By DPA,
Sydney : Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon resigned Thursday following revelations that he arranged meetings with officials for his businessman brother.
He is the first minister to exit from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s cabinet since Labor came to office 18 months ago.
Fitzgibbon has been plagued by issues of propriety. He apologised to parliament twice earlier this year over failing to declare gifts from Chinese businesswoman Helen Liu and from his brother.
“The minister has accepted responsibility for these mistakes,” Rudd told reporters. “They are mistakes in relation to accountability. There have been a number of them.”