“I, I think … SIT DOWN! … Sorry, it’s a dog.”

Barnaby Joyce was about to answer a question on the ABC about whether he was comfortable with where his party leader, Pauline Hanson, was taking him, when he roared at a dog off-camera.

It wasn’t clear how close the dog was or what it was doing to raise his ire, but the strange outburst proved the climax of a live nine-minute interview during which he claimed Channel Seven had suggested Hanson meet with British right-wing agitator Tommy Robinson, and appeared to suggest that One Nation could try to identify illegal immigrants using the medical system and parking fine data.

When he composed himself, Joyce said he had changed his views the way that many other Australians had.

When journalist Sarah Ferguson asked if he had set a limit on how far he was willing to go in defence of Hanson, Joyce didn’t answer directly.

“When you say set a limit, you know, I’ve heard other things today, like she supports returning to the White Australia policy. She doesn’t, and she said that quite clearly on the stage,” he said.

Joyce appeared on the public broadcaster’s 7.30 program following Hanson’s highly publicised trip to Europe, in which she was seen relaxing in Italy with billionaire friend Gina Rinehart, told the Conservative Political Action Conference in London not to apologise for being white, and appeared on a podcast and Channel Seven segment with Robinson.

Ferguson then asked whether he endorsed Hanson’s call to bring Robinson to Australia, and Joyce immediately claimed Seven’s program, Spotlight, had suggested Hanson and Robinson meet.

When pushed on the fact Seven denied this, Joyce said he’d read emails and had “a different opinion”.

When asked if he agreed with Hanson’s remarks in the Spotlight program that Muslims bred at cost to Australian taxpayers, Joyce again defended his leader: “She also said that obviously it’s not a case of every person of the Islamic faith. There is an issue in Australia that if people go and into a form of balkanisation where you … where there’s not an assimilation, where you go into a form of an alternate culture which is at odds with the egalitarian ethos of Australia, then that creates massive problems. And we saw that in Bondi.”

Earlier on Monday, Joyce had backed Hanson’s call for mass deportations – which she later clarified to add that this applied only to people in Australia illegally – and he was pressed on this by Ferguson.

“You said today you could wait until overstayers go to see a doctor or a nurse. So will you require GPs and doctors to report visa overstayers to authorities?” Ferguson asked.

The mysterious dog that had riled Joyce then resurfaced off-screen.

“I have to apologise for the dog,” Joyce began his answer, though there was no disturbance obvious to viewers.

“Don’t worry about the dog, just answer the question,” Ferguson pressed calmly.

Joyce bristled at this: “Don’t be rude, otherwise this interview will come to a grinding halt.”

Ferguson asked the question again, with Joyce interrupting before she could finish.

“Oh no, Sarah that’s ridiculous, unless you want to keep illegal immigrants here, then there’s no point in calling them illegal ...”

Asked a third time how One Nation would detect illegal immigrants to deport, Joyce said: “From time to time, they’re going to come across all range of things, whether it’s health issues, whether it’s parking fines, whatever it is. And when they pop up, they’re going to be sent off because otherwise the whole thing’s a farce.”

The interview ended with one more reference to the offending, unseen canine.