One in three harassed in Australian parliament

ONE third of workers in the Australian parliament have experienced sexual harassment, an investigation has found.

An inquiry was launched after complaints by former political staffer Brittany Higgins, who alleged she was raped in a minister’s office by a colleague, and that the matter was largely ignored by members of the government until it became public.

Kate Jenkins, the sex discrimination commissioner who led the inquiry, told reporters that the parliament was neither a safe nor respectful workplace for many employees.

“We heard that power imbalances and the misuse of power is one of the primary drivers of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault,” she said.

“Such experiences leave a trail of devastation for individuals and their teams, and undermine the performance of our parliament to the nation’s detriment,” the inquiry found.

The report made a series of recommendations including that all parties should push for gender parity to change the workplace culture, and the creation of a new code of conduct for MPS and staff.

Prime minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra that he was committed to acting on its recommendations. “We all share in the ownership of problems set out in this report – but we all share in implementing the solutions,” he said.