2018/05: The Barnaby Joyce scandal: should ministers be banned from having affairs with parliamentary staffers?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: On February 15, 2018, ABC News televised a report detailing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's censure of then Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, and the Prime Minister's announcement of a ban on sexual relations between ministers and their staff.What they said...
'I certainly felt that the values I expressed and the action I took would have the overwhelming endorsement of Australians'
Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia, commenting on his ban on sexual relations between ministers and staffers
'It's a basic principle of human rights that people can have relationships with whom they like'
Ronnie Fox, a British employment law specialist from Fox and Partners
The issue at a glance
On February 15, 2018, the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, made an addition to the Australian Government's 'Statement of Ministerial Standards'. The addition states, 'Ministers must not engage in sexual relations with their staff. Doing so will constitute a breach of this code.'
The addition to the Ministerial Standards came after the Daily Telegraph revealed that the Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, had been having a sexual relationship with his former media adviser, Vikki Campion.
On February 7, 2018, the Daily Telegraph published a front page story reporting that Mr Joyce and Ms Campion were expecting a child together.
Debate has since raged as to whether Mr Joyce had used his position to find alternative employment for Ms Campion on other ministers' staff. There were also questions asked about the free accommodation the couple had received from a party donor.
Initially, both the Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, declared that the affair itself was a private matter. However, as media and public pressure grew for Mr Joyce to resign as Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull publicly criticised Mr Joyce's conduct and announced the changed Ministerial Standards.
Mr Joyce subsequently resigned and is currently serving his Party from the backbench. Some ministers have declared their full support for the ban on sexual relations between ministers and their staff. Others, such as Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, have been more non-committal, simply stating that they would abide by the new standard. The Opposition has indicated that, if elected, it would maintain the new standard.
Commentators have been mixed in their response, with some seeing the addition as only appropriate, while others have suggested that transparency and proper protocols may be more effective than a ban.