\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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!\"\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Sorry, it's the dog,\" he told the journalist.\n<\/p>\n
\n The errant pooch then interrupted the proceedings again, with Joyce saying: \"I do apologise for this dog, it's just started to bail up.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n \"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.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Don't be rude. Otherwise, this interview will come to a grinding halt, Sarah,\" Joyce snapped back.\n<\/p>\n
\n It's 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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!\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Asked about the feedback, Joyce told the Sydney Morning Herald the outcry reflected a divide between the cities and rural Australians.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"People in the regions laugh about it,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"People in the inner city think it's a war crime.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Opinion polls show One Nation, for decades a fringe group led by provocateur Hanson, has become Australia's most popular party in recent months.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hanson later denied she was calling for a return to that policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-162153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n