MP tells Joyce to quit as leader

THE NATIONAL Party has received a sexual harassment complaint against embattled leader Barnaby Joyce by a West Australian woman.

National Party federal president Larry Anthony confirmed a complaint had been made.

“The Federal Party can confirm a formal complaint has been received,” Mr Anthony said. “All complaints are taken seriously and treated with strict confidentiality and given due process.”

A spokesman for Mr Joyce said he was aware of the new allegation.

Meanwhile, Nationals MP Andrew Broad has called for Barnaby Joyce to quit as party leader in the “best interests of the country”.

Mr Broad, the member for Mallee in country Victoria, said he had informed Mr Joyce he no longer had his support and that he thought he was not currently fit for the job.

It comes more than two weeks after it was revealed Mr Joyce was expecting a baby with his former media adviser after an affair which had ended his 24-year marriage.

Mr Broad said Mr Joyce’s decision to conduct a media interview while he was supposed to be on leave was the last straw.

“At this point in time his judgment has erred, he’s not thinking in a place where he can be put up as the acting prime minister of Australia, he needs some time out and time to regroup,” Mr Broad told ABC radio.

News Corp can also reveal Mr Joyce took a 3000km road trip – some if not all with his pregnant girlfriend Vikki Campion – after becoming infrastructure and transport minister without doing any official work.

His office has declined to say when the two met up. Mr Joyce at one stage ventured to Cairns, where he was still with Ms Campion, before driving 1200km down the Bruce Hwy to Gladstone on January 2, where he photographed lightning during a storm and posted it to Facebook.

It was following this that he decided to undertake an official duty – apparently in an unplanned response to a local news report.

Within days, Mr Joyce was back near Coffs Harbour, holidaying with Ms Campion.