Melbourne City Councillor was ‘fearful’ of coming forward with harassment claims

A CITY councillor has revealed the reason she didn’t speak up about the harassment she suffered from one of Melbourne’s most powerful men.

ONE of the women who accused former Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle of sexual harassment was so “fearful” of speaking up she stayed silent for longer than she should have.

Mr Doyle resigned from council in February after Councillor Cathy Oke and Tessa Sullivan, a former councillor, made the claims against him.

An independent investigation into the harassment by Ian Freckelton QC found Mr Doyle deliberately placed his hand on Ms Sullivan’s breast, while he repeatedly put his hand on the thigh of Ms Oke, and on another occasion tried to kiss her.

The investigation — released yesterday — found Mr Doyle had consumed substantial amounts of red wine on each occasion he was accused of wrongdoing.

He has repeatedly denied the accusations against him.

Speaking on Network Ten’s The Project tonight, Ms Oke said she felt guilty for not coming forward sooner than she did.

“It’s a big question about why I didn’t bring it up. I’m a confident, smart woman and I would tell any woman — my daughter — to speak up. But I didn’t. And I think that’s part of the issue that we need to address, that there’s a lot of power in this story,” she said.

“And I was fearful for a range of reasons. Including being attacked in the media which is ridiculous, right, but I was fearful. That if I spoke up, I don’t know, that I would be personally attacked. That’s a horrible reason to not stand up.”

She hoped her experience would encourage the political system to change so it would better “look after people”.

"I have used the word 'fearful', I've used the word 'sad'. But it does get to the heart of why a lot of women don't speak up and I think that's what we need to change... we need to be able to have a political system that allows you to also look after people." #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/gd83uY6QMi

— The Project (@theprojecttv) March 14, 2018

“I don’t want to be the only one that needs to change it, so we can change legislation, code of conduct, talk about good or bad behaviour but let’s see if it does change the way systems support women speaking out,” she said.

Ms Oke said she was exhausted but relieved the saga was over -- for her sake, and that of her family.

“Yesterday, leading into hearing the report and the findings that we’ve been waiting for ...[my daughter] did give me the fist pump that she might have her mother back. I acknowledge I’ve been a fairly stressed mother for the last few months,” she said.

Ms Oke said she felt a range of emotions over the past 24 hours, but couldn’t say whether she felt vindicated by the report findings.

“To be honest, I don’t know what I feel. It’s only yesterday I heard it. We heard the Council Chamber, I had to speak. I feel really sad and I still do. Tired but sad,” she said.

Melbourne City Council Chief Executive Ben Rimmer said the four adverse findings made against Mr Doyle related to “to conduct that is inconsistent with the values of the organisation”.

Councillor Cathy Oke says she is tired and sad following the release of the report.

Mr Rimmer indicated if the mayor hadn’t quit town hall then there may have been a need to force him out.

“Had he remained in his elected position of Lord Mayor, it would undoubtedly have been necessary for the Council and I to consider what further action to take in light of the adverse findings,” he said.

The report rejected Mr Doyle’s explanation of the Ms Oke dinner incident that the thigh touching was “a signal to her that he was impressed by a candidate for the (CEO) job”.

It also found he inappropriately touched her thigh during a council dinner in December 2014.

Then in late 2016 or early 2017, the report states Mr Doyle invited Ms Oke into his office after they had been drinking at a dinner that followed a council meeting.

“Ms Oke went with the Lord Mayor into his office but before she could leave he embraced her and attempted to kiss her on the mouth, causing her to push him away and resulting in her leaving his office to get away from him and avoid his overtures.”

Robert Doyle has denied all the accusations.

The report didn’t record adverse findings of some claims made by Ms Sullivan.

Mr Rimmer said Ms Sullivan took a courageous step to come forward and it was “a matter of regret that Ms Sullivan felt she had no alternative than to resign as a councillor”.

A statement from Mr Doyle’s wife, Emma Page-Campbell, said her husband continued to deny all the accusations.

“In doing so, we note that only one of the eight initial allegations concerning Ms Sullivan has been upheld. This finding, however, is not accepted by Robert and furthermore, is not corroborated by a witness who has been publicly reported as saying that the incident did not and could not have taken place.”

She said Mr Doyle was in hospital and too unwell to review or respond.

[e-mail]

.