Former Liberal staffer Dhanya Mani says parliament is ‘suffocating for women’

A former Liberal staffer has spoken out about the workplace culture at Parliament House, describing it as ‘suffocating for women’.

The workplace culture at Parliament House has been condemned as “suffocating for women”, former Liberal staffer Dhanya Mani says.

Ms Mani worked for the speaker of the NSW parliament in 2015 when she alleges another Liberal staffer forced himself on her while at her house.

She went public with the allegations in 2019 and has now claimed she sought help from the prime minister’s office – to no avail.

Speaking on Sunrise, Ms Mani was asked about what the culture was like at Parliament House in Canberra.

“I think that culture in parliament, whether it is at a state or federal level, is suffocating for women,” she said.

“The societal forces of patriarchy that women need to face are exaggerated.

Dhanya Mani broke her silence about an alleged assault in 2019. Jane Dempster/The Australian

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“Not only surrounded by extremely powerful men who know that they have that power, but you are in a position where you have no access to employment law rights that every other Australian can rightly say that they can take for granted.”

Her comments follow a fourth woman coming forward alleging she was sexually assaulted by the former Liberal staffer accused of raping his colleague, Brittany Higgins.

Ms Mani said she did not expect any of the inquiries announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to find anything.

“Every single time he has opened his mouth in apparent apology, he has come out with another fresh inquiry,” she said.

“He is the person who guards all of this information and has the sole capacity to decide what happens with it.

“In my mind, sadly, there is no evidence that this is going to work, and we think (he) is just protecting his own reputation.”

Ms Higgins broke her silence last week, claiming she was raped by a colleague in the Defence Minister’s office in March 2019 and was later called to an employment meeting in the same room.

Originally published as Former Liberal staffer Dhanya Mani says parliament is ‘suffocating for women’