The year began with what had been a Canberra secret being revealed to the nation.
Under the headline Bundle of Joyce, the Daily Telegraph published a photo of a pregnant Vikki Campion and revealed Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was the child's father.
Senator Joyce had left his wife after starting an affair with his former media adviser.
The personal scandal dominated the news and saw Nationals MP Andrew Broad, in words that later in the year would come back to haunt him, urging Mr Joyce to consider his position.
"It is time he takes a step back, regains some credibility and works through some issues he needs to work through."
Allegations of sexual harassment from former WA Rural Woman of the Year Catherine Marriott finally persuaded Mr Joyce to step down from his leadership positions in the Coalition.
"It's quite evident that you can't go to the dispatch box with issues like that surrounding you, so, I can't enter into any discussions about that, as you all understand, if it's going to be before the courts, it's going to be before the courts but what I will say is that on Monday morning at the party room I will step down as the leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.'
An inquiry failed to substantiate the claim.
Then-Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull travelled to Washington for talks with United States President Donald Trump.
"Our two great nations, committed to competition, to freedom, to economic innovation, science and technology, working together, complement each other and that's why we're seeing strong jobs growth in both countries."
In March, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton came under scrutiny after revelations he granted visas on public interest grounds to two au pairs in 2015.
April saw Malcolm Turnbull lose his 30th Newspoll, the criteria he cited to depose his predecessor, Tony Abbott.
In May, the High Court ruled that Katy Gallagher was ineligible to sit in parliament because of dual citizenship.
It triggered the resignations of four MPs, including Labor's Justine Keay [[kay]].
"I will be resigning my seat as the federal member for Braddon. I will be writing to you, Mr Speaker, to advise you on my resignation. I will nominate for preselection to contest the election in the seat of Braddon; the people in my community deserve a representative that cares about them, respects them and listens to them."
Justine Keay contested and won the Braddon by-election on July 28th.
On August 24th, Malcolm Turnbull gave his final news conference as prime minister after Scott Morrison became the country's 30th PM, defeating aspiring challenger Peter Dutton in a party room vote.
"Thank you all very much. I wish you all the best and above all, I wish the new prime minister-elect the very best and his team. Thank you.”
In November, Julia Banks quit the Liberal Party to sit as an independent.
She told the Women's Weekly magazine the "entire leadership spill was driven by Tony Abbott's opposition" and placed the blame on "Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton and Greg Hunt for the whole program to knife Malcolm Turnbull."
At the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Scott Morrison revealed he'd had to explain to the heads of other nations why he was now the prime minister.
"Oh well, I ... they ... they have their inquiries and when you describe the parliamentary system, I mean it's a foreign system to presidential systems, it's readily understood."
Scott Morrison went on to lose his government's one-seat majority in the October 20th Wentworth by-election.
He's rescheduled his annual Budget to April and scheduled only six sitting days before the expected federal election in May 2019.
The year ended amid more upheaval as, in mid-December, married man and Nationals MP Andrew Broad himself had to step down and later announced he would not re-contest his seat of Mallee after revelations he had dinner in Hong Kong with a younger woman he'd met online.
Mr Broad had used the so-called 'sugar baby' website, Seeking Arrangement, which men can use to meet younger women on work trips.
