Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Jones resigns over love child, sexual harassment claim
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, a rural conservative who has presented himself as a devoted husband and father of four, resigned on Friday, citing a sexual harassment claim that emerged in the Australian press on Thursday. Joyce was already facing a sex scandal from recent revelations that he had impregnated his former press secretary after an extramarital affair; the woman is reported to be 33, which would have made her 9 when Joyce got married. That scandal prompted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to instate a ban on government ministers having sex with their personal staff, and while the so-dubbed "bonk ban" has majority approval, The Washington Post notes, it opens a new chapter in Australian politicians' presumption of privacy.
"That's just not who we are in Australia," Joyce said upon announcing his resignation. "Don't go after private individuals. It's just wrong." That may be the Australian way, it isn't how things are done in the U.S. or Britain. So for more more information about Joyce's affair, watch this overview from Sunday's Last Week Tonight, where John Oliver not only explains Joyce's previous claim to fame but also introduces the very Australian father of Joyce's paramour. Peter Weber
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