No More Sex Between Ministers and Staff, Australia’s Prime Minister Declares
15, 2018
SYDNEY, Australia — Sex between Australia’s government ministers and their subordinates is now prohibited, a ban
that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Thursday after a political scandal involving the deputy prime minister and a former staff member who is now pregnant.
Mr. Joyce will also no longer serve as acting prime minister during Mr. Turnbull’s White House visit next week, a decision
that critics said suggested the prime minister had lost confidence in him.
In his first news conference since the scandal, known as #barnababy, began more than a week ago, Mr. Turnbull said
that Barnaby Joyce, the deputy prime minister, had made "a shocking error of judgment" in having an affair with a woman who had worked for him.
The Australian tabloid newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported the affair last week alongside a photograph
of a pregnant Ms. Campion, fueling a fierce debate about privacy, sex and the news media.
Turnbull said that We must recognize that whatever may have been acceptable or to which a blind eye was turned in the past,
today, in 2018, it is not acceptable for a minister to have a sexual relationship with somebody who works for them,
"The public have high expectations of them in terms of their personal conduct
and decorum." The prime minister’s statement reflects a turbulent week in Parliament in which the culture of Australian politics has been called into question.