Cabinet ministers are studiously avoiding any temptation to comment on Barnaby Joyce and partner Vikki Campion’s tell-all interview with Sunday Night and the $150,000 payment the couple negotiated after a secret bidding war.

An industry insider has told News Corp the money from the sit-down TV interview will be held in trust for six-week-old Sebastian.

“The baby’s parents have no say in it and cannot access it,” the insider said.

“Lawyers ultimately get to decide if it should be accessed for the child’s education or if it will go to the child as a lump sum when he gets to 18 or possibly older.”

Even if he does not profit from the interview, Mr Joyce will still have to declare it on the parliamentary register of members’ interests.

But his former Cabinet colleagues insist questions arising from the interview are distractions and not worth considering – despite what many see as Mr Joyce’s glaring hypocrisy.

When the storm over the couple’s love child erupted earlier this year, Mr Joyce asked the media to respect their privacy and “move on”.

Barnaby Joyce’s affair with Vikki Campion made headlines around the world, including this story in The Irish Times.

Those comments in an unpaid February interview with Fairfax came as he was forced to quit Cabinet as a result of the scandal and a clash with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who subsequently banned members of his government from engaging in romantic affairs with staffers.

Now it seems “privacy” comes with a six-figure price tag – and the potential to once again embarrass the government just  as it seems to be gaining traction in the latest polls.

Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie struck a nothing-to-see-here line when quizzed by the ABC on Sunday, noted that public figures write memoirs all the time and politicians tell their stories in a variety of ways throughout their careers.

“I don’t think it’s up to me to actually be making commentary on the morality of that or otherwise,” she told ABC TV on Sunday.

“What Barnaby Joyce and Vikki decide to do in their private life is their business.”

Human Services Minister Michael Keenan also did not want to run a commentary on Mr Joyce’s decision.

“It was a distraction in the earlier part of the year and obviously we don’t want to revisit that,” he told Sky News.

“But this isn’t my focus, this isn’t the focus of the government.”

Seven’s Sunday Night reportedly won a bidding war with the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes to secure the exclusive interview.

Mr Joyce said late in 2017 that he had split from his wife and mother of his four daughters, Natalie.

The relationship with Ms Campion, his former staffer, became public in early February. Sebastian was born in Armidale on April 16.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Mr Joyce had not breached any ministerial standards because Ms Campion had not been his “partner” when she worked for him.

But Mr Turnbull went on to criticise Mr Joyce for exercising a “shocking error of judgment” before banning ministers from having sexual relationships with staff.

-with AAP