Member for Mallee Andrew Broad has spoken to his Wimmera constituents for the first time since the "sugar-baby" scandal that prompted him to step down from politics.
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Speaking to the Wimmera Mail-Times at the Wimmera Machinery Field Days on Wednesday, the outgoing MP said he doesn't feel the need to apologise to his electorate after the scandal that prompted him to step down from his role.
In December, the news that he had dinner with a woman he met on a dating website while on a work trip to Hong Kong was made public. Mr Broad vowed at the time he would not recontest his seat at this year's Federal Election.
"I made a mistake. People are not perfect and I'm not perfect either," he said.
"I had dinner with someone who wasn't my wife. Rachael (my wife) and I are fine - we have worked things out and we're going to have a nice life together with our foster daughter, and we're looking forward to doing other things for the community in a different way."
Mr Broad faced allegations he was a "hypocrite" - particularly after his views on same-sex marriage where he likened couples to "rams in a paddock".
He refuted that label.
Months before his own scandal, Mr Broad called on then Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce to step down from his role when Mr Joyce was the subject of another sex scandal. Mr Joyce controversially opened this year's field days on Tuesday.
"(The scandal) is an issue between my wife and I. As soon as it happened, I went home, sat down and explained to her what I had done," he said.
"We thought that would be the end of it. We didn't think she would sell the story, but so be it. At the end of the day, I've done my job, I haven't misused taxpayer money, and I've tried to get the best outcome for the people I serve.
"I can only be myself and take responsibility for the mistakes I've made."
Mr Broad said he had been using his final few months in Canberra to leverage as much money as possible for the Mallee electorate.
"The Nats have to step up if they want to win Mallee," he said. "I've put forward a substantial list of great projects I think should be funded.
"I think (these funding commitments) are of more value if they're delivered before the election.
"The announcements need to come from the new candidate Anne Webster, but you're going to see some more things for our part of the world.
"We got over $1 billion in the time I was the MP, and that was when we worked together. The Wimmera Cancer Centre is a classic example I'm proud of."
Mr Broad said he was focused on his farm and would travel and study after his political career ended.