Watch: Australian PM bans affairs between ministers, staff

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursdaybanned sex between ministers and staff and rounded on his deputy for a "shocking error of judgment" by having an affair with a press secretary.

Turnbull announced the ban at the end of a parliamentary week dominated by controversy over Deputy Australian Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's relationship with a former staffer, Vikki Campion.

Barnaby Joyce, a Catholic who campaigned on "family values" and married for 24 years, is expecting a child with his former staffer in April.

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Turnbull stopped short of sacking Joyce, which would have put the government's narrow one-seat majority at risk were he expelled from parliament.

But he said the scandal had prompted overdue changes to ministerial conduct rules, and announced new standards broadly similar to a ban on relationships between lawmakers and staffers adopted last week by US Congress.

"In 2018, it is not acceptable for a minister to have a sexual relationship with somebody who works for them. It is a very bad workplace practice. And everybody knows that no good comes of it," he said.

"Ministers, regardless of whether they are married or single, must not engage in sexual relations with staff. Doing so will constitute a breach of the standards."

He said Joyce was taking some personal leave to reflect and seek forgiveness from his former wife and four daughters, “and make a new home for his partner and their baby”.

He also said that Australians expected parliamentarians to behave decorously. Ministers needed to be “very conscious that their spouses and children sacrifice a great deal so they can carry on their political career, and their families deserve honour and respect”.

Turnbull added that when it came to serving in public life, “values should be lived”.

(With inputs from Reuters)