Marles should quit if ‘bullying’ response breached code: Coalition

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says Defence Minister Richard Marles should resign if he is found to have breached the ministerial code of conduct by ousting his chief of staff after she raised bullying allegations against her colleagues.

On Thursday, Marles’ chief of staff Jo Tarnawsky claimed he shunted her aside in late April after she raised concerns that other staff in the office were undermining her, saying she was one of the most senior women in government and now felt unsafe in her workplace.

Ley, the shadow minister for women, said the allegations were “extremely serious” and she felt for Tarnawsky, who grew emotional at a press conference in Parliament House on Thursday in which she claimed she had been “bullied out” of a job she loved.

The allegations, Ley said on Channel Seven’s Sunrise on Friday, “will be tested in the fullness of time but the consequences for any minister breaching the ministerial code of conduct must be resignation”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese updated the code when he entered government in June 2022. It states that: “Ministers have an obligation to demonstrate and uphold the highest workplace standards, including maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for their staff.” Failure to engage in good faith with the independent complaints mechanism may also constitute a breach of the standards, the code states.

Marles, who is also deputy prime minister, told parliament on Thursday that he had complied with the code at all times and confirmed the prime minister’s office had been involved in the matter for months. There is no suggestion he was involved in the bullying himself and Tarnawsky has not launched legal proceedings.

Jo Tarnawsky and Richard Marles.Credit: AAP, Alex Ellinghausen

Marles praised Tarnawsky and said he had worked to support her wellbeing and that of his other staff as he managed the situation. “She has given me great service, and I remain deeply grateful for that,” Marles said.

His spokeswoman disputed unspecified parts of Tarnawsky’s “assertions and recollections” in a statement. Like Marles, Albanese and other government MPs the spokeswoman said her response was limited because of the spectre of legal proceedings.

Tarnawsky alleged Albanese’s chief of staff, Tim Gartrell, told her in June that she would not be able to return to Marles’ office and she was seconded to a lesser job within the broader ministerial staff for several months.

Tawarsky said on Thursday that she’d had many people, including in the political world, contact her with messages of support since she went public. But asked whether anyone from the Deputy Prime Minister’s office or government had formally been in touch to check her wellbeing or offer a resolution, she said “no”.

“That’s why you have to take it so seriously, I knew the consequences [of going public],” Tawarsky said.

Her spokeswoman confirmed on Friday that was still the case but another source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said support services had reached out to Tawarsky.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Friday the allegations had “dragged on and on and on” by a prime minister’s office he argued had been “incapable of resolving it”.

“You would have thought the priority for the prime minister’s office would be to find a resolution and to find a satisfactory outcome by way of mediation or support for the individual involved,” he told Nine’s Today program.

“Had the shoe been on the other foot of course the Labor Party would be completely outraged and calling for sackings of ministers as they did in the Morrison government.”

Labor pursued the government over its handling of workplace issues involving former minister Alan Tudge and then-Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann.

Senior Labor ministers defended the government’s moves to improve parliament’s culture on Friday, with Education Minister Jason Clare saying it was “a hell of a lot better” compared to when he started 17 years ago.

“But there’s still more work to do. The fact is there is more work to do in the culture of every organisation in the country,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten also backed the way Labor manages workplace safety. “Labor’s very committed to improving the culture and professional conduct at Parliament House,” he said on Today.

Former treasurer Wayne Swan said employment relationships sometimes broke down in all walks of life. “When it happens in a high-profile case, it’s regrettable that it ends up in the media because it doesn’t help anyone, including the person at the centre of it,” he said on the same broadcast.

Meanwhile, teal and independent MPs including Allegra Spender, Andrew Wilkie, Helen Haines, Monique Ryan, Zoe Daniel, Sophie Scamps, Kate Chaney and Kylea Tink have sent a joint letter to party leaders calling on behaviour to be improved in parliament house.

Addressed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, Nationals Leader David Littleproud and Greens Leader Adam Bandt, the letter asks for an agreement across parliament to embed codes of conduct into the House of Representatives standing orders.

“The code of conduct requires parliamentarians to treat people with dignity, courtesy, fairness and respect. However, conduct in the chamber frequently falls well short of this, particularly during question time,” the letter stated.

In August, teal MPs accused the Coalition of being misogynistic when attacking them during question time.

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