Shorten says Labor won’t overturn Turnbull’s ministerial sex ban

The Labor leader has ended four days of equivocation over Malcolm Turnbull’s ban on ministers sleeping with their staff.

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten with deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek.

Bill Shorten has ended four days of equivocation over Malcolm Turnbull’s ban on ministers sleeping with their staff, saying today he will not overturn the ruling should Labor be elected.

Yesterday Mr Shorten refused to say whether Labor would apply the ban to its frontbench, saying he didn’t give “instant answers on important issues”, after Mr Turnbull made the announcement on Thursday.

“We saw Mr Turnbull blow his stack at Barnaby Joyce but it is clear he knew what was going on for months,” Mr Shorten said.

“If we get elected, we’re not going to overturn the code of conduct, but it’s not the main game.

“The real issue is not the relationship, it’s the conflict of interest. It’s the very poor

decisions made. It’s the conflict of interest.”

Mr Shorten said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had “made some sense” this morning, when she stopped short of endorsing the sex ban but said she would abide by it, arguing there are still areas of a politician’s life that “are and should remain private”.

“She said there is a role for private lives, for politicians to have a private life,” Mr Shorten said.

“She said she will have a go at this code of conduct. So will Labor.”

Asked about today’s Newspoll, showing that 65 per cent of Australians believe Mr Joyce should resign, Mr Shorten said he didn’t need a poll to tell him “Barnaby should go”.

“If I was prime minister, Barnaby Joyce would have been sacked as Deputy Prime Minister,” the Labor leader said, ignoring the fact that Mr Turnbull cannot dismiss the leader of the Nationals under the Coalition agreement.

“What we are seeing is Barnaby Joyce, in my opinion, breaching the ministerial code of conduct.

“But what’s even worse than that is we have a Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who’s too weak to actually sack him.

“He said today on radio that, ‘Maybe the National Party will get rid of him, maybe they won’t.’

“We don’t need Malcolm ‘MIA’ Turnbull missing in action. He needs to step up here.

“People think politicians all too often are in it for themselves but the real scandal is the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are only worried about their own jobs, not Australian jobs.”

Mr Shorten said it was a matter for the National Party to decide whether Michael McCormack should be their next leader, after Mr McCormack dodged more than ten questions about Mr Joyce’s leadership during an excruciating interview this morning.

“It does go to show that the government’s divided,” Mr Shorten said.

“The National Party’s divided in itself. The Liberal Party’s divided with the National Party. “You’ve got the Prime Minister pouring scorn and shame on Barnaby Joyce on Thursday. “You’ve got Barnaby Joyce calling the Prime Minister ‘inept’ on Friday.

“Then on Saturday they try and pretend to the nation, treat the nation like mugs, that there’s nothing to see here.

“This is a government obsessed about their own jobs. By contrast, I lead a united Labor team.”