Barnaby Joyce quits as Nationals leader, Deputy PM
BARNABY Joyce will resign as leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister in the wake of his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion and allegations of sexual harassment.
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BARNABY Joyce will step down from the Nationals leadership, as his party investigates an allegation of sexual harassment he denies.
Mr Joyce told reporters in Armidale this afternoon he will throw open the leadership at a meeting in Canberra at 8am on Monday.
“To give these people in the weatherboard and iron, in those regional and small towns, the best opportunity, this current cacophony of issues has to be put aside,” Mr Joyce said.
The Deputy Prime Minister has spent 16 days fighting off accusations of improper conduct over his affair with his now-pregnant former staffer Vikki Campion, and her movement from his office to two other political offices.
“Over the last half a month, there has been a litany of allegations. I don’t believe any of them have been sustained,” Mr Joyce said.
However he said he believes the government and his family needs a “circuit breaker” to stop the flood of stories.
“This has got to stop. It’s not fair on them,” he said.
He said the final straw was a sexual harassment allegation revealed by The Daily Telegraph last night, which he has asked to be referred to the police.
Mr Joyce has not directly told Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull he is resigning, but he said he spoke to Mathias Cormann, who is acting in the role while Mr Turnbull is overseas.
He also says he won’t “snipe” from the backbench.
“I want to assist my colleagues, where I can, to keep their seats and also, quite naturally, in April, a baby will be born. I’ll have other things on my mind,” he said.
Mr Joyce said he would not be endorsing a replacement at Monday’s party room meeting.
Three potential contenders are David Littleproud, David Gillespie and Michael McCormack.
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Mr Joyce took aim at “the leaking, the backgrounding” which he blamed at destabilising his leadership in the weeks after the Telegraph revealed an office affair with Vikki Campion, his now-pregnant former media adviser.
“The leaking, the backgrounding, all that, it will destroy not only our government, it will destroy any government,” he said.
Mr Joyce told the press conference he would resign as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister on Monday morning at his party’s meeting.
He will stay on as the member for New England on the backbench.
A leadership ballot will then be called.
Mr Joyce said a “circuit-breaker” was needed to stop the fallout of his affair for his partner, Vikki Campion, for his unborn son, his four daughters, and estranged wife Natalie.
He had previously refused to step down as party leader despite the damage the fallout from his affair has done to the government over the past two weeks.
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Pressure mounted on Mr Joyce this morning after he lost the public support of two Nationals MPs, with Andrew Gee following Andrew Broad in withdrawing support for their leader.
The Nationals confirmed late on Thursday its executive had received a formal sexual harassment complaint against Mr Joyce.
Federal Party director Ben Hindmarsh said the complaint would be taken seriously, treated with strict confidentiality and given due process. Mr Joyce says the allegation is “spurious and defamatory”.
“They should have been referred to police if they had substance,” he told the Nine Network today.
With Malcolm Turnbull in the US and Mr Joyce on leave, Senator Cormann said any allegation of sexual harassment is very serious.
“Barnaby Joyce has denied the allegation, but it’s being investigated and subject to the outcomes of that investigation, obviously, the appropriate steps would follow,” Senator Cormann told reporters in Sydney.
Victorian MP Andrew Broad became the first Nationals federal MP to call for the leader to quit, vowing to bring the matter to a head at a party room meeting in Canberra on Monday.
“At this point in time he should take a step back and stand down and be on the back bench,” Mr Broad told ABC radio.
Calare MP Andrew Gee says no challenger has yet contacted him to say what they’d offer his NSW electorate.
“Until I have clarification regarding some of the issues about Barnaby, I won’t be able to back him, but I’m also not in a position to back any challenger,” Mr Gee said in a statement on Friday.
Assistant Families Minister David Gillespie could put his hand up to replace Mr Joyce, amid reports the NSW Nationals MP has indicated to colleagues his willingness to run if the party leader resigns.
Fellow NSW MP and Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack, who recently gave an interview in which he dodged multiple questions about his support for Mr Joyce, is also considered a contender.