I doesn't matter how you 'slice-up' the salami, when a boss has an affair with a junior employee things will end up in tears.

By Ross B. Taylor

The whole sage involving Australia's deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has been very 'tacky' and extremely distressing for his family and now departed female Chief-of-Staff who was trying to deal with the reality that one of her staff was having an affair with her boss - the deputy prime minister.

Almost anyone who has been in a senior community position, whether they be a CEO, clergy or a politician, knows full-well that when a senior 'boss' has an affair with one of his staff from the same office, it will almost inevitable end in tears. This case has been no different except that the 'boss' in this case holds a senior government position with access to the most confidential national security data and considerable power. Barneby Joyce also made the decision early in his career to use his family publically to promote his views on conventional marriage that would offer his four girls security and love in their future relationships through the sanctity of marriage.

That's all very nice, but then don't go and bonk one of your more junior staff leaving her pregnant and then feel surprised when the secret ends up splashed across a major newspaper's front page.

Joyce told the ABC '7.30' program that he didn't want to "have my life like a piece of salami being sliced-up for the world to see", but the problem is when you decide to have an affair with a staff member of your office, and you are the boss, the salami may end up leaving a very nasty taste in your mouth.