Chris Minns says frontbencher accused of bullying has too many staff for him to contact

Chris Minns says Labor frontbencher Tania Mihailuk has too many staff for him to contact about bullying claims — which she denies — including the MP “enjoys bringing grown men to tears”.

It would not be “practicable” to contact staff of a Labor frontbencher facing serious bullying allegations to check if they have concerns about their boss, because too many people work for her, Labor Leader Chris Minns says.

Mr Minns has defended his handling of claims against his frontbencher Tania Mihailuk, who he on Tuesday said was “very tough” but not a “bully”.

He said the allegations against Ms Mihailuk were a “different set of circumstances” than bullying claims levelled against former frontbencher Walt Secord.

When bullying complaints were raised against Mr Secord, Mr Minns called current and former staff, before declaring that it was “clear” that concerns had been raised about Mr Secord’s behaviour.

He has not done the same in relation to allegations that Ms Mihailuk enjoys “bringing grown men to tears”.

Labor frontbencher Tania Mihailuk said the allegations were a “stitch up”. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Mr Minns said upper house MPs like Mr Secord “often work with one single employee in the same office”.

“I felt it was important in those circumstances, given the proximity of Legislative Council members and their staff, to check in as a duty of care,” he said.

The Bankstown MP has vowed to stay in politics. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

However he said it would not be “practicable” for him to contact Ms Mihailuk’s staff.

“There’s three members of staff for every lower house member of parliament … that don’t share a single office in the same parliamentary building,” he said.

“I don’t think or regard it as practicable for me to contact that many staff in such a short period of time.”

“There’s three staff, they don’t share the same proximity, and therefore it’s very difficult to contact all members of staff in all sets of circumstances.”

Ms Mihailuk was alleged to enjoy “bringing grown men to tears” in a submission to the Broderick Review. Picture: Tim Hunter

Ms Mihailuk has labelled allegations against her as “outrageous”, and said she will fight all accusations to clear her name and remain in politics.

Ms Mihailuk responded to the allegations revealed by The Daily Telegraph, that she is the MP anonymously referred to in a bullying review, as someone who “enjoys bringing grown men to tears”.

The allegations were detailed in the review with the redacted allegation specifically highlighted in the report as an example of bad behaviour on Macquarie Street.

‘I CALL A SPADE A SPADE’

“I’m loud. I call a spade a spade, but I’m not a bully and I completely reject that,” Ms Mihailuk told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

“It’s definitely an internal stitch up. There are people inside the Labor Party that want to drive me out.

“It’s just outrageous. It just shows you how nasty the fight is getting.

“This is Bankstown, it’s not Newtown. It’s not for the faint-hearted.

“There are people who want my seat and there are clearly people who want me out of politics.

“I’m just making it very clear that I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to take up the fight. I care about my community.”

The Daily Telegraph revealed that the claims about Ms Mihailuk, Labor’s Natural Resources spokeswoman, were included in the Broderick Review as an example of how MPs bully staff.

In one example of an office named as a bullying “hotspot,” the Broderick Review quoted a participant as stating:

“[This Member of Parliament’s] office is well known as the worst office. [They] enjoy bringing grown men to tears.

“Employees are bullied, traumatised and no legitimate action can be taken, there’s no compensation available to them. It is crazy that there is no mechanism to remove that person,” the participant told the Broderick review.

The Telegraph spoke to the former staffer who made those remarks, who confirmed that they were about the Bankstown MP.

“She is a woman with a pattern of abusive behaviour towards staff members and anyone else she perceives as weak,” the source told The Telegraph on Monday.

Labor Leader Chris Minns has defended his frontbencher in the face of bullying allegations. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The source called on the Labor Party to send a message that bullying is not acceptable, by “ending Tania Mihailuk’s preselection hopes”.

Multiple Labor sources said that Ms Mihailuk has a reputation for treating staff badly.

“I completely reject the assertions,” Ms Mihailuk told The Telegraph.

“It doesn’t surprise me that on the eve of my preselection suddenly complaints which have never been brought to my attention are being selectively leaked to the media,” she said.

“I completely reject the assertions. And I’ll be fighting to win preselection and represent my community in parliament. Nothing will distract me from working for the people of Bankstown.”

It comes after The Australian reported claims from a former staffer that Ms Mihailuk told them to “f … k off” and called them a “c … t” during a visit to a primary school.

Ms Mihailuk told the paper, “The assertions that have been put to me are simply wrong”

Member for Bankstown Tania Mihailuk speaking on legislation relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Mr Minns defended his frontbencher, saying that she is “very tough” but that he does not regard her as a “bully”.

Mr Minns said that he had spoken to his frontbencher about the allegations but insisted he could not cast judgment on an “anonymous complaint”.

“It’s impossible for me to speculate as to the nature of whatever complaints have been made because I don’t know who’s making them and I don’t know the circumstances in which they’ve been made,” he said.

He encouraged people with concerns to make a formal complaint with the NSW Labor Party.

Meanwhile, concerns were raised on Tuesday that the Broderick Review was being “weaponised” to settle personal scores without procedural fairness.

There is a growing concern that the report’s recommendations to fix the culture on Macquarie Street will be overshadowed by individual bullying claims which went untested.

“There’s no procedural fairness in the Broderick report, you just got to say: ‘this was my experience,’” one MP said.

Participants could “just tell (the review) anything,” the MP said.

“It was not meant to be a process to actually resolve individual disputes.”