Federal parliament rife with affairs, columnist claims after Joyce scandal
A political commentator and columnist has labelled the political scene in Canberra a "root-fest" and claimed "a lot" of senior politicians are sleeping with staff members.
Susie O'Brien, a columnist for the Herald Sun, delivered the comments during a segment on Sunrise on Friday, when she discussed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's decision to ban sexual relations between ministers and their staffers.
"The problem isn't consensual relationships… the problem is affairs," she told Sunrise host Samantha Armytage and fellow guest Chris Smith, from 2GB radio.
"In Canberra, as Sam Dastyari says, it is basically a massive root-fest where you've got a lot of senior politicians away from their families."
Ms O'Brien claimed a friend of hers had an affair with a married senator a few years ago, in a relationship that "everyone knew about".
"He'd wheel out his wife and kids, and during the week when he was in Canberra he would be with her," she said.
"This sort of thing goes on and it is very, very toxic, so the problem isn't so much the relationships, it's the illicit relationships and I do think people are really sick of the moral hypocrisy of these politicians."
Turnbull's announcement came after it was revealed last week that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was in a relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion, who was now pregnant with his child.
Joyce had announced his separation from his wife of 24 years, Natalie, in December last year.
Radio broadcaster Chris Smith said he had difficulty taking the so-called "bonking ban" seriously.
"I had to do a double take yesterday, I thought he was taking the mickey!" he said.
"How do you police it? That's the first thought that occurred to me. What are you going to do to police it?
"We must be the laughing stock of the world... I just don't think it's some kind of fix."
Malcolm Turnbull bans sexual relations between ministers and staff
Barnaby Joyce to take leave and won't stand in for Prime Minister
Joyce hit back at Turnbull on Friday morning, saying the PM's comments were "inept", "unnecessary" and "damaging".
"Comments by the Prime Minister yesterday at his press conference, with regards to that, I have to say that, in many instances, they caused further harm," he told reporters in Canberra.
He went onto accuse Turnbull of pulling "the scab off for everybody to have a look at".
Joyce defied calls to step down from his role.
