Former cities minister Jamie Briggs has called some media commentary of his resignation over inappropriate behaviour in a Hong Kong bar “ridiculously over the top”, and says Malcolm Turnbull has told him he could become a minister again.
In his first interview since resigning over behaving inappropriately towards a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar, Briggs said at the time he was using alcohol to cope with the intensity of his job.
Briggs also said the prime minister told him the path to cabinet remained open for him despite his resignation and he had been encouraged by the support of John Howard.
Briggs resigned after a female public servant complained about his behaviour while he was visiting Hong Kong in November. The former Liberal minister had conceded he acted “inappropriately” but said there was no sexual harassment complaint and called some media commentary “ridiculously over the top”.
He admitted to telling the woman she had “piercing” eyes and putting his arm around her shoulder and kissing her on the cheek as he was leaving the bar.
“I think I’ve got to consider some of my behaviours and some choices I’ve made, particularly when I’ve been travelling,” he told the Courier, the newspaper of the Adelaide Hills.
“I was away 165 nights last year. I flew 150 odd times and I’ve found it really difficult. I’ve found the pace and intensity ... not the work, but the being away ... I probably too often used alcohol as a way to deal with that so I think in that sense that’s probably part of the reason for the decision.”
Briggs said he was encouraged by support from Howard and would be running for the seat of Mayo again in this year’s election.
“The one bit of advice John Howard did give, is that the thing in politics and life is that we all make mistakes, the key is no to repeat them and that’s my challenge from here is to improve as a person,” he said.
He would not comment on the seriousness of his actions but said he did not deserve a “death sentence” over his behaviour.
“Unfortunately in politics there’s not really a small price,” he said. “I am not going to get into whether the error was significant or not because, in the end, the judgment of the prime minister was that it was an error which breached the high standards of ministers. I didn’t have any choice.
“I needed to resign because it’s a very privileged position to be a minister in a commonwealth government and I need to learn from the error that I made. I shouldn’t have been in that situation. I should have been more careful. I should have been more disciplined.”
His wife Estee told the newspaper she had been “frustrated” by the media coverage and Briggs did not have a problem with alcohol but had made “bad choices”.
“Some people were suggesting there was a problem with our marriage and there isn’t and there wasn’t,” she said.
“I didn’t want to weigh in, I’m not the member, I’m not the one but I just felt ‘well look here’s our family and we are still strong and very happy together’ so that’s enough from me.”
