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Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Resigns Over Harassment Allegations

Barnaby Joyce has been arguing with the prime minister for weeks.

A sex scandal at the top of the Australian government—which saw the prime minister ban sex between his ministers and their staff—has resulted in the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been locked in a war of words with his deputy for weeks after the PM called Joyce’s affair with his former media secretary, with whom he's now expecting a child, a “shocking error of judgment." Joyce initially responded by calling Turnbull “inept” but was forced to announce his resignation Friday after a new allegation of sexual harassment was made against him. Joyce—best known as the man who ordered the deportation of Johnny Depp’s dogs in 2015—denied any wrongdoing but said he will step down as deputy PM and the leader of his party. He will continue to sit in parliament, protecting Turnbull’s majority of one in his center-right coalition government.