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PRESSURE IS MOUNTING on Australia’s deputy prime minister amid fresh allegations that his affair with a younger former staffer, who is pregnant with their child, breached ministerial rules.
Barnaby Joyce has been under intense scrutiny since the relationship was splashed across the front page of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph last week, with his wife of 24 years making clear she and their four daughters were devastated.
He made a public apology to them yesterday and defended the two jobs, one for a minister, that his 33-year-old lover Vikki Campion was given after she stopped working for him last year.
Joyce – internationally renowned for threatening to euthanise Hollywood star Johnny Depp’s dogs over a quarantine violation – denied he breached the ministerial code of conduct.
It stipulates that “partners” of ministers cannot be given jobs in ministerial offices without the express approval of the prime minister.
“I am very aware of the ministerial code of conduct,” Joyce, head of the National Party which is in a coalition with prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberals, told reporters in Canberra.
It is without a shadow of a doubt that Vikki Campion is my partner now. But when she worked in my office, she was not my partner. When she worked in (Resources Minister) Matt Canavan’s office, she was not my partner.
Joyce reportedly updated his formal register of interests last month to say he was separated from his wife, but has not added Campion, who is expecting their baby in April, as his partner.
Resignation demands
The growing scandal has seen the Labor opposition question whether it is tenable for Joyce to continue in his position, while the Greens have demanded he resign. Breaching the code of conduct could be grounds for him to be removed from office.
New claims in the Telegraph of inappropriate behaviour by Joyce at a pub after an official function in 2011 were slammed by the 50-year-old as “serious defamation”.
Turnbull and the Liberals have sought to distance themselves from the saga, which comes just months after the coalition survived a crisis over lawmakers’ citizenship that threatened their slim parliamentary majority.
“The deputy PM… said that he had not discussed Ms Campion’s employment with me or my office. He confirmed that the Nationals were responsible for decisions relating to staffing,” Turnbull told parliament on Monday.
Joyce was also embroiled in the nationality saga that saw a host of parliamentarians resign over a once-obscure rule barring dual citizens from federal office, and he had to stand for re-election in his rural constituency.
He campaigned on a platform of being a pillar of the community who upheld conservative values, including marriage, and comfortably won the crucial by-election.
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There is no misinformation; banks are just not lending!
won’t be long and everyone commenting will be running to the banks
Sme’s think the bank is not lending is a fact and not something they just made up.
The banks have lost all trust and credibility with the vast majority of the public and I for one don’t believe anything they say.
Look, just becuase everyone saw the sky today does NOT mean it was there, ok!? #BOI
how can a bank our group of banks reject the findings of its regulatory body? something is very broken when rule breakers can turn around and refute regulators reports and say we don’t accept the findings in safe knowledge that no one will challenge them
Who do you think runs Ireland, Europe and the World?
I’m Md of a specialist engineering company we have a clean record with our bank Boi,nAnd guess what?nThey are NOT lending!nHow can an Irish Sme grow and create jobs without business loans?nAnd our spineless government haven’t the balls to tackle them??
True for you BTW Whatever happened to the FG proposal to have a reconstruction bank? Is it on the back burner because they want businesses to bail out our zombie banks? Many don’t even bother to try to get loans due to the negative experience of others.
Can anyone name a FG election promise that was kept?? I can’t !
Know what? BOI dont fully qualify as a bank any more. Definition of a bank- 1. an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money and, in some cases, issuing notes and transacting other financial business.
The banks are offering to lend, no doubt about that but its the T&C that SME’s can not comply with.
They can then report to the Government that they have made an offer and the company did not avail of it.
Spin, I believe that’s what it is called.
Well if bank of Ireland says it’s not true and that they are bending over backwards to help sme s then it must be true and I have to believe them….tsk tsk ..silly people casting doubt on such a venerable institution
Exactly Marc, if BOI says it’s lending than it is lending and we are all very silly for believing to the contrary …………..despite all the evidence. Did you see the new BOI ad on TV, they really do care about us, they really do!!!!!!!
In jan 2012 applied to increase overdraft from €5000 to €7500,yes that €2.500 increase.aug 2012 no answer just told they haven’t come back .
God love self employed Ireland.
80% of applications approved? Yes, if you count renewals of existing facilities where they have little choice. What’s the % for approvals of NEW money going out the bank’s door?
The minister for finance said in the dail we can’t believe what the banks say so what has changed NOTHING !!!
They have consistently lied to the past government this government the central bank the regulator and now the people of Ireland.
Why do we still doff our caps ?
Eh? Isn’t that a bit like the bloke beating you over the head with a baseball bat being concerned that you believe he’s the violent sort??
They are more concerned, at being found out! Who told the dogs on the street, find them and put them down!
If bank of Ireland are sooooo concerned why don’t they start lending
Bank of Ireland really really loves us all….it’s just misunderstood
OK here we go…
What if, and its a big if, the banks are only reflecting how really shagged the economy is. Then its better not to be throwing good money after bad. We would end up bailing the shaggers out again if they were making huge losses.
Also the government would be delighted that everyone was focusing on the bad bad bankers rather than how fu**ed the economy really is….yes/no?
If a business is loosing money and succeeds in borrowing to cover this loss what happens next year etc.
Can’t we just sack the lot, save the money and get decent banks and bankers in?!!
That last bit was a joke, if course!
Decent bankers… :-))
have your say