Australia Deputy PM Resigns Amid Ongoing Scandal

Barnaby Joyce says he will resign as Australia's deputy prime minister following a politically damaging saga that began with his affair with a former staffer.

Mr Joyce said he would step down on Monday as leader of the Nationals, the junior government partner.

Mr Joyce had resisted calls to quit amid questions over whether he had breached ministerial rules.

He called his decision on Friday a "circuit-breaker".

"This current cacophony of issues has to be put aside," he told reporters.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On Monday morning I will step down as the Leader of <a href="https://twitter.com/The_Nationals?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@The_Nationals</a> and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. I would like to thank everyone for offering their support to me, especially the people of New England.</p>&mdash; Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) <a href="https://twitter.com/Barnaby_Joyce/status/966876350987386880?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">February 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The scandal has dominated Australian politics for more than two weeks.

Last week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull publicly criticised Mr Joyce's "shocking error of judgement" and said ministers would be banned from having sex with their staff.

SOURCE: BBC News
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