Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has banned his ministers from having sex with their staff and has sent Barnaby Joyce on leave.
The PM formally addressed Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce’s affair with his former media advisor Vikki Campion, 33, in a press conference in Canberra on Thursday.
He announced the ministerial code of conduct had been rewritten to forbid ministers engaging in sexual relations with their staff, regardless of whether they were married or single.
‘I do not care whether they are married or single, I not care. They must not have sexual relations with their staff, that’s it,’ Mr Turnbull said.
‘I think we know that the real issue is the terrible hurt and humiliation that Barnaby his conduct has visited on his wife Natalie and their daughters and his new partner.’
The PM spoke with media about Mr Joyce’s marriage breakdown and affair with the 33-year-old outside the Prime Minister’s Courtyard in Canberra on Thursday
‘Barnaby made a shocking error of judgement in having affair with young woman in his own office. In doing so he has set off a world of woe for those women before all of us. Our hearts go out to them.’
‘It has been dreadful for them to go through with the glare of publicity. Marriage breakups are dreadful.’
Turnbull addressed the ministerial code of conduct and revealed a slight rewrite which now formally bans relationships between ministers and their staff.
‘Doing so will constitute a breach of the standards and while this new standard is very specific, ministers should be acutely aware of the context in which I am making this change and the need for them always to behave in their personal relations with others.’
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has formally addressed Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce’s affair with his former media advisor Vikki Campion