Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce diagnosed with prostate cancer, undergoing surgery

At a time he should be celebrating, Barnaby Joyce is instead preparing for surgery after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The former deputy prime minister and Nationals MP retained his seat of New England on Saturday night.

On Sunday evening, he shared his cancer diagnosis with the ABC and urged men to get checked.

Mr Joyce said it was thanks to an insistent GP that he was diagnosed with the disease early.

“I was lucky because I’ve got a very diligent general practitioner,” he said.

“She insisted on me getting a PSA and wasn’t I lucky that she did that, because otherwise we’d be having a different conversation in a couple of years’ time.

“Prostate cancer, if you get it early, is very, very treatable; in fact, about 97 per cent successful.”

The PSA – prostate-specific antigen test — returned an elevated result, which was confirmed with an MRI and biopsy.

Mr Joyce will spend a few days in hospital after an operation on Monday, before recuperating at home.

The 58-year-old said he’d resign if the diagnosis was serious, but doctors caught it early.

Mr Joyce was re-elected to the seat of New England on Saturday night with a decisive 2.3 per cent swing to the Nationals Party.

He said the election was a welcome distraction from the cancer diagnosis and didn’t want to speak about it during the campaign, labelling it a distraction.

“I knew it would turn into a bit of a circus,” he said.

“I wanted the campaign to focus on the campaign and I didn’t think this issue needed to be a part of that.”

Mr Joyce is a father of four daughters with his first wife Natalie and has a son with former political staffer Vikki Campion.