Sugar babes scandal: Michael McCormack backs Bridget McKenzie, touted as his replacement

The deputy PM would support Bridget McKenzie moving to the lower house, even though it’s likely to result in a challenge.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says he would have handled the sugar babes scandal differently if he’d known the facts. Picture: Gary Ramage

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has defended his handling of the Andrew Broad “sugar babe” scandal, declaring he was “comfortable” with his involvement as angry colleagues warn his leadership has been further damaged by the saga.

He said his deputy Bridget McKenzie would “have my full support” if she decided to shift from the Senate to the lower house and run for Mr Broad’s seat, after she left open the possibility of such a move, which could pave the way for a leadership bid.

“The decision of who represents Mallee, as far as the Nationals candidate is concerned, is entirely a decision for those branch members in the Mallee federal electorate division. If that is a female, that would be great,” he said.

“If Bridget decides she is going to have a go at contesting Mallee then she will have my full support. Again, the Nationals often look to a local champion, I am sure there are plenty of local champions in and around Mallee and I have every confidence that the Nationals will choose the right person to contest that seat.”

The Nationals leader, who did not tell Scott Morrison about the “sugar babe” scandal until Monday when New Idea published its tell-all story, conceded that “in hindsight” he “would’ve done things differently”.

Several of his MPs have rounded on him, questioning when he found out about the allegations and his decision to praise Mr Broad as an “effective and hardworking member for Mallee”.

A number of Nationals MP who did not want to be named told The Australian Mr McCormack would almost certainly be replaced after the likely May election but it was not clear who would take over the leadership.

“I don’t actually ever really read too much into people, comments from anonymous sources, I do not,” Mr McCormack told Sky News.

“I’ve always been one where if I’m going to say something in parliament, if I’m going to say something about a colleague, if I’m going to say something about a government policy, I put my name to it. I don’t really read too much into mischief making by people who are not prepared to put their name to it.

“Yes in hindsight, if I had have had the full facts of the story I would’ve done things differently but with the facts that were on the table which were told to me at the time I’m quite comfortable with how I’ve handled this situation, so is the Prime Minister and I’ve got to say from the number of supportive messages I’ve had, so are my colleagues.”

Mr Broad yesterday announced he would not contest the next election, as revealed by The Australian online, a day after New Idea published allegations he used a “sugar daddy” website to connect with a younger woman in Hong Kong, touching her inappropriately during their date.

The junior Coalition party is under pressure to preselect a woman to replace the disgraced Mr Broad in his Victorian seat of Mallee to help repair the Nationals’ tarnished brand ahead of a likely three-cornered contest with the Liberal Party.

Mr McCormack initially claimed he had only known about the saga for two weeks but changed his story when the Australian Federal Police revealed Mr Broad had referred on November 8 claims the woman making the allegations “may have engaged in criminal activity”.

The Nationals leader attempted to strengthen his defence today, saying he was “not aware of any allegations of impropriety by the member for Mallee prior to Monday” or any of the “lurid details” about how he allegedly pursued the woman in the weeks leading up to the dinner date.

“Initially when Andrew Broad told me what happened, and yes I did say on Monday that it was a couple of weeks ago (but actually) yes it was a few weeks ago,” Mr McCormack said.

“When he told me, he had done nothing more wrong than the fact that he had gone on a dating service while he was overseas on what he told me was a personally funded trip. He’d gone overseas, he’d gone on the dating service app, he’d gone on a dinner date and nothing more had happened. You have to take people on their word.”

Mr Broad was the first Nationals MP to call for Barnaby Joyce to resign as leader over an affair with staffer Vikki Campion, who is now the mother of his baby son.