Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has been under pressure for a week and a half over the now-infamous affair with his former staffer Vikki Campion, his marriage split, and the rent-free property he is now sharing in Armidale with Campion.
In Question Time Labor kept asking: Will Barnaby Joyce be stepping down as deputy prime minister? How can he continue, when there are so many questions about this scandal?
And no matter how many questions Labor asked about whether Joyce had broken the ministerial code of conduct by creating new jobs for his now pregnant partner, or misused travel allowances...it looked like nothing would knock off the deputy prime minister.
Instead, the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull insisted, despite the pressure and lots of questions from Labor, that Joyce would not be stepping down from his job. In fact, Joyce would be acting PM next week when Turnbull was in the US. He wasn't happy the questions kept coming.
And then just before Question Time on Thursday, Turnbull announced that Joyce would be going on leave for a week and in fact, wouldn't be the acting prime minister after all.
Meanwhile, finance minister Mathias Cormann will be acting prime minister next week, and is probably thinking...this.
Then on Thursday afternoon, the prime minister held a press conference where he said there would be a ban on ministers having sex with their staff. It's a bonking ban!
And he also unloaded on his deputy, saying Joyce should "reflect on" his position. "He has to consider his own position obviously. These are matters for Barnaby Joyce to reflect on."
The PM is powerless to sack Joyce, however, because they're the leaders of two separate parties in coalition to form government, and it is up to the Nationals, not the Liberals, to sack Joyce. And there's no sign they'll do that.
So then Joyce held a press conference on Friday telling the PM to butt out of the National Party, and to mind his own business.
He said the PM's comments were "inept", "uneccessary", and caused further harm to the situation.
But then in ANOTHER press conference, Turnbull said his comments weren't about the National Party, just Joyce's actions.
So it's a mess, and everyone in Australia is watching on like this.
The PM is out of the country next week, and Joyce is on leave, so maybe there will be peace for a week at least.
