Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce trade blows over Joyce’s affair with a member of his staff

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A classic political sex scandal with a distinctly Australian flavour threatens to derail a near century-old coalition of the country’s leading conservative parties.

In one corner is the deputy prime minister and leader of the Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, a bush hat-wearing, celebrity dog-deporting, rural politician who’s been busted for having an affair.

In the other is Malcolm Turnbull, the Liberal prime minister, a sophisticated millionaire lawyer from Sydney’s eastern suburbs who defeated the British government in the infamous Spycatcher case and is often referred to on Twitter with a top hat emoji.

The two men’s uneasy relationship exploded in public earlier this week when Turnbull spoke of Joyce’s “shocking error of judgment” in having an affair with Vikki Campion, when she was working in his office. Turnbull also announced a ban on ministers having sex with their employees. The implication was that Joyce was being asked to resign.

On Friday a furious Joyce said Turnbull’s criticism was “inept” and “unnecessary” and “caused further harm”.

Joyce accused the prime minister of meddling in the decisions of the National party, the junior coalition partner, which – so far – is backing the beleaguered Joyce.

Play Video 2:14 Barnaby Joyce calls Malcolm Turnbull's comments 'inept' - video

Town v country, toff v farmer, outraged monogamist v red-faced philanderer, Australia’s longstanding conservative political coalition has never been in more danger of splitting.

Joyce is no stranger to media attention. He was thrust into the global spotlight in 2015 when he effectively put dogs belonging to Johnny Depp and Amber Heard on death row after the couple illegally brought them into the country. Pistol and Boo escaped with their lives.

Last week he was on the front pages again with proof of his affair with Campion, 33, who is now pregnant with their child. It emerged Campion was subsequently shuffled around ministerial offices into specifically created roles, and that the couple were living rent free in the apartment of a “close friend” and beneficiary of a grant from a department Joyce headed up at the time.

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Joyce and Turnbull dismissed calls for his sacking, and batted away allegations of breached ministerial standards – which dictate that the PM must sign off on ministerial employment of any minister’s partners – by saying Campion was not Joyce’s partner at the time.

The united front did not last, however, and it was announced Joyce would take a week’s leave.

In an extraordinary evangelical speech on Thursday, Turnbull maintained there were no breaches, but said Joyce had “appalled” the nation and created a “world of woe” with his “shocking error of judgment in having an affair with a young woman working in his office”.

Joyce’s leave would give him the time he needed “to reflect”, said Turnbull, widely interpreted as a coded direction to resign.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Turnbull and Joyce toast each other in happier times at an election night celebration last December. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

“He needs that time to seek forgiveness and understanding from his wife and girls. He needs to make a new home for his partner and their baby that is coming in April.”



And then Turnbull banned sex between ministers and their staff. Under the new ministerial standards punishment would not be retrospective, so Joyce was in the clear.

Social media lit up over the #bonkban. Many Australians pointed out that their main concern was not the sex, but the jobs and free apartments.

The next day Joyce returned fire. His anger was as palpable as his defensiveness, and he apologised again to his family and his party for the scandal. The free apartment was just a mate helping out a $400,000 (£226,000) salaried-but-homeless mate because “friends do not charge friends rent”.

And then Joyce tore Turnbull to shreds. He had done nothing wrong, and Turnbull’s moralising comments just caused his family further harm. “I believe they were in many instances inept and most definitely in many instances unnecessary,” Joyce added from beneath his wide-brimmed Akubra.

What Joyce said about Turnbull, the Coalition and his leadership – full transcript Read more

The unprecedented open warfare between the leaders is perhaps the greatest rift in the coalition in its 95-year existence, and comes at a time when it governs with a one-seat majority and is doing badly in polls.

Meanwhile the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, also unpopular but less so than Turnbull, is “doing a Bradbury”, a reference to an Australian Winter Olympic speed skater who won gold in 2002 after everyone else fell over.

Also sitting comfortably is the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, who will be acting prime minister next week while Turnbull goes overseas.

Ordinarily the deputy prime minister would step in to the role but with Joyce’s leave of absence it falls to Cormann. Turnbull, now Canberra’s voice of sexual morals, will travel to the US where he will meet with Donald Trump.