Barnaby Joyce ‘knew of sex claims’ against Andrew Broad

Barnaby Joyce says he received reports when he was Nationals leader of alleged sexual indiscretions by Andrew Broad.

‘Issues were brought to my attention but no complaints were ever made’: former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce. Picture: AAP

Barnaby Joyce says he received reports when he was Nationals leader of alleged sexual indiscretions by Andrew Broad, undermining a claim by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack that he was unaware of “allegations of impropriety” against the now disgraced Victorian MP until this week.

Mr McCormack yesterday defended his handling of the “sugar babe” scandal, and attacked “anonymous” critics who said he should never have appointed Mr Broad as his assistant minister.

The Nationals leader said if he had known the full facts of the case he would have handled it differen­tly, but said: “I was not aware of any allegations of impropriety by the member for Mallee prior to Monday.”

Multiple Nationals MPs told The Australian Mr Broad’s conduc­t had long been cause for concern in the party, with a number of women coming forward to make allegations against him.

Andrew Broad. Picture: Kym Smith

Mr Joyce said he had heard the allegations when he was leader, but none were substantiated. “Issues were brought to my attention but no complaints were ever made, so there was nothing to pursue because you can’t go chasing rumours,” Mr Joyce told The Australian.

Another Nationals MP said Mr McCormack had placed the party and the government at risk by failing to conduct sufficient due diligence on Mr Broad before appointing him to the frontbench.

“This is basic stuff,” one MP said. “When there is that much smoke, you need to give someone an absolute working-over to ensur­e it isn’t true.”

Mr Broad, who criticised Mr Joyce over his affair with staffer Vikki Campion, resigned from the ministry and announced he would leave politics at the next election after New Idea revealed he used a “sugar daddy” website to connect with a younger woman on a trip to Hong Kong.

As the fallout from the scandal continued to consume the Nation­als, rural Liberals said the saga presented a chance for the senior Coalition partner to expan­d its representation in parliam­ent at the expense of the Nationals.

Sussan Ley, whose seat of Farrer­ was in the Nationals’ sights under Mr Joyce, said the rural Liberal team was “strong and effec­tive”, and she hoped to see a Liberal woman elected in Mallee.

“Without reflecting on the past, this is an opportunity to suppor­t a strong rural Liberal, and the rural Liberal network has much to recommend it,” Ms Ley said. “Our message is: the Liberals can represent rural Australia.”

Liberal sources said it was now almost certain Mallee would be a three-cornered contest at the electio­n, with both Coalition partners desperate to regain credibility after poor state election results.

Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie has left open the possibility of quitting the Senat­e and standing for Mallee but colleagues said she was unlike­ly to take the plunge.

“She always walks up to the line but never quite jumps across it,” one said.

Nominations for Nationals preselection in the seat open on Friday and close on January 4, with a vote on January 19.

Nationals state director Matt Harris said the local federal electorat­e council was likely to selec­t a “local champion”.

“Local Nationals members have always chosen candidates who are champions of their local community,” Mr Harris said.