Australian MP accused of texting sex worker during budget meeting

An Australian politician had a lot of explaining to do after being accused of texting a sex worker during a budget meeting to complain that “(expletive) my job is boring. Wanna swap?”.

Mark Parton, who leads the opposition Liberal Party in the Australian Capital Territory, initially dismissed the complaint as a “smear” before denying that the salty text was sent to a sex worker.

“There’s a hell of a lot of private messages that are sent from a hell of a lot of people in the context of sitting days and hearings,” he said, insisting that he was still “holding the government to account”.

An official complaint against him has since been dismissed.

“Most people’s perception of budget estimates hearings is that they’re pretty boring,” Parton said in a spirited front up. “I’ve got an off-the-cuff larrikin communication style,” an Australian slang term for a cheeky chappie.

AFP