Hanson-Young adviser cuts short press conference after Cox questions

An adviser to Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has cut short a press conference and claimed she “had to go to question time”, even though Senate question time is not being held this week because of committee hearings.

The adviser stepped in to help cut short the press conference after Hanson-Young was asked four questions by this masthead about bullying allegations made about Greens First Nations spokeswoman Dorinda Cox.

Cox has lost at least 20 staff from her office over about three years, with four former staff – Esther Montgomery, Sarah Quinton, Vivienne Glance and Lou Hendricks – putting their names to allegations against Cox and another 11 speaking anonymously to detail bullying allegations.

Hanson-Young also appeared to distance herself from Greens leader Adam Bandt over his handling of the complaints, arguing that “I don’t think the leader’s office has done nothing, firstly, but I will, I will leave those questions to the leader, to Mr Bandt. He is the one who’s managing this.”

Asked if she was comfortable with how the complaints had been handled by the leader’s office, Hanson-Young said: “There is a process, the PWSS [Parliamentary Workplace Support Service] has been involved. I understand that Senator Cox has reflected on matters in her office, and she’s apologised”.

At that point, her adviser said: “We’ve got to go to question time”.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young at Parliament House on Thursday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Her office later clarified that she wished to return to her office to watch a live broadcast of question time in the House of Representatives.

Last month, Bandt also cut short a press conference after being quizzed about the Cox allegations.

Complaints that Cox had bullied staff have been made directly to Bandt’s office since 2022 and, since October 2023, to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.

Cox said in a statement last month that there was “disappointingly significant missing context” in reporting about her office.

She added: “As the employer, I take responsibility for any shortcomings in what has occurred during this period and I apologise for the distress this may have caused”.

Hanson-Young famously delivered a fiery speech in 2018 condemning conservative senators for bullying her.

But she said on Thursday: “The bullying and the sexism that I called out in the chamber was what I had witnessed ... it’s not apples and apples. So let’s be fair about that. But everybody deserves to be respected in their workplace”.

“We all have a responsibility as members of parliament to set the standard. There’s a reason why the report into the culture in Parliament House was called, by Kate Jenkins, the Set the Standard report, because it’s important.”

“Any allegations of bullying, yes, of course, need to be investigated and need to be dealt with through the independent process that’s there. I’m not across any of the details ... if there are allegations, of course, they need to go to the independent body [the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service]. They need to be investigated, and if there’s action to be taken, they should be taken.”

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