Barnaby Joyce to take leave and won't stand in for Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will be taking leave next week and won't stand in as the nation's leader while Malcolm Turnbull is away.
The prime minister, who is heading to Washington next week, told parliament on Thursday that leave had been approved for February 19 to 25.
Mr Joyce has been under fire over his acceptance of a rent-free apartment offered to him by businessman Greg Maguire and whether any rules have been broken in regard to jobs provided to his former staffer and now partner Vikki Campion.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann will be acting prime minister during the period, as he is government leader in the Senate.
Labor leader Bill Shorten asked the prime minister whether the provision of leave confirmed the deputy prime minister could not do his job.
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"Or are we simply meant to believe it's all a big coincidence?" Mr Shorten said.
Mr Turnbull reiterated that Mr Joyce was on leave.
Joyce survives Labor sack motion
Barnaby Joyce has survived a vote aimed at forcing him out of parliament as he fights claims he asked a friend for a rent-free townhouse when his marriage broke down.
Labor unsuccessfully tried to bring on a motion on Thursday calling on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to sack his deputy for breaching ministerial standards, but it lost 73-70.
The Nationals leader's relationship with his now-pregnant partner had raised concerns about the potential misuse of taxpayer funds, after she was shuffled around from jobs in other senior MPs' offices.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Mr Joyce's position as deputy prime minister was no longer tenable due to his conflicts of interest.
"The prime minister has a ministerial code of conduct which, if he doesn't uphold, is not worth the paper it's written on," Mr Shorten said.
Labor has demanded to see by the end of Thursday the details of taxpayer-funded flights Mr Joyce, 50, and Ms Campion, 33, took in 2017.
It is understood the government has conceded there is a backlog in tabling these reports and is likely to produce them quickly.
Labor's call came as a ReachTEL poll for Fairfax showed nearly half of voters in his electorate believe he should resign from parliament or sit on the backbench.
Malcolm Turnbull and senior Nationals on Wednesday expressed confidence in Mr Joyce, despite a handful of his party's MPs agitating for him to consider his future.
The prime minister reaffirmed his deputy would act for him while he visited the White House next week.
Mr Joyce denied breaching the ministerial code of conduct, which says frontbenchers cannot employ close relatives or partners or get them work in other ministerial offices "without the prime minister's express approval".
He argued Ms Campion was not his partner when she worked in his and Matt Canavan's office. Damian Drum was not a minister when she transferred to his office.
Ms Campion is due to give birth in mid-April.
Mr Joyce late last year separated from his wife Natalie after 24 years of marriage.
