THE Turnbull government is in upheaval with one minister quitting over an incident involving a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar and another standing aside during a police investigation.

One-time rising Liberal star Jamie Briggs has been forced to quit Malcolm Turnbull’s front bench over a boozy Hong Kong bar incident involving a female public servant.

The woman has officially complained about the Cities Minister and South Australian MP’s behaviour, said to involve a kiss, a hug and a comment about her eyes.

In a stunning revelation on the eve of an election year, Mr Briggs on Tuesday confessed he had not met the “particularly high standards expected of ministers” in the late-night November 27 incident at a Hong Kong street bar during a three-country official trip.

In a shock move, Mr Turnbull announced shortly afterwards that Special Minister of State and Minister for Defence Materiel and Science Mal Brough had agreed to stand down pending the completion of a police investigation.

Mr Brough has come under fire after federal police executed a search warrant at his home over the James Ashby affair.

media_camera Jamie Briggs with his wife Estee. media_camera Former minister Jamie Briggs speaks to media about the late-night incident that involved a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar. Picture: Kelly Barnes/The Australian

The departure of the two MPs will trigger a Cabinet shuffle, but Mr Turnbull’s statement did not say when this would occur.

The Prime Minister is expected to face pressure to increase the number of National MPs in Cabinet, following the failed defection of Liberal MP Ian Macfarlane to the National Party earlier this month.

Revealing his resignation, Mr Briggs said his behaviour had not met the “particularly high standards required of ministers”.

The Advertiser understands the allegations raised by the female public servant involve three different acts by Mr Briggs, who was at the bar with her and his chief-of-staff Stuart Eaton.

It is understood Mr Briggs told her she had piercing eyes, then later put his arm around her. As the trio was leaving, Mr Briggs gave the female public servant a kiss on the cheek.

Other reports suggested the kiss was on the neck.

It is understood the public servant complained to her department three days after the incident, then sent a formal email several days later, after Mr Briggs, the Mayo MP, returned home to Aldgate on December 4.

It is also understood that no further action on the complaint will be taken, following Mr Briggs’ resignation.

media_camera Jamie Briggs announces his resignation as a Turnbull Government minister in Adelaide. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt.

Pre-Christmas talks with Mr Turnbull resulted in the decision that Mr Briggs must quit. The decision was made last Wednesday but announced only on Tuesday amid Coalition bloodletting also involving Mal Brough standing aside from the ministry.

It is understood Mr Turnbull’s concerns particularly related to Mr Briggs’ drinking until 1.30am, accompanied by a public servant, just two months after he infamously injured his knee during booze-fuelled horseplay with Tony Abbott on the night of the September leadership coup.

Mr Briggs on Tuesday confirmed the public servant had raised concerns about “the appropriateness of my behaviour towards her at the venue”.

Nothing illegal has been alleged or occurred, he said in a statement, saying it was at no point his intention to act inappropriately.

Mr Briggs said the incident was an error of professional judgment and, therefore, the proper course was to resign.

He said the incident happened after a dinner with his chief-of-staff, to which several other officials were invited and one female public servant agreed to attend.

“At the conclusion of the dinner (which I paid for personally) we went to a popular and as it transpired very crowded bar for drinks during which we interacted between the three of us and with others in what I believed, at the time, was an informal manner,” Mr Briggs says in the statement.

“At the conclusion of the evening, the public servant left to return home and my Chief of Staff and I returned to our hotel together.

“At no point was it my intention to act inappropriately and I’m obliged to note for the record that nothing illegal has been alleged or did in fact occur.”

media_camera Malcolm Turnbull enters the House of Representatives with his arm around Jamie Briggs after he became Prime Minister. media_camera Jamie Briggs leaving the Liberal Party Room meeting the day after Tony Abbott lost the prime ministership.

Mr Briggs, a married father of three whose Adelaide Hills electorate extends from Springton in the north to Goolwa in the south, told The Advertiser he wanted to contest the next election and, eventually, hoped to return to the ministry.

Education Minister and SA Senator Simon Birmingham praised Mr Briggs as a valued and trusted friend of almost 20 years and said he looked forward to working with him for many years to come.

“As Alexander Pope said, ‘To err is human; to forgive, divine.’ We all make mistakes and Jamie is paying a price for his,” he told The Advertiser.

Acting Labor leader Tanya Plibersek accused Mr Turnbull of waiting for the quiet holiday season to “take out the trash”.

“He saved up all the bad news for a day between Christmas and New Year when he thought no one was listening,” she said.

The Hong Kong incident heightens the threat posed in Mayo by the Nick Xenophon Team, which secured 28.25 per cent of the Senate vote in the seat at the 2013 federal election, and whose candidate is Mr Briggs’ former staffer Rebekha Sharkie.

Ms Sharkie said she had not experienced any inappropriate sexual behaviour during the eight months she worked part-time for Mr Briggs from 2008-09 and expressed her sympathy for his wife, Estee, a former John Howard prime ministerial staffer.

But Ms Sharkie condemned a culture of misogyny within the Liberal Party, citing Mr Abbott’s gaffes about women as an example.

“It’s certainly a boys’ club and there are some boys in the club that definitely take the mantle,” Ms Sharkie said.

“(But) he (Mr Briggs) never behaved inappropriately in a sexual manner.”

Jamestown-born New South Wales Nationals Senator John Williams said Mr Briggs departure should improve the quality of the federal ministry.

media_camera Jamie Briggs leaves after revealing he was stepping down from the frontbench. Pic: Roy VanDerVegt.

Mr Briggs had just finished his media conference when Mr Turnbull announced he had spoken to Mr Brough about standing aside.

It comes after weeks of lobbying by the Opposition for Mr Brough to quit or be fired.

Mr Brough has faced intense scrutiny by the Opposition ever since it was revealed his home was raided by federal police looking for documents pertaining to a diary allegedly kept by former speaker Peter Slipper, which Mr Ashby had access to.

The saga intensified last month when Mr Brough gave an answer to a question in Parliament that appeared to contradict a previous answer giving to television program 60 Minutes.

In the face of strong lobbying by the Opposition, the Prime Minister stood by Mr Brough, claiming he enjoyed his confidence.

But in a statement released on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull said Mr Brough had agreed to step aside.

It follows weeks of claims by the Prime Minister in Parliament that the Special Minister of State would stay put until after the police investigation was complete unless new information came to light.

media_camera Mal Brough during Question Time in the House of Representatives Chamber, Parliament House in Canberra.

“The Hon Mal Brough MP and I have agreed that he will stand aside as Special Minister of State and Minister for Defence Materiel and Science pending the completion of inquiries by the police,” the statement said.

“The Minister for Finance and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann, will act as the Special Minister of State, and the Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, will act as Minister for Defence Materiel and Science.

“In offering to stand aside Mr Brough has done the right thing, recognising the importance of the Government maintaining an unwavering focus on jobs, economic growth and national security.”

Mr Briggs said he had spoken with Mr Turnbull and he had been told he had not met his “expected standards of ministerial conduct”.

media_camera Jamie Briggs’ letter of resignation to Malcolm Turnbull. media_camera Jamie Briggs in the House of Representatives Chamber, Parliament House.

Mr Briggs told a media conference he was sorry his ministerial staff would lose their jobs as a result of his behaviour.

The married father of three said he had apologised directly to the public servant involved and would not name her to protect her privacy, at her request.

He also apologised to all members of the Government and to the wider community “for my actions which have given me cause to consider aspects of my behaviour which I will address”.

“I will be working hard in my electorate to ensure the re-election of the Government,” said Mr Briggs.

“I have made an error of professional judgment and I am taking, I think, the appropriate course of action,” he said.

“There was offence taken by this public servant after the event. They were raised with me and I have apologised to her.”

A strong supporter of former prime minister Tony Abbott, Mr Briggs was handed the Cities and Built Environment portfolio by Mr Turnbull in September.

He previously was the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development.

Mr Briggs ended up on crutches with an injured leg after a boisterous late-night party in Mr Abbott’s office on the night he was deposed.

He repeatedly insisted he damaged his ACL while jogging the following morning and was not involved with dancing in Mr Abbott’s office which damaged an expensive marble table.

Mr Briggs is married to Estee Fiebiger Briggs, a former staffer to former prime minister John Howard.

STATEMENT BY JAMIE BRIGGS

“I have today written to the Governor General tendering my resignation as Minister for Cities and the Built Environment with immediate effect.

My decision has been made after careful reflection about certain matters that occurred during an official visit to Hong Kong in late November of this year.

At the conclusion of the official programme for the day, my Chief of Staff and I went for dinner and we invited several other officials of which one female public servant agreed to attend. At the conclusion of the dinner (which I paid for personally) we went to a popular and as it transpired very crowded bar for drinks during which we interacted between the three of us and with others in what I believed, at the time, was an informal manner. At the conclusion of the evening, the public servant left to return home and my Chief of Staff and I returned to our hotel together.

At no point was it my intention to act inappropriately and I’m obliged to note for the record that nothing illegal has been alleged or did in fact occur.

However, in the days following the evening the public servant raised a concern about the appropriateness of my behaviour towards her at the venue.

I have apologised directly to her but after careful reflection about the concerns she raised and the fact that I was at a bar, late at night while on an overseas visit, I have concluded that this behaviour has not met the particularly high standards required of Ministers. Therefore the proper course for me is to resign. This was an error of professional judgement.

In doing so I apologise again to the public servant involved (who I have not named to protect her privacy and at her request) to you and to all members of the Government and to the wider community for my actions which have given me cause to consider aspects of my behaviour which I will address.

I will be working hard in my electorate to ensure the re-election of the Government.”

The rise and fall of Jamie Briggs

■ Born June 9, 1977.

■ Grew up in Mildura. Father a Commonwealth Bank teller and mother a Catholic college canteen volunteer.

■ Promising junior golfer and cricketer who moved to Adelaide to play at Glenelg Cricket Club in a deal organised by former state captain and Mildura expat Jamie Siddons.

■ Married to fellow former John Howard prime ministerial staffer Estee Fiebiger Briggs. Father of two girls and a boy.

■ Worked as employment relations adviser for Business SA 2000-02. Started a Bachelor of Management degree but did not finish.

■ Research assistant to state Upper House Liberal Rob Lucas 2002-03.

■ Adviser to then Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews 2003-04.

■ Senior adviser to then Prime Minister John Howard 2004-07. Specialist in industrial relations, helped create WorkChoices

policy.

■ In a 2008 by-election, replaced former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer in Adelaide Hills seat of Mayo, which stretches from Springton in the north to Goolwa in the South.

■ Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development from September 18, 2013, until September 21, 2015.

■ Long-time Canberra housemate of former treasurer Joe Hockey.

■ Infamously tore anterior cruciate ligament during booze-fuelled horseplay in Parliament House with outgoing Prime Minister Tony Abbott on night of leadership coup in September. Denies accusations he danced atop broken marble table. Mr Abbott paid for the table’s repair.

■ Appointed Cities and Built Environment Minister by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on September 21. Believed to have been due for sack until Victorian MP Bruce Billson declined the portfolio.

■ November 27. Involved in a late-night incident with a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar, which later results in his resignation for not meeting “the particularly high standards required of ministers”. Understood to have involved Mr Briggs telling the public servant she had piercing eyes, putting his arm around her and giving her a farewell kiss on the cheek.

■ December 29. Announces he has quit the federal ministry in an Adelaide press conference. Will contest election due next year.