Bullies, nasty, gaslighters: Nine things Broderick review revealed about NSW parliament’s culture | natassiazc
The NSW parliament is Australia’s first and oldest; it has attracted aspiring political leaders and governed the country’s most populous state since 1856.
Nine per cent of respondents said they had heard about or witnessed sexual assault, with more than half of those indicating it had been perpetrated by MPs’ staff.More than a third of the incidents people had heard about or witnessed occurred in NSW Parliament House itself. The next most common location was at a work-related social event, such as after-work drinks or a function.
Female MPs were often on the receiving end of bad behaviour. “Several of these described experiences of bullying both from within their own party and from other MPs across the political spectrum,” the report said. In a nutshell, my [MP] is highly emotional, super aggressive, rude and abusive towards staff. To give you some examples, [they] will walk into the office and won’t acknowledge or talk to you at all, go straight to [their] office and just shut the door... The Member set up a toxic work environment. It was very hierarchical with [them] at the top and [they] would pit staff against one another.
The majority of participants said the unequal distribution of power in parliamentary offices was a “key driving factor both in problematic cultural dynamics and in the patterns of harmful behaviours”. “For many staff of MPs, in particular, working for a good leader was akin to a ‘leadership lottery’. In other words, the type of leadership that staff experienced was dependent on the Parliamentarian for whom they worked.”
The thought of going into Parliament House fills me with dread. There are MPs who don’t believe that non-binary people exist, they can walk into the Chamber and say literally anything about anyone. Would I ever feel safe in my workplace?There were low levels of confidence and trust in the formal policy and complaints process. The review said this needed to be addressed “as a matter of urgency”.
Make prevention and early intervention a priority in all NSW parliamentary workplaces, including through a statement of acknowledgement created with victim-survivors.
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