Cracks widen in Australian coalition as deputy PM calls Turnbull 'inept'

FILE PHOTO: Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce arrives during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, February 13, 2018. AAP/Lukas Coch/via REUTERS

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A major rift opened up in Australia's fragile ruling coalition on Friday 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".

Turnbull, whose coalition holds a razor-thin majority of just one seat, said on Thursday Joyce, had shown a "shocking error of judgment" for conducting the affair with his former press secretary, who is now pregnant, and called on his deputy to consider his position.