Loading "This matter has been reported to the Australian Federal Police and I will not be making any further comment." The Nationals MP, who represents the federal electorate of Mallee in regional Victoria, was the assistant minister to Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Michael McCormack. Mr Broad did not respond to a request for comment. The New Idea article claims Mr Broad connected with the woman through a dating website and they eventually met in Hong Kong.

"He told me he was in Hong Kong for a conference but he shouldn’t have been here at all," the woman claimed. "He kept saying that he was very important and that when he left he was going to have to throw away his phone. He referred to himself as James Bond numerous times." Mr McCormack said in a statement he had accepted Mr Broad’s resignation and thanked him for his service since his promotion to the frontbench in September. Mr McCormack said that "due to the nature of the allegations made, it is appropriate for Mr Broad to resign" but he declined to make any further comment on the grounds that the matters were subject to future investigation. Mr McCormack said Mr Broad would continue as an "effective and hardworking" member for Mallee, which is one of the Coalition's safest seats.

Mr Broad was the first Coalition MP to call for former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce to resign in February after details of an affair with staffer Vikki Campion became public. Asked to respond to Mr Broad's announcement, Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said: "His resignation does not help the chaos and dysfunction at the heart of the government." Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Mr McCormack said that he learned of the matter two weeks ago and urged Mr Broad to go to the AFP, but he did not answer a question directly about whether he was concerned about the MP’s conduct. “I urged him to go to the AFP. The AFP is investigating it. The fact is they’re very diligent, they’re very earnest and they will uncover, if there has been impropriety done, they will uncover that,” Mr McCormack said.

“Mr Broad has made the right decision this morning when I accepted his resignation. “I want to make sure that all of my ministers, all of my members are doing the right thing. “The National Party stands for better regional services. We do what is right for regional Australia and these sorts of things, they take away from the good message that we are selling. “We have been a very good government.” Mr McCormack would not say more about the matter on the grounds that it was being investigated by police.