Ita Buttrose urged to scrap MeToo documentary

A­n ex-Liberal staffer who was allegedly assaulted wants ABC to scrap an upcoming documentary.

Former Liberal staffer Dhanya Mani (left) says she felt sick after being questioned by ABC journalists about her sexual harassment allegations. Right: ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose. Pictures: Jane Dempster, File

A law graduate who alleged she was sexually harassed and ­assaulted while working as a ­Liberal Party staffer has called on ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose to scrap an upcoming documentary involving Tracey Spicer after the identities of domestic violence and sexual harassment victims were mistakenly exposed.

Dhanya Mani, who has completed dual arts and law degrees, graduating with honours from Macquarie University, accused Spicer and several ABC journalists of harassing her after she ­revealed in July her experience as a Liberal staffer.

The 26-year-old claimed the mistake in exposing three victims’ identities was similar to her own interactions with Spicer.

READ MORE: Tracey Spicer ‘sorry’ after rape victims exposed | Tracey Spicer should own error over names: Rosie Batty | Spicer’s #MeToo campaign does victims a disservice, writes Chris Kenny

She ­accused the high-profile #MeToo campaigner of betraying her confidence by sharing messages she had sent Ms Mani in relation to her sexual assault allegations with her former boss.

“Tracey claims she saw my former employer was a mutual friend on Facebook so just took it upon herself to decide it was ­all right to do that,” Ms Mani told The Australian on Sunday.

“Why would anyone think that doing something like that is even remotely appropriate in any circumstance?

Tracey Spicer speaks at the National Press Club in Canberra last Wednesday. Picture: Rohan Thomson

“It forced me into having a conversation with my former boss about a subject I had specifically decided I did not want to discuss with him. It was a massive violation.”

Ms Mani was also concerned about the way ABC staff conducted themselves while dealing with her. The ABC and Spicer strongly rejected her criticisms on Sunday.

Ms Mani was among several women who revealed last month they had contacted Spicer via email to investigate sexual harassment allegations last year but had not received a reply.

Ms Mani ended up taking her allegation of being choked by a Liberal Party staffer in 2015 to the ABC and met two journalists from its weeknight news and current affairs program, 7.30.

“Tracey had associated herself with the ABC so the decision I made to speak to them was informed by that — so I got in touch with them and met with them in November,” she said.

“It was literally a two- or three-hour cross-examination where they asked about how many minutes my assault would have lasted for, the number of seconds I may have been touched at certain times, how long I may have been choked for.

“It was incredibly gruelling and daunting. It was emotionless and there was never any point where I was asked if I wanted a support person or whether I needed a break and I was just peppered with question after question as I was clearly becoming increasingly distressed.

“I wanted to speak out because I wanted to expose the cultural issues that exist in politics and the issues in the Liberal Party. But they told me that I had to be aware they were going to run it as a piece that was critical of (NSW’s Liberal Premier) Gladys (Berejiklian).

“The way they wanted to tell my story was the most damaging possible way and everything I asked for was ignored.

“It would have been a lie because Gladys didn’t know anything about it and the point of why I was coming forward wasn’t to do a hit-piece on Gladys … but they insisted this was the only way they would run the story.

“I just couldn’t do it — and I felt really re-traumatised by this. They made me more sick, I had to walk away.”

The ABC rejects the claim.

“The journalists were at pains to make it clear it was entirely up to Ms Mani if she wanted to participate in any story.

“Their handling of the situation was appropriate and sensitive,’’ a spokesman said.

Ita Buttrose at the ABC offices in Sydney.

Ms Mani, who is completing her practical legal training to be admitted as a solicitor, later penned an essay for Women’s Agenda, broadly mentioning the allegations before discussing them more openly in a joint production between Nine News and Nine newspapers in July — after which she claimed she was again hassled by ABC reporters.

“On the night the Nine story aired, I got a phone call from an ABC journalist at about 10.30pm on my mobile and I said I was really upset and overwhelmed and didn’t want to talk but she just kept pushing me, saying ‘You need to talk to me now, and you sound coherent enough, you need to talk to me right now’.

“I surrendered because I didn’t feel I had a choice at that point, and it didn’t matter that I said I wasn’t coping and I was feeling vulnerable. The next day (after her story was broadcast on the ABC’s website), the same thing happened again and I ended up having a full-blown panic attack.”

Ms Mani said she did not raise with the ABC how upset she had been in its aftermath as she had wanted to try to build a good relationship with the media in the hope of further exposing institutional failings relating to sexual harassment within the Liberal Party.

The ABC said the broadcaster trained staff on how to interact with vulnerable and traumatised people. “It is part of our normal ‘harm and offence’ training that is conducted around the country on an ongoing basis,” a spokesman said.

“Sexual assault is usually part of those sessions. In addition, any story on sexual assault or harassment will always be upwardly referred to a senior manager, Legal and usually Editorial Policies.”

Ms Mani’s allegations follow revelations last week that the identities of three women were exposed in a preview version of the three-part Silent No More documentary, produced by Southern Pictures and scheduled to air on the ABC next Monday.

The preview version showed Spicer scrolling through the many messages she received after making a public appeal for victims to come forward in 2017.

“The ABC and producer Southern Pictures wish to reiterate that no names or details of anyone who has suffered sexual abuse or harassment will be broadcast in Silent No More without their explicit consent,” a spokesman for the broadcaster said.

Describing herself as “gutted” by the error, Spicer said last Wednesday that she had been assured that any information identifying victims­ who had not agreed to be involved would be “blurred, redact­ed and de-identified”.

Ms Mani, who has seen an advance trailer of the documentary, questioned why the ABC was pushing ahead with it, given it must be aware of growing dissatisfaction with Spicer among domestic violence and sexual assault survivors.

She demanded Ms Buttrose address what she sees as serious cultural problems within the public broadcaster, and explain why taxpayer money was dedicated to producing a “puff piece” on Spicer.

“Ita should never have allowed the ABC to proceed with this project after she came on board, and should return the funding they got from Screen Australia,” Ms Mani said.

“She also needs to reassure survivors and the general population that this so-called documentary will never be aired.’’

The ABC said Spicer was just one element of the documentary and that the network remained committed to its broadcast.

A spokesman said “no names or details of anyone who has suffered sexual abuse or harassment will be broadcast”.

Journalist Tracey Spicer. Picture: ANNA ROGERS

Spicer said on Sunday she would be watching the final edit of the program this week.

“The survivors who are interviewed in the documentary feel passionate about it going to air,” she said.

“They want to tell their story. They have been working with the documentary team for more than 18 months to have their voices heard and would be distressed to have their stories silenced.”

Spicer also said she had not sent screenshots of her conversations to Ms Mani’s former boss but simply her unacknowledged approaches to Ms Mani as she was worried about her state of mind.

“I reached out to Ms Mani as I was deeply concerned for her welfare after reading her posts,” she said. “I contacted her via Twitter DM and an email address for her that was in the public domain.

“When I did not hear back, I forwarded my own message to three mutual connections asking if there was any other way I could get in touch with her as I was concerned she had not received my message.

“Following this, Ms Mani did get in touch with me from her personal email and asked a number of questions and we corresponded several times.

“I have not forwarded screenshots of our correspondence to anyone.

“I have directly apologised to Ms Mani for the fact that I did not receive her initial email and also for any distress caused by getting in contact with her.”

Spicer has faced fierce criticism over her handling of the disclosures she received from survivors following her call-out.

She has previously said she had expected 12 to 15 responses and was overwhelmed when more than 2000 people shared their tales, which she admitted she had not been qualified to handle.