Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at Parliament House, in Canberra, Australia 13 December 2021; Credit: Lukas Coch / Reuters

(Reuters) - Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce apologised on Saturday 5 February 2022 to Prime Minister Scott Morrison for calling him "a hypocrite and a liar" and said that Morrison had rejected his offer to resign.

PM Morrison said in a statement that he accepted Joyce's apology.

In a leaked message the deputy prime minister, who heads the junior partner in PM Morrison's coalition government, said last year that he had never trusted Scott Morrison.

"He is a hypocrite and a liar from my observations and that is over a long time," Minister Joyce wrote to a former staffer of PM Morrison's Liberal Party who had alleged sexual assault by a fellow staffer.

Minister Joyce's remarks further shake the political position of PM Morrison, who must call a federal election by May. His approval ratings have fallen over his handling of a Omicron-driven coronavirus outbreak.

"I want to apologise to the prime minister ... I should have never written the text that I did," Minister Joyce told a news conference. "My view from the backbench about the prime minister was based on assumption and commentary, not from a one-on-one working relationship."

Minister Joyce became deputy prime minister in 2021 as the leader of the National Party, not as PM Morrison's appointee. Minister Joyce's party, which has the power to remove him as its leader, said it would not be commenting beyond Minister Joyce's statement.

PM Morrison responded, "Relationships change over time. Politicians are human beings too. We all have our frailties and none of us are perfect."

Minister Joyce's text message, first reported on Friday night by Nine Newspapers, was sent through a third party to former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins. She had alleged she was sexually assaulted in Parliament House in March 2019.

The political commotion comes days after a controversy about an alleged exchange between senior Liberal Party members making derogatory remarks about PM Morrison.

Opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese said that it was "untenable" for Minister Joyce to continue as deputy prime minister.

"I couldn't care less that the Liberal Party members all don't like each," Mr Albanese said at a briefing. "What I do care about is the consequences of a government that is dysfunctional."