Barnaby Joyce

Australia’s scandal-hit deputy leader Barnaby Joyce announced Feb. 23 he was quitting and moving to the backbench amid claims of sexual harassment and controversy over an affair with a now-pregnant former aide.

A major rift opened up in Australia’s fragile ruling coalition on Feb. 16 as Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce refused to quit over an affair with a staff member and derided Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s condemnation of his behaviour as “inept.”

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has called for a sugar tax on soft drinks, saying that Australia’s obesity problem is due to people “sitting on their backsides” and “eating too much food.”

‘If you want to deal with being overweight,” he said, “here’s a rough suggestion: stop eating so much and do a bit of exercise.”