Men accused of bullying by Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis have hit back strongly

A MAN accused of bullying by Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis has hit back at her claims, as the PM says he’s “100 per cent confident” there is no cultural problem.

LIBERAL politician Ann Sudmalis has been accused of misleading parliament, in claiming she was bullied and betrayed by people within her party.

Yesterday, speaking under parliamentary privilege, Ms Sudmalis named New South Wales Liberal MP Gareth Ward for his “narcissistic revenge” against her.

“Bullying, betrayal and back-stabbing have been the hallmarks of one of my state Liberal colleagues, Gareth Ward, over the past six and a half years,” Ms Sudmalis told parliament.

The explosive claim came on the back of her announcement that she would not recontest the next election.

NSW Liberal MP Gareth Ward has denied he has bullied Ann Sudmalis.

Ms Sudmalis claimed she had endured Mr Ward’s manipulation of people and numbers as well as sour grapes from defeated preselection candidate Andrew Guile.

Mr Guile on Tuesday described her speech as an appalling abuse of parliamentary privilege.

“She really has disgraced the parliament in what she’s done,” he said.

Mr Guile, who ran second to Ms Sudmalis in the Liberal preselection for Gilmore in 2012, said she had no evidence for her claims.

“It’s basically just name-calling to slander a few people, myself included, just because we’ve had political contests in the past,” he said.

“There’s no issue in our area about the men versus women thing — as much as Ann likes to play that up.”

‘IT’S JUST POLITICS’

Mr Ward said Ms Sudmalis needed to be careful not to confuse political disagreements with bullying.

“People shouldn’t conflate losing a party ballot or disagreements as bullying — there is a very, very big difference,” Mr Ward said.

“If there is any evidence of bullying that should be brought forward but, to date, I haven’t seen that.”

Ann Sudmalis accused Gareth Ward of manipulating people “and numbers” in her branch in a bid to get rid of her. Picture: AAP

Ms Sudmalis holds Gilmore on a margin of just 0.7 per cent and has faced a preselection challenge from local real estate agent Grant Schultz.

The final straw in her deciding not to recontest the seat was Mr Ward’s alleged branch-stacking and rolling her at the federal electoral conference, she claimed.

“This is not the first time that Gareth has flexed his vengeance on strong Liberal women. He doesn’t just get even, he annihilates anyone who opposes him.”

BULLYING CULTURE REJECTED

Ms Sudmalis’ announcement comes as the Liberal Party faces a backlash over its lack of commitment to preselecting women.

Today, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian was reluctant to weigh into the fight but said Mr Ward was no bully.

“My experience with Gareth is that he’s a hard working local member but I say this: no workplace anywhere, no organisation, has room for bullying full stop and if people raise these issues, they need to be looked at,” she told reporters.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says Gareth Ward is no bully.

Scott Morrison says there is no bullying among Liberals in parliament but some state MPs have been sticking their noses in federal business.

“Sometimes state members of parliament stick their nose into the business of federal members’ areas,” the prime minister told 2GB radio on Tuesday.

“I don’t think that’s a particularly good look, that’s not how we do it round my part of town.” Mr Morrison, a former NSW Liberal state director, has asked the federal executive to come up with “a rigorous and confidential” complaints process to deal with concerns and complaints from all party members.

Scott Morrison denies there’s a problem of bullying within the federal parliamentary party. Picture: AAP

“We have that process within the parliamentary party,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

“I want to be confident the party organisation under their responsibilities is doing the same thing, because that’s where Ann’s complaint has gone to.”

Mr Morrison refused to say whether state Liberal MP Mr Ward has further questions to answer.

Asked whether he was 100 per cent confident bullying was not an issue within the federal parliamentary party, the prime minister replied: “I am.”

AAP