American Marconi Wireless News - 'Sit down!' Australian politician berates dog 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'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.

Opinion polls show One Nation, for decades a fringe group led by provocateur Hanson, has become Australia's most popular party in recent months.

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.

M.A.Colin--AMWN