Barnaby crisis threatens to turn full blown orgy

Via The Australian:

Barnaby Joyce would still comfortably win New England if an election were held today, with a margin of about 13 per cent, but his net favourability in the seat has gone through the floor.

Polling by the Nationals in the seat conducted on Wednesday and Thursday last week found Mr Joyce had a primary vote of 52 per cent if he were running against former member Tony Windsor and that he would win by 63-37 on a two-party-preferred basis.

His “net favourability” — the difference between his approval and disapproval ratings — fell from 30 per cent to 7 per cent.

The problem with having really dumb pollies is that they do really dumb stuff. If he can’t hold up in New England then he’s going to be toxic everywhere else.

Moreover, the longer he stays the wider the crisis:

Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi claims Barnaby Joyce is not the only Turnbull government minister who has been having sex with their staff, but has refused to name names.

The South Australian Senator said he preferred self-governance to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s ban on ministers sleeping with their staff, and it was self-evident that such relationships should not be happening.

“But I would say that I don’t think Barnaby Joyce is Robinson Crusoe at this stage,” Senator Bernardi told ABC radio.

“(Mr Turnbull has) done what he thinks is right. I don’t think it’s necessary to do that, but then, self-evidently, the standards by which I’m holding myself, or which I expect of others, have not been met by those within some of the ministerial ranks, and I make this point that it’s not just Barnaby Joyce that we could be discussing.”

Asked whether he was saying other ministers were having sexual relations with their staff, Senator Bernardi said, “Yes”.

Asked whether he wanted to name them, he said, “No, of course I don’t.”

“We’ll leave that in the fullness of time, but it says to me that there is a problem there,” he said.

More at Buzzfeed:

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a ban on ministers shagging their staff last week, in response to the revelations that deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce not only had an affair with his much younger former staff but that she was expecting his fifth child.

One of the main criticisms surrounding the Barnababy story was the perception that the Parliament House press gallery had known about the affair and chosen not to report on it.

So, BuzzFeed News emailed every single minister in the Turnbull government asking them four questions:

1. Are you currently in or have you ever had a sexual relationship with an employee?

2. Are you aware of any of your ministerial colleagues who are currently in or have been in a sexual relationship with an employee?

3. How do you define a sexual relationship?

4. Do you agree or disagree with the prime minister’s ban on sexual relationships in ministerial offices? And why?

Despite giving ministers 8 hours, and sending through a reminder email, only one person out of the 42-strong ministerial team replied – assistant minister for the environment Melissa Price.

“I support the PM’s changes, but am disappointed that we should need to make a ruling on something that should be obvious to all ministers,” Price told BuzzFeed News.

Recall how the duel citizenship crisis began with just a few Greens. If the media wants to it could expend this scandal to engulf all of Canberra. The longer Barnaby stays the more likely that becomes.