Bill Shorten ‘not aware’ of Labor frontbenchers sleeping with staff

Bill Shorten has responded to Cory Bernardi’s taunt, saying he is not aware of Labor frontbenchers sleeping with staff.

Bill Shorten says he is not aware of any Labor frontbenchers sleeping with their employees. Picture: Zak Simmonds.

Bill Shorten has responded to Cory Bernardi’s claim that Barnaby Joyce is not the only Turnbull government minister who has been having sex with their staff, saying he is not aware of any Labor or government frontbenchers sleeping with their employees.

Senator Bernardi this morning said he was aware of other ministers who were having sexual relations with their staff, but he refused to name names.

Asked whether he was aware of any shadow ministers having sex with their staff, Mr Shorten said he was not.

“I’m not aware of anyone in the government ranks either,” he said.

Mr Shorten said Malcolm Turnbull had proven to be one of the “weakest prime ministers in living memory”.

“He should have dealt with this Barnaby Joyce conflict of interest a long time ago,” Mr Shorten said.

“He’s clearly known more than he’s let on for a period of months. Only belatedly has he started to throw the book at Barnaby Joyce.

“What’s the point of giving someone a telling off if you don’t discipline them?

“How on earth do we get to a situation in Australia where the Prime Minister, who has clearly lost confidence in the Deputy Prime Minister, can’t sack his Deputy Prime Minister?

“And the Deputy Prime Minister clearly thinks that his boss is inept. You don’t have to take my word for it. That’s what Barnaby Joyce said.

“So we’ve got the two most senior people in Australia at each other. One day Malcolm Turnbull drops a bucket of shame on Barnaby Joyce. The next day, Barnaby Joyce declares that his boss is inept. Then the third day, they say, ‘Oh, no, we all really like each other’.”

‘Barnaby not Robinson Crusoe’

Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi claims Barnaby Joyce is not the only Turnbull government minister who has been having sex with their staff, but has refused to name names.

The South Australian Senator said he preferred self-governance to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s ban on ministers sleeping with their staff, and it was self-evident that such relationships should not be happening.

“But I would say that I don’t think Barnaby Joyce is Robinson Crusoe at this stage,” Senator Bernardi told ABC radio.

“(Mr Turnbull has) done what he thinks is right. I don’t think it’s necessary to do that, but then, self-evidently, the standards by which I’m holding myself, or which I expect of others, have not been met by those within some of the ministerial ranks, and I make this point that it’s not just Barnaby Joyce that we could be discussing.”

Asked whether he was saying other ministers were having sexual relations with their staff, Senator Bernardi said, “Yes”.

Asked whether he wanted to name them, he said, “No, of course I don’t.”

“We’ll leave that in the fullness of time, but it says to me that there is a problem there,” he said.

“There is a culture problem where people think that this is OK, and I read in this morning’s paper that places like the military or the ADF, where there’s a relationship within a chain of command, either the chain of command ceases or the relationship ceases. That would seem common sense to me.”

Asked whether the “culture problem” highlighted the need for Mr Turnbull’s rule, Senator Bernardi said he thought that was a “very valid point”.

“Unfortunately it’s become necessary because people are ignoring what should be self-governance and common sense, and I think an expectation of society,” he said.

“And I’ve said this before as well: you can adhere to the letter of the law, but you’re not adhering to the spirit of the law or the rules, and that’s what’s happened in this instance and I think a number of other instances.

“Most people would say it’s inappropriate to have sexual relations with a staff member and they would temper their activities accordingly.

“However, we know there are certain circumstances that hasn’t occurred, and the Prime Minister has said, ‘well this is absolutely wrong, and it won’t continue’, so you’ve got to respect him for laying down the law like that.”

Asked whether Mr Joyce should resign after having an affair with his pregnant former press secretary, Senator Bernardi said there were three options.

“One is Barnaby resigns, and that’s entirely in his purview. He’s said he’s not going to do that; Two, that the National Party have a leadership spill, and that’s entirely up to the National Party; Or three, he stays,” he said.

“What I can say is that this is doing enormous damage, I think, to the government.

“It is sucking all the oxygen out of any agenda that they want to put forward. It is damaging the National Party, and I would only urge them to rule a line under it, make a decision one way or another, and then tough it out and proceed whatever that decision is, because Australia simply can’t afford to get sidetracked by these issues.

“There are so many more important things that we have to deal with than Barnaby Joyce’s personal life or what’s going on in the ministerial wing.”

Senator Bernardi said the feedback he had received from Australian Conservatives supporters on the Joyce issue was split.

“There’s a lot of people who really like Barnaby Joyce, and think that simply because his marriage has broken down and he’s had an affair that it has no bearing on public life,” he said.

“Now I’m sympathetic to that position because there are many people within public life whose marriages have broken down and who’ve had extramarital relationships or subsequent relationship, but there is a blurred line because of the relationship with a staff member, and that is the question mark that’s hanging over any of these people’s minds when they assess the impact of this.”

Labor leader in the Senate Penny Wong said she was not going to comment on rumours, when asked whether she knew of other ministers who were sleeping with their staff.

“I don’t think that’s what the Australian people want,” Senator Wong told Sky News.

“I would say what has struck me most about this set of circumstances that we’ve all unfortunately lived through is Malcolm Turnbull’s weakness.

“He’s refusing to enforce the set of standards he already has, and what it has led to is this extraordinary breakdown of the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister.

“ mean I thought that Barnaby Joyce’s press conference was unprecedented, and it’s clear from reports that have continued that their relationship has broken down. Now that is not a good thing for government in this country.”