Education Minister Alan Tudge has agreed to stand aside while an investigation into allegations of abuse made against him is conducted.
Rachelle Miller, a former staffer, alleged that her relationship with Tudge, which took place in 2017, was abusive. She addressed the media in Parliament House on Thursday, saying that she wanted to tell more of her story, which first became public in a Four Corners episode a year ago. She said that she’s speaking out again in part because she wants the nation’s leaders to implement all of the recommendations made in a review into parliamentary workplace culture.
Miller alleged that in 2017, she drank heavily with Mr Tudge and he became angry when she answered the phone early the next morning from their hotel room bed. She said, “It was about four in the morning and a morning media producer … was calling about the front-page story we’d lined up. I started to talk to her to arrange a time, but I was still half asleep.
“Then I felt someone kicking me on the side of my hip and leg. As I tried to sit up in bed. It was the minister, he was furious.”
In calling for the government to implement the recommendations made in the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s review into the culture in Parliament House, Miller said, “This is not about revenge, it has never, ever been about that.
“I still sometimes feel sorry for him. It’s about ensuring no-one else goes through this in this workplace ever again. It’s about changing a system that enabled this to happen. We should not have to fight.”
Tudge denied Miller’s claims, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison asked him to stand aside while the claims are investigated.
The news comes a day after former attorney-general Christian Porter announced that he will not contest the next election following a turbulent year that includes historical rape allegations. It also comes mere hours after Western Australian Nationals MP James Hayward was charged over the alleged sexual abuse of an eight-year-old girl.
The review, conducted by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, made 28 recommendations aimed at improving the workplace culture at Parliament House, including a statement of acknowledgement from parliamentary leaders, recognising people’s experiences of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in parliamentary workplaces, targets to increase gender balance among parliamentarians and a new office of parliament staffing and culture.
The report found that one third of people currently in parliamentary workplaces have experienced sexual harassment at work, while 37% have experienced bullying.
Image: Rohan Thomson/Getty Images
