FOI documents show how trainee felt ‘unsafe’ in Labor MP Jayne Stinson’s Badcoe electorate office

A trainee assigned to Labor MP Jayne Stinson reported feeling unsafe in the workplace shortly before her boss resigned from the Opposition frontbench, FOI documents reveal.

Labor MP Jayne Stinson resigned from the opposition frontbench just 16 days after one of her trainees raised serious concerns about the workplace environment, it can be revealed.

Freedom of Information documents obtained by the Sunday Mail show the female staffer claims the circumstances in Ms Stinson’s Plympton office made her feel unsafe and caused her mental health to deteriorate.

The trainee lodged an official complaint with Electorate Services on February 10 and was transferred to Tom Koutsantonis’s West Torrens electorate office, where she “happily” works.

Badcoe MP Ms Stinson – a former television journalist – resigned on February 26 and still insists her decision to step down from the frontbench was due to “deeply personal matters”.

The trainee, who started working for Ms Stinson in November 2020, told Electorate Services of what she considered “significant failings of supervisory arrangements managed by (Ms Stinson)” and how she felt she was “not in a safe workplace”.

A Treasury and Finance Department briefing note stated: “The trainee reports that the office environment at the Badcoe (electorate office) is contributing to a deterioration of her mental health and general wellbeing.”

The briefing note also stated several other current and former staff corroborated the trainee’s concerns.

Badcoe MP Jayne Stinson. Picture: AAP / Mike Burton

Electorate Services immediately directed the trainee not to attend the Badcoe electorate office “in order to mitigate the risk of a worker’s compensation claim”.

On receiving the briefing, Treasurer Rob Lucas requested the head of Electorate Services, Paul Tatarelli, to provide education, training or support to Ms Stinson in managing the issues, “given the history of staff concerns”.

Mr Tatarelli denied the request, saying Electorate Services did not have the authority to provide MPs with education and training on their managerial responsibilities.

“When new (MPs) are elected, Electorate Services conducts an extensive induction in the first few weeks of them commencing,” he said in an email to the Treasurer’s office.

In a statement to the Sunday Mail, Ms Stinson repeated earlier comments that “no staffing concerns have been put to me by the Treasury and Finance Department”. “As I stated back in February, I stood down from the frontbench due to deeply personal matters,” she said.

Opposition Labor Leader Peter Malinauskas said Ms Stinson continued to have the support of the Labor team and the trainee had been moved. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said he asked Ms Stinson about the circumstances of the trainee moving offices.

“It was at that point she advised me she had been grappling with the pressure of a deeply personal issue, which had been very traumatic for her,” he said.

“Jayne continues to have the support of the Labor team and continues to work incredibly hard for the people of Badcoe. The trainee’s request to move offices was facilitated and the trainee is happily working in a different electorate office.”

Since moving offices, the trainee has appeared with Mr Malinauskas and Labor human services spokeswoman Nat Cook in social media photos.

Among the documents obtained by the Sunday Mail was a January 2020 email from one of Ms Stinson’s advisers to a Treasury and Finance Department worker, seeking “confidential advice” about how to make a formal complaint against an MP.

The Sunday Mail last month was blocked access to a copy of an email containing “suggestions” of improper conduct involving Ms Stinson.

The Sunday Mail was also refused access to a cache of documents containing “allegations or suggestions of improper conduct” involving her colleague, Katrine Hildyard.

Ms Hildyard said she rejected “any suggestion that my behaviour has been of this nature – that is not who I am nor what I stand for”. It is unknown whether the claims against her were pursued.