Barnaby Joyce dodged a question about his four daughters as he went on the ABC to promote his new tell-all book after his affair with a much younger woman.

The 51-year-old former deputy prime minister avoided talking directly about his family after comedian Charlie Pickering posed an uncomfortable question.

'You've dedicated this book to your beloved daughters. Are your daughters embarrassed by you?,' the host of The Weekly asked on Wednesday night.

Mr Joyce, a father-of-five who championed family values, avoided answering the question.

'Charlie, I love my daughters dearly and I love my son,' he said with a tired expression on his face for three seconds.

The former Nationals leader's son Sebastian was born on April 16, two months after news of Mr Joyce's affair with his 33-year-old former media adviser Vikki Campion led to him quitting as deputy prime minister.

The backbench member for New England, in northern New South Wales, in May accepted a $150,000 payment from the Seven Network for a soft interview with Sunday Night reporter Alex Cullen, which rated poorly and was widely panned on social media.

With his 24-year marriage to his estranged wife Natalie now over, Mr Joyce has re-entered the spotlight, this time without charging a fee to the media, to promote his new book Weatherboard and Iron about people in regional Australia.

The former country accountant yesterday told the Nine Network's Today show he had made a deliberate decision to omit photographs of his daughters Bridgette, 20, Julia, 19, Caroline, 17, and Odette, 15.

Mr Joyce became defensive on the ABC when asked if his boss, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, would want him promoting a book, following a round of interviews including a spot with Sydney breakfast shock jock Kyle Sandilands on KIIS-FM.

'It's not the first politician to write a book, Charlie,' he said.

The former cabinet minister said his blossoming affair with Vikki Campion began as he regularly went out for beer to deal with mental health problems.

Mr Joyce said his book had included 'salicious' details of his new romance and how media attention led to him spiralling into depression.

He told Kyle Sandilands his relationship with Ms Campion had helped him deal with the stress of public life.

'All mates want to do when they go out is they want to have a beer, and...tomorrow night, have another beer - you think "I'm getting away with this", but you're not,' he told KISS-FM.

'What you need is a person who says "right, rather than have a beer, how about you you have dinner and watch television? That'd be a much better idea".'