Tanya Plibersek accuses Scott Morrison of ‘typical gaslighting’ after PM denies Julia Banks’ account of her resignation

An explosive upcoming book has Scott Morrison in its sights, and he’s been accused of ‘typical gaslighting’ after denying its allegations.

Scott Morrison’s denial of bullying allegations levelled by a former female MP is “typical gaslighting” and undermines attempts to fix parliament’s culture, Tanya Plibersek says.

Former Liberal MP Julia Banks on Monday accused the Prime Minister of “controlling, menacing” behaviour after the bruising 2018 leadership spill, claiming his office framed her as a “weak, overemotional woman” following her decision to quit politics.

A spokesperson for Mr Morrison on Monday flatly rejected her characterisation of their conversations, insisting she was given support to deal with the “upset many people suffered” during that period.

But Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek lashed the response as “absolutely typical gaslighting” of a woman who had shown “incredible courage” in going public with her experiences.

“To be Prime Minister, to lead a workplace like this, you need to have integrity, you need to have courage, you need to have honour. What we’ve heard about the Prime Minister’s response is the exact opposite of that,” she told Sky News on Tuesday.

Julia Banks has accused Scott Morrison of ‘menacing, controlling’ behaviour over her decision to quit politics. Picture: Julian Smith / AAP

Tanya Plibersek has accused the PM of ‘typical gaslighting’ after he denied Ms Banks’ claims. Picture: James Gourley / NCA NewsWire

Ms Banks decided not to contest the next election in the fallout from the 2018 leadership spill, and said Mr Morrison pressured her to delay making that decision public.

She accused the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of backgrounding against her in the interim, and quit the Liberal Party to sit on the crossbench just three months into Mr Morrison’s leadership.

“It was definitely the most gut-wrenching, distressing period of my entire career,” she told 730.

Ms Banks made the allegations while discussing her upcoming book detailing her experiences in parliament, just months after Canberra was rocked by a series of allegations over men’s mistreatment of women.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan dismissed claims a member of parliament could be a victim of bullying as “ridiculous”, saying Ms Banks needed to accept criticism “comes with the territory”.

“She has been given a platform on a national current affairs program, she’s about to write a book. I hardly think she’s been silenced,” he told Sky News.

But Ms Plibersek said the government had a history of shifting onus onto women who came forward, following claims the PMO also backgrounded against the partner of alleged rape survivor Brittany Higgins.

Ms Banks quit the Liberal Party to sit on the crossbench, after what she described as a ‘gut-wrenching’ three months under Mr Morrison. Picture: Tracey Nearmy / Getty Images

Mr Morrison insists Ms Banks was given support after a bruising leadership spill in 2018. Picture: Martin Ollman / NCA NewsWire

“We’ve got a Prime Minister that, whenever things get difficult, looks around for someone else to blame … In this case, apparently it’s the women who are making complaints that should be responsible for fixing the culture,” she said.

In the fallout from the Higgins allegation, and an historical sexual assault claim against former Attorney-General Christian Porter, a group of senior Liberal women flagged a shift on gender quotas.

Ms Plibersek accepted Labor was not immune to sexism, but said the party had benefited from a shift towards 50-50 representation.

She said there was a “strong expectation” a woman would win her preselection battle in 1998, a sign the Labor Party had “been trying” for decades.

“That does make a difference to culture. It is harder to get away with bad behaviour when you’ve got critical mass of women in the place,” she said.

A spokesperson for Mr Morrison insisted he was “disappointed” by Ms Banks’ decision to quit politics, and said the pair had several conversations to “understand what she was going through”.

“That included support for personal leave so she could take the time to recover from the upset many people suffered during that period. Several of Ms Banks’ colleagues had similar conversations,” they said.

The Prime Minister was not aware of a sexual harassment allegation levelled by Ms Banks in her new book and believed such behaviour was “completely inappropriate”, they said.

“Everyone has a right to feel safe in their workplace, and the work currently underway by Kate Jenkins will continue to improve Parliament’s workplace culture,” the spokesperson said.