You don't get bored in a newsroom. I guess it's why I've never wanted to swap jobs with anyone in my contact list

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It was Monday afternoon when Jasper Lindell rang to talk. "Are you sitting down," he asked, before revealing the rough shape of the story we finally broke on Wednesday night.

That was, as you no doubt know, that a complaint had been made alleging Opposition Leader Mark Parton had been texting a sex worker during a budget estimates hearing, telling them "f--- my job is boring. Wanna swap".

This story, carefully pinned down by Jasper over the next three days, cantered past the threshold for newsworthiness.

No matter what you might think about the notion of married politicians being clients of sex workers (and people have wildly different views on that), few would say texting them during a public hearing is conduct befitting a would-be chief minister.

Parton himself seemed to strongly agree, strenuously denying the allegation as a malicious smear. It was all false, he told Jasper repeatedly.

While Parton has maintained he did not text a sex worker, his defence, even pre-publication, shifted under Jasper's scrutiny.

Initially he claimed the photo from the committee room was sent only to his wife and must have been stolen from social media and doctored.

He provided a link to a social media post as proof. When........

© Canberra Times