Barnaby Joyce has finally stepped aside after weeks of scandal.

Barnaby Joyce has finally stepped aside after weeks of scandal.

AUSTRALIA’S SCANDAL-HIT deputy leader Barnaby Joyce announced today he was quitting and moving to the backbench amid claims of sexual harassment and controversy over an affair with a now-pregnant former aide.

Joyce, whose National Party rules alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberals, has been front-page news in Australia for two weeks since it emerged he had left his wife of 24 years for his younger former media adviser, who is now expecting their baby boy.

The 50-year-old had insisted he would ride out the storm but his position became untenable today when a sexual harassment complaint against him, which he denies, was lodged with the party by an unnamed woman.

Joyce said at a press conference in Armidale, his rural New South Wales seat, that he would step down as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister at a party meeting on Monday.

“It’s incredibly important that there be a circuit-breaker, not just for the parliament, but more importantly, a circuit-breaker for Vikki (his partner), for my unborn child, my daughters and for Nat (his wife),” he said.

Joyce, who has also been criticised for living in an apartment rent-free with now-partner Vikki Campion after splitting with his wife, was due to be the acting prime minister this week with Turnbull meeting US President Donald Trump in Washington.

But he opted to take leave.

With Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also out of the country, the role has been assumed by Senate leader Mathias Cormann, who said ahead of Joyce’s decision that any harassment claim must be taken seriously.

“Any allegation of sexual harassment is a very serious allegation,” he told reporters. “I understand that a formal complaint has been made, and that complaint is being investigated.”

Joyce called the claim “spurious and defamatory” and said he wanted it investigated by the authorities.

“I have asked that that be referred to the police,” he said, while admitting it had been “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

The daily media headlines on the scandal have riveted the Australian public and sparked debate about workplace culture amid the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

But it has also highlighted the perilous state of the coalition government, which just a few months ago survived a crisis over lawmakers’ dual citizenship that threatened its wafer-thin parliamentary majority.

Last week a furious Turnbull, who relies on the smaller National Party to govern, savaged Joyce for “a shocking error of judgement”, leading his deputy to fire back that the prime minister was “inept”.

In a statement from Washington, Turnbull thanked Joyce for being “a fierce advocate for rural and regional Australia”, while insisting the Nationals-Liberal coalition was “undiminished” by the scandal.

But Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten called it “fundamentally damaged” and accused Turnbull of “an atrocious lack of judgement”.

“The fact that this scandal has dragged on for 16 days has been damaging to the government, but more importantly, the country,” he said.

Joyce’s decision to quit came with colleagues reportedly growing increasingly frustrated with his handling of the love-child scandal.

Joyce had opted to give several media interviews this week, at a time when he was expected to be on leave and out of the spotlight, prompting two of the party’s backbenchers to publicly call on him to resign.

Junior Nationals minister David Gillespie has indicated he would be a candidate for the vacancy, while reports said Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack had significant backing.

The new Nationals leader will automatically become deputy prime minister, under a coalition agreement between the two major parties of the centre-right.

Read: Australia deputy PM at centre of affair scandal slams prime minister as ‘inept’

Read: Australia bans sex between ministers and their staff after deputy PM’s affair</s>SYDNEY – Australia’s deputy prime minister resigned Friday after being undermined by a sex scandal that triggered a ban on sex between government ministers and their personal staff and a national debate over exposing politicians’ bedroom behavior.

Barnaby Joyce, the leader of the rural-based Nationals Party, told reporters that a sexual harassment complaint against him that emerged in the media the previous day had convinced him that his position was politically untenable.

The complaint added to the pressure from the revelation three weeks ago that Joyce and his former press secretary had had an extramarital relationship and are expecting a baby.

A ruddy-faced political maverick who once threatened to euthanize actor Johnny Depp’s pet dogs for arriving in Australia without permission, Joyce had presented himself as a family man devoted to his wife of 24 years and their four daughters.

But rumours had circulated for months in political circles that he was having an affair with a former journalist who had joined his political staff. When a tabloid newspaper published photographs on Feb. 6 of the woman, heavily pregnant, crossing a suburban street, the 50-year-old Joyce acknowledged that they were in a relationship. Australian media outlets say she is 33.

He tried to rally support by arguing the media shouldn’t pry into politicians’ private lives, a position that even some journalists agreed with and which he repeated at his resignation announcement.

“That’s just not who we are in Australia,” he told reporters in his country district. “Don’t go after private individuals. It’s just wrong.”

But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is in Washington for talks with President Donald Trump, was aghast at Joyce’s behavior, according to people who know him, and introduced a rule prohibiting sexual relations between ministers and their personal staff, a decision that tapped into the global #MeToo movement inspired by the allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein.

Although a poll showed most Australians agreed with what social media dubbed the “bonk ban,” some members of Turnbull’s center-right Liberal Party and other government ministers were uncomfortable with what essentially ended an unwritten convention that politicians’ sex lives are never discussed publicly.

“It licenses the press to investigate politicians’ private lives,” said Tom Switzer, the executive director of the Center for Independent Studies think tank who had sought Liberal Party endorsement for federal office. “It’s an invasion of privacy.”

Despite three weeks of negative publicity and open tension with Turnbull, Joyce seemed determined to keep his position. But news this week that a woman had complained to the Nationals Party, which is in a coalition with the Liberal Party, that he had sexually harassed her led Joyce to resign.

The woman’s name or the nature of the allegation isn’t publicly known. Joyce said he wanted the allegation to be referred to the police and to be given an opportunity to defend himself.</s>SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Friday he will resign as leader of his party and will move to the backbench after weeks of pressure over an extra-marital affair with his former media secretary.

Joyce said he will step down on Monday as leader of the National party, the junior partner in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s centre-right coalition. He will remain in parliament, safeguarding Turnbull’s shaky one-seat majority.

Joyce, a practising Catholic, has been married for 24 years and has campaigned on “family values”.</s>Barnaby Joyce, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, speaks during a media conference in the town of Armidale, Australia, February 23, 2018.

SYDNEY - Australia's scandal-hit deputy leader Barnaby Joyce announced Friday he was quitting and moving to the backbench amid claims of sexual harassment and controversy over an affair with a now-pregnant former aide.

Joyce, whose National Party rules alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Liberals, has been front-page news in Australia for two weeks since it emerged he had left his wife of 24 years for his younger former media adviser, who is now expecting their baby boy.

The 50-year-old had insisted he would ride out the storm but his position became untenable on Friday when a sexual harassment complaint against him, which he denies, was lodged with the party.

"I will say on Monday morning at the party room (meeting), I will step down as the leader of the National Party and deputy leader of Australia," Joyce said at a press conference in Armidale, his country New South Wales electorate.

"It's incredibly important that there be a circuit-breaker, not just for the parliament, but more importantly, a circuit-breaker for Vikki (his lover), for my unborn child, my daughters and for Nat (his wife).

"This has got to stop. It's not fair on them. It's just completely and utterly unwarranted, the sort of observation that's happened." Joyce was due to be the acting prime minister this week with Turnbull meeting US President Donald Trump in Washington, but opted to take leave.

With Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also out of the country, the role has been assumed by Senate leader Mathias Cormann, who said ahead of Joyce's decision that any harassment claim must be taken seriously.

"Any allegation of sexual harassment is a very serious allegation," he told reporters.

"I understand that a formal complaint has been made, and that that complaint is being investigated. I mean, at this point, that is really all that I have to say about it." Joyce called the allegation "spurious and defamatory" and said he wanted it investigated by the authorities.

"I have asked that that be referred to the police," he said, while admitting it had been "the straw that broke the camel's back".

"It's quite evident that you can't go to the despatch box with issues like that surrounding you." .

His decision to quit came with colleagues reportedly growing increasingly frustrated with his handling of the love-child scandal.

Joyce had opted to give several media interviews this week, at a time when he was expected to be on leave and out of the spotlight and two of the party's backbenchers had publicly called on him to resign.

A furious Turnbull, who relies on the smaller National Party to govern, slapped a formal ban on sex between cabinet members and their staff in the wake of the Joyce affair.

He twice declined to offer support for his deputy when asked by reporters in Washington on Thursday.

Junior Nationals minister David Gillespie has indicated he would be a candidate for the vacancy, while reports said Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack had significant backing.

The new Nationals leader will automatically become deputy prime minister, under a coalition agreement between the two major parties of the centre-right.

The daily media headlines on the scandal have riveted the Australian public and sparked debate about workplace culture amid the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

But it has also highlighted the perilous state of the coalition government, which just a few months ago survived a crisis over lawmakers' dual citizenship that threatened its wafer-thin parliamentary majority.</s>SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's deputy prime minister said on Friday he will resign as leader of his party after weeks of pressure over an affair with a staffer that brought him into open conflict with his premier and a new allegation of sexual harassment emerged.

 Barnaby Joyce said he will step down on Monday as leader of the National party, the junior partner in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's centre-right coalition, after resisting earlier calls to quit over the affair with his former media secretary, with whom he is expecting a child.

 He will remain in parliament, safeguarding Turnbull's shaky one-seat majority.

 Joyce's decision came after a falling-out with Turnbull, who is in the United States for meetings with President Donald Trump and who declined to leave him in charge while he is out of the country.

 Turnbull called Joyce's affair a "shocking error of judgment" last week, to which Joyce responded by calling Turnbull "inept".

 Joyce, a practising Catholic, has been married for 24 years and has campaigned on family values. He said he decided to quit after the new allegation of sexual harassment emerged on Friday.

 He denied any wrongdoing but acknowledged the allegation had hastened his decision.

 "I will say on Monday morning at the party room I will step down as the leader of the National Party and deputy leader of Australia," Joyce said.

 Joyce, whose support base rests in Australia's traditionally conservative rural areas, wore his trademark Akubra bushman's hat as he spoke to journalists in Armidale, the farming town he represents about 485 km (300 miles) northeast of Sydney.

 Little-known outside Australia, Joyce made international headlines in 2015 when he deported two dogs brought into Australia by U.S. actor Johnny Depp without the proper paperwork, a row that became known as the "war on terrier".

 

 'DISUNITY IS DEATH'

 Joyce had only been back in parliament less than a month after falling victim to a citizenship crisis that has dogged Turnbull's government. Australia's High Court deemed Joyce was a New Zealand citizen in October, forcing Turnbull to rule in minority until Joyce re-contested and won his seat again.

 National Party federal director Ben Hindmarsh said on Friday the party had received the sexual harassment allegation against Joyce but declined to give any details.

 A spokesman said Joyce believed the claim to be "spurious and defamatory" and had asked for it to be referred to police.

 The National Party will now elect a new leader, who will also become deputy prime minister under the terms of the coalition agreement with Turnbull's Liberal party.

 Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack and David Gillespie, the assistant minister for children and families, both said they would contest the leadership ballot on Monday.

 Joyce's resignation will potentially heal the rift between the Liberal and National parties, a political alliance that has existed for nearly 100 years.

 Nick Economou, senior lecturer in Australian politics at Monash University in Melbourne, said it would have been impossible for both Turnbull and Joyce to return to parliament next week after they fell out.

 "In Australian politics, disunity is death," Economou said.

 Two-thirds of Australian voters wanted Joyce to resign, The Australian newspaper's Newspoll showed earlier this week.

 Joyce's decision to resign should get the row off the front pages, offering Turnbull at least temporary respite, although Joyce will now sit on the backbench with former prime minister Tony Abbott, the man Turnbull ousted in a 2015 party-room coup.

 Freed from Cabinet restraints, Abbott has criticized Turnbull's policies from the backbench, although Joyce said he would not destabilize the government.

 Turnbull must head back to the polls by May 2019.

 

 (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Jane Wardell and Paul Tait)</s>Turmoil inside the National Party follows Malcolm Turnbull to Washington DC, while back home a junior Nationals minister puts his hand up for the leadership in the event Barnaby Joyce has to go.

Barnaby Joyce has insisted this week he will not be stepping down. (Credit: ABC)

Turmoil inside the National Party has followed Malcolm Turnbull to Washington DC, where the Prime Minister has said it is up to the Nationals to decide whether Barnaby Joyce keeps his job.

Mr Joyce's leadership is under pressure and the ABC understands junior minister David Gillespie wants the job if it is vacant.

While leading a major delegation to the United States, Mr Turnbull was asked twice about whether he still supported Mr Joyce and told reporters it was not up to him.

"Barnaby Joyce is the leader of the National Party of Australia, as leader of the National Party of Australia in a Coalition Government, he is my Deputy Prime Minister," he said.

Mr Joyce is on personal leave for a week, but has made it clear in media interviews this week he does not intend to quit the leadership.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is acting as prime minister while Mr Turnbull is away and Mr Joyce is on leave.

Senator Cormann was also questioned about Mr Joyce's leadership of the party today, and repeated the Prime Minister's comments.

"The leadership of the National Party is a matter for the National Party."

Pressure built on the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday when Nationals backbencher Andrew Broad called for him to resign and said he would make that point at a party meeting next week.

"I need to know as a Member of Parliament that the person who is going to be the acting prime minister has got their mind on the job," he said.

"At this point in time it is not fit for Barnaby to … step up as acting PM."

"My view is that authority forgets a dying king, and fundamentally, Barnaby failed a character test," he said.

Mr Hastie said the decision on leadership was ultimately one for the Nationals party room — but he wanted the saga to end.

"I'm tired of talking about it, which is why I'm glad Andrew Broad is bringing this all to a head," he said.

"The sooner this is resolved the better."

Now that Dr Gillespie has signalled he would be a candidate if there is a vacancy, it is likely there would be a leadership contest, as there is also significant backing for Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack.

Dr Gillespie represents the federal seat of Lyne, on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, and is the Assistant Families Minister.

Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie responded to Mr Broad's call yesterday and said all Nationals MPs were welcome to bring issues to the party room and they were always discussed internally in confidence.

But Senator McKenzie said, "there is no stronger advocate for regional Australia than Barnaby Joyce".

Nationals Senate leader Nigel Scullion said he was confident Mr Joyce would survive any push to remove him.

"If I was a betting man, I'd think Barnaby Joyce would still be Deputy Prime Minister at the end of Monday," Senator Scullion told RN.</s>Australia's scandal-hit deputy leader Barnaby Joyce announced Friday he was quitting and moving to the backbench amid claims of sexual harassment and controversy over an affair with a now-pregnant former aide.

Joyce, whose National Party rules alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Liberals, has been front-page news in Australia for two weeks since it emerged he had left his wife of 24 years for his younger former media adviser, who is now expecting their baby boy.

The 50-year-old had insisted he would ride out the storm but his position became untenable on Friday when a sexual harassment complaint against him, which he denies, was lodged with the party.

"I will say on Monday morning at the party room (meeting), I will step down as the leader of the National Party and deputy leader of Australia," Joyce said at a press conference in Armidale, his country New South Wales electorate.

"It's incredibly important that there be a circuit-breaker, not just for the parliament, but more importantly, a circuit-breaker for Vikki (his lover), for my unborn child, my daughters and for Nat (his wife).

"This has got to stop. It's not fair on them. It's just completely and utterly unwarranted, the sort of observation that's happened."

Joyce was due to be the acting prime minister this week with Turnbull meeting US President Donald Trump in Washington, but opted to take leave.

With Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also out of the country, the role has been assumed by Senate leader Mathias Cormann, who said ahead of Joyce's decision that any harassment claim must be taken seriously.

"Any allegation of sexual harassment is a very serious allegation," he told reporters.

"I understand that a formal complaint has been made, and that that complaint is being investigated. I mean, at this point, that is really all that I have to say about it."

Joyce called the allegation "spurious and defamatory" and said he wanted it investigated by the authorities.

"I have asked that that be referred to the police," he said, while admitting it had been "the straw that broke the camel's back".

"It's quite evident that you can't go to the despatch box with issues like that surrounding you."

His decision to quit came with colleagues reportedly growing increasingly frustrated with his handling of the love-child scandal.

Joyce had opted to give several media interviews this week, at a time when he was expected to be on leave and out of the spotlight and two of the party's backbenchers had publicly called on him to resign.

A furious Turnbull, who relies on the smaller National Party to govern, slapped a formal ban on sex between cabinet members and their staff in the wake of the Joyce affair.

He twice declined to offer support for his deputy when asked by reporters in Washington on Thursday.

Junior Nationals minister David Gillespie has indicated he would be a candidate for the vacancy, while reports said Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack had significant backing.

The new Nationals leader will automatically become deputy prime minister, under a coalition agreement between the two major parties of the centre-right.

The daily media headlines on the scandal have riveted the Australian public and sparked debate about workplace culture amid the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

But it has also highlighted the perilous state of the coalition government, which just a few months ago survived a crisis over lawmakers' dual citizenship that threatened its wafer-thin parliamentary majority.</s>Australian deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said on Friday he will resign as leader of his party and will move to the backbench after weeks of pressure over an extra-marital affair with his former media secretary.

Joyce said he will step down on Monday as leader of the National party, the junior partner in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s centre-right coalition. He will remain in parliament, safeguarding Turnbull’s shaky one-seat majority.

Joyce, a practising Catholic, has been married for 24 years and has campaigned on family values but had been under sustained pressure to resign over an affair with his former staff member, who is carrying his child.

He said he decided to quit after an allegation of sexual harassment emerged on Friday. Joyce denied any wrongdoing.

“I will say on Monday morning at the party room I will step down as the leader of the National Party and deputy leader of Australia,” Joyce told reporters in Armidale, the rural town he represents about 485 km (300 miles) northeast of Sydney.

National Party federal director Ben Hindmarsh said the party had received the sexual harassment allegation but declined to give any details.

A spokesman said Joyce had been made aware of the claim indirectly and believed it was “spurious and defamatory”. Joyce had asked for the allegation to be referred to police, the spokesman said.

The National Party will now elect a new leader, who will also become deputy prime minister under the terms of the coalition agreement with Turnbull’s Liberal party.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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Australia's deputy prime minister said on Friday he will resign as leader of his party after weeks of pressure over an affair with a staffer that brought him into open conflict with his premier and threatened to shatter a decades-old coalition.

SYDNEY: Australia's deputy prime minister said on Friday he will resign as leader of his party after weeks of pressure over an affair with a staffer that brought him into open conflict with his premier and a new allegation of sexual harassment emerged.

Barnaby Joyce said he will step down on Monday as leader of the National party, the junior partner in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's centre-right coalition, after resisting earlier calls to quit over the affair with his former media secretary, with whom he is expecting a child.

He will remain in parliament, safeguarding Turnbull's shaky one-seat majority.

Joyce's decision came after a falling-out with Turnbull, who is in the United States for meetings with President Donald Trump and who declined to leave him in charge while he is out of the country.

Turnbull called Joyce's affair a "shocking error of judgment" last week, to which Joyce responded by calling Turnbull "inept".

Joyce, a practising Catholic, has been married for 24 years and has campaigned on family values. He said he decided to quit after the new allegation of sexual harassment emerged on Friday.

He denied any wrongdoing but acknowledged the allegation had hastened his decision.

"I will say on Monday morning at the party room I will step down as the leader of the National Party and deputy leader of Australia," Joyce said.

Joyce, whose support base rests in Australia's traditionally conservative rural areas, wore his trademark Akubra bushman's hat as he spoke to journalists in Armidale, the farming town he represents about 485 km (300 miles) northeast of Sydney.

Little-known outside Australia, Joyce made international headlines in 2015 when he deported two dogs brought into Australia by U.S. actor Johnny Depp without the proper paperwork, a row that became known as the "war on terrier".

Joyce had only been back in parliament less than a month after falling victim to a citizenship crisis that has dogged Turnbull's government. Australia's High Court deemed Joyce was a New Zealand citizen in October, forcing Turnbull to rule in minority until Joyce re-contested and won his seat again.

National Party federal director Ben Hindmarsh said on Friday the party had received the sexual harassment allegation against Joyce but declined to give any details.

A spokesman said Joyce believed the claim to be "spurious and defamatory" and had asked for it to be referred to police.

The National Party will now elect a new leader, who will also become deputy prime minister under the terms of the coalition agreement with Turnbull's Liberal party.

Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack and David Gillespie, the assistant minister for children and families, both said they would contest the leadership ballot on Monday.

Joyce's resignation will potentially heal the rift between the Liberal and National parties, a political alliance that has existed for nearly 100 years.

Nick Economou, senior lecturer in Australian politics at Monash University in Melbourne, said it would have been impossible for both Turnbull and Joyce to return to parliament next week after they fell out.

"In Australian politics, disunity is death," Economou said.

Two-thirds of Australian voters wanted Joyce to resign, The Australian newspaper's Newspoll showed earlier this week.

Joyce's decision to resign should get the row off the front pages, offering Turnbull at least temporary respite, although Joyce will now sit on the backbench with former prime minister Tony Abbott, the man Turnbull ousted in a 2015 party-room coup.

Freed from Cabinet restraints, Abbott has criticised Turnbull's policies from the backbench, although Joyce said he would not destabilise the government.

Turnbull must head back to the polls by May 2019.</s>Australia's scandal-hit deputy leader Barnaby Joyce announced Friday he was quitting and moving to the backbench amid claims of sexual harassment and controversy over an affair with a now-pregnant former aide.

Joyce, whose National Party rules alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Liberals, has been front-page news in Australia for two weeks since it emerged he had left his wife of 24 years for his younger former media adviser, who is now expecting their baby boy.

The 50-year-old had insisted he would ride out the storm but his position became untenable on Friday when a sexual harassment complaint against him, which he denies, was lodged with the party by an unnamed woman.

Joyce said at a press conference in Armidale, his rural New South Wales seat, that he would step down as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister at a party meeting on Monday.

"It's incredibly important that there be a circuit-breaker, not just for the parliament, but more importantly, a circuit-breaker for Vikki (his lover), for my unborn child, my daughters and for Nat (his wife)," he said.

"This has got to stop. It's not fair on them. It's just completely and utterly unwarranted, the sort of observation that's happened."

Joyce, who has also been criticised for living in an apartment rent-free with now partner Vikki Campion after splitting with his wife, was due to be the acting prime minister this week with Turnbull meeting US President Donald Trump in Washington.

But he opted to take leave.

With Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also out of the country, the role has been assumed by Senate leader Mathias Cormann, who said ahead of Joyce's decision that any harassment claim must be taken seriously.

"Any allegation of sexual harassment is a very serious allegation," he told reporters. "I understand that a formal complaint has been made, and that that complaint is being investigated."

Joyce called the claim "spurious and defamatory" and said he wanted it investigated by the authorities.

"I have asked that that be referred to the police," he said, while admitting it had been "the straw that broke the camel's back".

"It's quite evident that you can't go to the despatch box with issues like that surrounding you."

The daily media headlines on the scandal have riveted the Australian public and sparked debate about workplace culture amid the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

But it has also highlighted the perilous state of the coalition government, which just a few months ago survived a crisis over lawmakers' dual citizenship that threatened its wafer-thin parliamentary majority.

Last week a furious Turnbull, who relies on the smaller National Party to govern, savaged Joyce for "a shocking error of judgement", leading his deputy to fire back that the prime minister was "inept".

In a statement from Washington, Turnbull Friday thanked Joyce for being "a fierce advocate for rural and regional Australia", while insisting the Nationals-Liberal coalition was "undiminished" by the scandal.

But Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten called it "fundamentally damaged" and accused Turnbull of "an atrocious lack of judgement".

"The fact that this scandal has dragged on for 16 days has been damaging to the government, but more importantly, the country," he said.

Joyce's decision to quit came with colleagues reportedly growing increasingly frustrated with his handling of the love-child scandal.

Joyce had opted to give several media interviews this week, at a time when he was expected to be on leave and out of the spotlight, prompting two of the party's backbenchers to publicly call on him to resign.

Junior Nationals minister David Gillespie has indicated he would be a candidate for the vacancy, while reports said Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack had significant backing.

The new Nationals leader will automatically become deputy prime minister, under a coalition agreement between the two major parties of the centre-right.
Barnaby Joyce announces his resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the National Party, following scandals involving an affair with a staffer and a sexual harassment allegation. The party, a junior partner in the Coalition government, will vote for his successor on February 26.