Deputy PM’s affair with staffer grips Australia
SYDNEY: An affair between Australia’s married deputy prime minister and a younger member of his staff, who is now pregnant, gripped the country yesterday, reigniting questions over MPs’ private lives.
Barnaby Joyce, leader of the National Party which rules in a coalition with the Liberals, is best known internationally for threatening to euthanise Hollywood star Johnny Depp’s two dogs when they were brought into Australia illegally.
The 50-year-old appeared on national television to admit his marriage had broken down after Sydney’s Daily Telegraph splashed a picture of his 33-yearold pregnant lover on its frontpage Wednesday.
The decision to publish was widely criticised by politicians across party lines who argued for the right to privacy.
The staunchly conservative Joyce – who has campaigned in support of traditional marriage values and has four daughters with his ‘devastated’ wife of 24 years Natalie – insisted his private life should not be discussed in the public arena.
“I don’t think it’s right, I don’t think it would be right for any other politician,” he said, while insisting he had never used public funds to conduct the relationship.
“I think you have to make a distinct decision to not turn Australia into the United States of America.”
Politicians’ private lives are fair game in America, where the House of Representatives on Tuesday voted unanimously to ban sexual relationships between lawmakers and their employees as part of an overhaul of policies on harassment.
The Telegraph’ s S harri Mark son, who broke the story, said it was clearly in the public interest.
Joyce’s wife issued a statement saying her trust had been ‘shattered’ and the situation was ‘devastating on many fronts’ for her and her children.
The tryst was widely suspected according to The Australian newspaper, which in a frontpage story claimed the government “went to enormous lengths to keep the Barnaby Joyce affair secret”, fearful of a backlash. — AFP