Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is engaged to marry partner Vikki Campion after popping the question during a romantic restaurant dinner.

The couple will marry after the looming federal election, which is due by late May.

Mr Joyce, 54, proposed to Ms Campion, 36, and received a positive response, at the Latitude 30 restaurant in Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast last weekend.

“[She] went to the bathroom and I told the guys at the restaurant, ‘I’m going to propose and if this works out well, it’s going to be real nice’,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program on Tuesday.

“‘If it doesn’t, I will join you at the bar for about a day.'”

The couple have two children, three-year-old Sebastian and Thomas, 2.

Mr Joyce and Ms Campion’s relationship caused a storm when it became public in 2018 when a photograph of a heavily pregnant Ms Campion was splashed across page one of a daily newspaper.

It quickly emerged that Mr Joyce had left his wife of 24 years, Natalie, and begun a relationship with Ms Campion, a former staffer.

In the ensuing fallout, Mr Joyce resigned as Nationals leader and went to the back bench. He took back the party leadership in June 2021, ousting Michael McCormack.

Mr Joyce said the couple had been “overwhelmed” by good wishes since their engagement. However, he said their two young sons were oblivious to their parents’ exciting news.

‘The boys couldn’t care less, they’re not aware,’ he said, the Daily Telegraph reports.

‘As long as you take them to the pool at the moment they’re happy.’

-with AAP