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Australia Parliament
Australian House or Representatives Speaker Peter Slipper
Australian Parliament Speaker Peter Slipper stepped down temporarily Sunday amid charges of fraud and claims he sexually harassed a male staffer, national media reported.
Slipper, 62, in a prepared statement upon his return to the country from Los Angeles, said he “emphatically” denied the charges, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“The allegations include both a claim of criminal behavior and claim under civil law,” Slipper said.
To keep the integrity of Australia’s democratic institutions, he said, “I believe it is appropriate for me to stand aside as speaker while this criminal allegation is resolved."
Allegations of criminally misusing taxi payment vouchers were brought by openly gay adviser James Ashby, 33, who is suing the government and Slipper in a civil case over claims Slipper made unwanted sexual advances toward Ashby and had sent him sexually explicit text messages.
Slipper is married and has two adult children from a previous marriage.
Deputy Speaker and Labor Parliament Member Anna Burke will take Slipper’s role, the Herald reported.
Slipper’s move threatens Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s hold on power, as her government will lose its single-seat majority in Parliament's 150-member House of Representatives.
Slipper resigned from the Liberal Party to become speaker in a November 2011 move engineered by Gillard.
The prime minister was under pressure to force Slipper out before parliament returns May 8 if he wouldn’t leave on his own, the Australian Associated Press reported.
"It is appropriate that Mr. Slipper has stood aside as Speaker whilst alleged criminal conduct is investigated," Gillard said in a statement.
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Who currently leads the race in sex scandals and political scandals ( world wide) is it England , the United States, Germany, Italy, Australia or some other country that either does not find that sort of thing news worthy or just doesn't report it to the world ???? Someone please tell me, I'd love to know just for the hell of it. I can put that in my file of useless facts.
The cultural problem or the problem behind the zipper which has been existed on this planet earth since the first book of the Bible, called Genesis, which has caused the universal flood.
And the homosexual problem is also existed on this planet earth since at least the book of Romans, the New Testament. The sexual sin or the lust has been a big problem of the sinful humanity, not God's humanity.
The lust or the sexual sin has caused the downfall of the Solomon even though he built God's temple. And the same lust of the sexual sin has also cause the fall of the Italian former prime minister and now the Australian's speaker and the sexual scandal of the secret service agents of U.S.A.
To stop the sexual sin is a big suffering for men and women as it has said in the Chapter 5, the book of Romans.
The homosexual problem, I am not sure what you mean? I see no problem.
I must protest, there are far bigger and far more serious problems in the world than these so called sexual scandals. They really are a non-event. They become an event because we make it so.
I guess he slipped up trying to slip one into the wrong place...Slippery fella, no doubt....