.

In my view, the test is simple and practical. Will the column disclose the contract when it touches NSW politics, One Nation or its opponents? Will Newman's office disclose the column when it spruiks coverage? The arrangement is not prohibited. It is not unusual either. Former staffers write columns and columnists take campaign gigs. The risk sits in the grey area where commentary and campaign material meet, and that area gets close scrutiny during a state election campaign period.

To put it plainly for press-gallery regulars, this puts three jobs that are usually kept apart in one person: adviser, principal and commentator. The formal separation is there on paper. Whether it holds in practice will be judged story by story, Saturday by Saturday.