Catherine Marriott on the words that inspired her to act against Barnaby Joyce

THE woman who made a sexual harassment complaint strongly denied by Barnaby Joyce has revealed she “didn’t sleep for a week” following her encounter with the former deputy PM.

BARNABY Joyce’s accuser has revealed how distraught she was following an alleged sexual harassment encounter with the former deputy prime minister, and the inspiring words of a teenage girl that encouraged her to speak out.

Western Australian businesswoman Catherine Marriott told ABC’s 7.30 a poignant message from 14-year-old Amy “Dolly” Everett pushed her to lodge a formal complaint with the federal National Party, even when her closest confidants advised against it.

Dolly was tragically driven to suicide after incessant bullying earlier this year.

Mr Joyce “absolutely denies” any allegation of sexual harassment.

“When it happened, he (Mr Joyce) was the (Agriculture) Minister. He was a very popular Ag Minister at that time. I’m just a little human against a big system and I was terrified,” Ms Marriott told 7.30.

“(Dolly) left the world with wise words far beyond her years, which were, ‘Speak even if your voice shakes’.

“I was sort of like, ‘take a good hard look at yourself. What’s wrong with you, Catherine?’”

Catherine Marriott, who accused Barnaby Joyce of sexual harassment, said the wise words of 14-year-old Dolly Everett encouraged her to act. Picture: ABC/7.30

A National Party probe dismissed the complaint against Mr Joyce after finding there was insufficient evidence. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

The former WA Rural Woman of the Year and Broome councillor never intended for her complaint to go public, explaining how the leak affected her wellbeing.

“That is one of the most frightening things that you will ever have to live through,” Ms Marriott told 7.30 about the leak.

“The control that I had over my own identity was taken away, and that’s something that I will live now with for the rest of my life, and I think was... you know, I think it was really unfair, and it was really horrific.”

She spoke of the sleepless nights that followed the alleged incident in 2016, which Mr Joyce labelled a “spurious and defamatory” complaint. The harassment claim, which is alleged to have taken place after a function in Canberra, was dismissed earlier this month due to “insufficient evidence”.

“(After the incident) I walked up to my hotel room and I burst into tears. I then couldn’t sleep that whole night. I didn’t actually sleep for a week,” she said.

“I rang two of my closest friends and I told them what had happened, and they said they couldn’t believe it. They were just absolutely shocked. They said, ‘You can’t tell anyone. You cannot tell anyone... you will be destroyed if this comes out’.”

Ms Marriott said she did not want to be defined by the experienced, but hope it would encourage change. Picture: ABC/7.30

Ms Marriott said she feared the consequences of a public scandal - a concern that was ultimately realised. Her lawyers said earlier this year: “This has been a long and difficult period for Catherine who never intended for this issue to be made public.”

Despite the distressing ordeal, she continued to participate in the party’s eight-month probe, which involved flying from her home in Broome to the east cost three times out of her own pocket.

While Mr Joyce resigned from his position as National Party Leader, Ms Marriott was furious the investigation was ultimately inconclusive after up-ending her personal and professional life.

“This outcome simply isn’t good enough,” she said earlier this month.

Ms Marriott believes the Nationals leaked her formal complaint, which included full details of what allegedly occurred. But she declined to share them publicly.

“I don’t want to be someone who’s defined by that incident. I want to be able to have a career where the first thing that people think about when they meet me is not, ‘Oh, that happened to her,’” Ms Marriott said.

She hopes all political parties, levels of government as well as public and private corporations can learn from her experience, and work to ensure they have solid sexual harassment policies.

And she has already encouraged major changes.

“I chose to work with the National Party to change their processes because all control had been taken away from me and to their credit, they’ve taken it on, they’ve not only changed their policies and procedures for harassment and discrimination, but they’ve also - they’re going to roll it out across all national parties in Australia,” she said.

“They are changing their membership form to reflect the fact that if you are a member of the National Party you agree to abide by that sort of stuff.”

Mr Joyce has vehemently denied any claims of sexual harassment. Picture: Kym Smith

Mr Joyce, who’s affair with former staffer Vikki Campion was revealed in February, told 7.30 in a statement that he denied any allegation of sexual harassment.

“I asked that this be referred to the police if the complainant wished to pursue this issue so I had the capacity to defend myself, as I firmly believe the complaint to be spurious and defamatory,” 7.30 reported the statement said.