Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce announced he will resign next Monday following weeks of pressure over an affair with a staffer and a new allegation of sexual harassment.
Joyce admitted to having an affair with his former media secretary, with whom he is expecting a child, earlier this month, but resisted calls to quit claiming that it was a private matter.
On Friday, Joyce finally said he would resign, after a separate and formal sexual harassment complaint made against him to the National Party emerged. Although Joyce denied any wrongdoing, he acknowledged the allegation had hastened his decision.
Speaking to journalists, Joyce said he will resign on Monday morning at the party policy forum and step down as the leader of the National Party and deputy leader of Australia.
"[It has been an] incredible privilege, that I'm so humbled by, to have been the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia," he said.
Joyce's decision came after a falling-out with Turnbull, who is in the U.S. for meetings with President Donald Trump and who declined to leave him in charge while he is out of the country.
Turnbull called Joyce's affair a "shocking error of judgment" last week, to which Joyce responded by calling Turnbull "inept".
Joyce, a practising Catholic, has been married for 24 years. He has campaigned on family values and built a support base of traditional Australian conservatives in rural areas.
Joyce wore his trademark Akubra bushman's hat as he spoke to journalists in Armidale, the farming town he represents about 300 miles northeast of Sydney.
Little-known outside Australia, Joyce made international headlines in 2015 when he deported two dogs brought into Australia by U.S. actor Johnny Depp without the proper paperwork, a row that became known as the "War on Terrier".
Joyce had only been back in parliament less than a month after falling victim to a citizenship crisis that has dogged Turnbull's government. Australia's High Court deemed Joyce was a New Zealand citizen in October, forcing Turnbull to rule in minority until Joyce re-contested and won his seat again.
The National Party will now elect a new leader, who will also become deputy prime minister under the terms of the coalition agreement with Turnbull's Liberal party.
Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack and David Gillespie, the assistant minister for children and families, both said they would contest the leadership ballot on Monday.
Joyce's resignation will potentially heal the rift between the Liberal and National parties, a political alliance that has existed for nearly 100 years.
Nick Economou, senior lecturer in Australian politics at Monash University in Melbourne, said it would have been impossible for both Turnbull and Joyce to return to parliament next week after they fell out.
"In Australian politics, disunity is death," Economou said.
Two-thirds of Australian voters wanted Joyce to resign, The Australian newspaper's Newspoll showed earlier this week.
Watch Barnaby Joyce announce his resignation below:
#BREAKING @Barnaby_Joyce will resign as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister at a party room meeting on Monday. #7News pic.twitter.com/sLxB7Tt8Ow
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) February 23, 2018
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