Australian deputy PM to quit cabinet after controversy over his affair
CANBERRA: Australia’s beleaguered deputy prime minister resigned from the cabinet on Friday over allegations that he sexually harassed a woman, but said he would not resign from Parliament.
By staying in Parliament, Barnaby Joyce ensures that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s single-seat majority in the House of Representatives is maintained. The allegation of sexual harassment adds to scrutiny Joyce has faced since news broke earlier this month that he and his former media secretary Vikki Campion are expecting a baby in April.
Questions have been raised about her employment in two government jobs after working in Joyce’s office last year and the rent-free apartment owned by a wealthy political donor where Joyce and Campion now live.
Joyce said his Nationals party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, will pick a new leader on Monday.
“It’s incredibly important that there be a circuit-breaker, not just for the Parliament, but more importantly, a circuit-breaker for Vikki, for my unborn child, my daughters and for Nat,” he told reporters, referring to his estranged wife of 24 years and mother of his four daughters, Natalie Joyce. Whoever is chosen by Nationals lawmakers as their new leader on Monday will become deputy prime minister.
Joyce, a political maverick who has led his party since elections in mid-2016, said he would not accept any ministerial portfolio. As well as deputy prime minister, he was minister for infrastructure and transport.
He said media reports that an unidentified woman had made a sexual harassment complaint against him was the “straw that breaks the camel’s back.” He denied the allegations, and said he requested they be referred to police for investigation.