Barnaby Joyce responds after new sex ban enforced by Malcolm Turnbull
BARNABY Joyce has responded after Malcolm Turnbull introduced a sex ban and the Deputy PM agreed to take leave in the wake of his affair scandal.
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BARNABY Joyce has responded after Malcolm Turnbull introduced a sex ban and the Deputy PM agreed to take leave in the wake of his affair scandal.
Mr Joyce called Mr Turnbull’s comments about him “inept”, after the Prime Minister yesterday described Mr Joyce’s affair with former staffer Vikki Campion, who is now carrying his child, as a “shocking error of judgement”.
LATEST: READ AND SEE WHAT BARNABY JOYCE SAID
SEX BAN A ‘PR STUNT’
Mr Turnbull’s new sex ban for ministers and their staff has been dubbed a ‘PR stunt’ but senior ministers say it brings the Parlimament into the modern era after Barnaby Joyce’s affair.
In a heated clash on Channel Nine’s The Today Show this morning with Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne, host Karl Stefanovic accused the Prime Minister of turning a blind eye to Barnaby Joyce’s affair and then moralising when it became damaging to the government.
He dubbed the sex ban “a PR stunt”.
“The Prime Minister knew about this affair last year,” Stefanovic said. “He knew about it before the by-election and he chose to turn a blind eye. Why was he moralising yesterday and not then?”
Mr Pyne defended the timing of the announcement, saying Mr Turnbull had made the right decision yesterday and shown leadership.
“What Barnaby Joyce has been doing in his private life, nobody wants to pry into but sadly ... this last week, the private became the public,” Mr Pyne said.
MORE: Barnaby Joyce affair scandal — everything we know
“That has not been good for the government, for the Joyce family, good for Barnaby or good for his new partner and the Prime Minister made that quite clear.”
Pushed further on the timing of the announcement, which came as Labor stepped up its attack on Mr Joyce in Parliament, Mr Pyne said it was “very sad” Mr Turnbull had been forced to update the ministerial standards as a result of Mr Joyce’s affair.
“Clearly, it did need to be spelt out in the code which of course is incredibly disappointing,” Mr Pyne said.
“But obviously over the last week it’s become more apparent that what was common sense had been breached.”
Mr Pyne said it was a “modern workplace requirement” for sex between employees and their bosses to be off limits.
LABOR SLAMS SEX BAN
Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese accused Mr Turnbull of announcing the ban on sex between ministers as a distraction.
Appearing alongside Mr Pyne, he claimed Mr Joyce had breached the ministerial standards, misled Parliament about it and misused taxpayer funds
Mr Albanese called on Mr Joyce to resign, rather than just take a week’s leave.
“The ministerial code has been breached by the Deputy Prime Minister. Everyone knows it,” he said.
“And the prime minister has been unable to act against him and remove him from his position because ... the National Party are incapable of exercising any authority over themselves and the prime minister is incapable of acting here.”
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said the issue remained that Mr Joyce had received “rent-free accommodation from a mate” and the creation of jobs for his partner in other Nationals MPs’ offices.
“The real problem is not getting new bits into the Prime Ministerial Code of Conduct,” she told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program.
“The real problem is that Malcolm Turnbull’s too gutless to enforce the Prime Ministerial Code of Conduct that already exists, that Barnaby Joyce has already breached.”
TURNBULL TELLS JOYCE TO TAKE LEAVE
Mr Turnbull said Mr Joyce should “consider his position” as he takes a week off, lamenting the “world of woe” caused for his wife of 24 years, Natalie, and their four daughters.
He used the issue to announce the change in the ministerial code of conduct, which now bans ministers from having sex with staff, including public servants — whether they are married or not.
“Ministers, regardless of whether they are married or single, must not engage in sexual relations with their staff. Doing so will constitute a breach of the standards,” the code reads.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann will be acting prime minister when Mr Turnbull travels to Washington next week, with Mr Joyce on leave, and Liberals deputy leader Julie Bishop also overseas.
The Nationals leader’s office released a statement saying he was going on leave to support his family and partner “after such intense public focus on personal matters”.
Employment lawyers said the code change brings the federal government into line with other modern workplaces.
RELATIONSHIP DAMAGE
The ban and Mr Turnbull’s remarks were “absolutely not” a vote of no confidence in Mr Joyce, Minister Cormann told Sky News today.
He indicated Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce’s professional relationship was not damaged irreparably.
“Malcolm and Barnaby have a very good relationship,” he said.
“They work together very well. I think that they’ll have a strong and productive and positive relationship in the future.”
But Senator Cormann said there was “work to be done to ensure that the government does not continue to be distracted by what are deeply personal matters”.
“This past week it has dominated the news. It has prevented us from talking about the things that the Australian people want us to talk about,” he said.
“And so there are some things to be considered, there are some steps to be taken to ensure that on the other side of this period of leave that the government can focus exclusively on the job.”
Mr Turnbull described Mr Joyce as the “hero of the hour” and his friend and partner on December 2 last year when Mr Joyce claimed victory at the New England by-election. Ms Campion was five months pregnant at the time.