An Australian state lawmaker accused of sending raunchy pictures of himself to a woman stepped down as the head of an ethics committee on Tuesday, apologizing to his family and dubbing the scandal indefensible.
The allegations against Peter Dowling, a member of Queensland state's ruling conservative Liberal National Party, emerged after The Courier-Mail newspaper reported on Tuesday that a woman claiming to be the politician's mistress sent a letter detailing their two-and-a-half-year affair to state parliament Speaker Fiona Simpson.
The newspaper said it had seen several explicit text messages between Dowling and the woman, including a picture of a penis resting in a glass of wine. The photo was accompanied by the message, "He wanted a Red Wine".
On Tuesday morning, Dowling, who, according to his website, has two children with his wife of 27 years stood before his fellow lawmakers and offered a mea culpa.
"I owe my family an apology. I am sorry for the pain and embarrassment I caused you", Dowling told parliament. "I am not proud of the events plastered all over the paper. I can't and won't defend any part of it".
Dowling is also accused of taking advantage of parliament business trips to meet the woman. Her name was not released and her face was blacked out in published photos of her and Dowling.
Dowling acknowledged he accepted more than 20,000 Australian dollars ($17,800) worth of free flight upgrades. Queensland's parliament exempts travel upgrades from its rules that politicians declare all gifts worth more than AU$500.
Dowling denied he had violated any disclosure rules, but said he was stepping down as ethics committee chairman and from the parliamentary crime and misconduct committee until an investigation by the Clerk of Parliament into his travel is complete. The ethics committee handles complaints about the behavior of the state's politicians, and the crime and misconduct committee monitors the Crime and Misconduct Commission, an anti-corruption agency.
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