Australia Politics: New Deputy PM appointed following harassment scandal

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Australia has a new Deputy Prime Minister. Michael McCormack was elected by the National Party of Australia to the position this morning, after the man who held the job resigned following weeks of scandal. Greg Navarro has more.

When Australia's national party chief whip emerged - with whip in hand - from a closed door meeting Monday morning she confirmed that the country's embattled Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce had been replaced.

MICHELLE LANDRY AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PARTY "He has made the decision now for his family's sake and his sake and the nation's sake to stand down. So we are fully behind Michael McCormack and he is going to be fabulous as our new leader."

Moments later, the conservative, 53-year old former rural newspaper editor gave his first speech as the new national party leader.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK AUSTRALIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER "I will honour the faith and trust, responsibility by doing my best always. I am a team player and I am going to be doing it with the very best team for rural and regional Australia, who serve the interest of our nation."

Just over McCormack's shoulder was a visibly resigned Joyce - who chose to resign following revelations of an extra-marital affair with a former staffer who is now pregnant with his child, and most recently, an allegation of sexual harassment against him.

BLIGHT GRANT ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY "The turmoil regarding the national party generally and Barnaby Joyce in particular has been a major problem for the Turnbull Prime Ministership."

It shed a negative light on the Turnbull government which was hoping for a much needed boost in the polls following his high level trip to the US last week to meet with US President Donald Trump.

Because of the decades old agreement forming a coalition between Turnbull's liberal party and the national party - The Prime Minister couldn't formally ask for Joyce's resignation. Instead, he publicly condemned Joyce's actions earlier this month and instituted a ban on sexual relationships between ministers and their staff.

"It is a very bad workplace practice and everybody knows no good comes of it."

Late last week, after continually resisting the growing chorus to resign, Joyce gave in.

"It's quite obvious that you can't go to the dispatch box with issues like that around you."

GREG NAVARRO SYDNEY "Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull released a short statement shortly after Michael McCormack's appointment, calling him a strong advocate for rural Australian, he said he looked forward to working with the new Deputy Prime Minister."

Analysts say Turnbull's immediate relatively low-keyed response also served another purpose.

BLIGHT GRANT ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY "Turnbull's message to the rest of the world is there is nothing to see here, this was a storm in a tea cup, I've dealt with it decisively, as an executive should, and we are moving oil to broader issues of trade and stability and regional stability."

Analysts say it remains to be seen whether appointing a relatively unknown politician to replace Joyce, will help or weaken Turnbull's prospects for re-election. Greg Navarro, CGTN, Sydney.