‘Mentally unstable’: Labor’s bid to smear female death-threat victim Rochelle Hicks

The attempt to discredit senior executive Rochelle Hicks came as the government tried to stop the release of documents about the threat by cultural heritage manager Ian Brown to kill her.

Rochelle Hicks said she was “extremely distressed that Transport for NSW and the minister are resorting to undermining me”. Picture: Liam Mendes/The Australian

A NSW Labor government staffer briefed MPs suggesting Transport for NSW executive Rochelle Hicks was mentally unstable, in a bid to stop a parliamentary call for departmental documents relating to death threats made against her by an Indigenous adviser.

The attempt to smear Ms Hicks came as the government sought to lobby crossbenchers in the NSW upper house to vote against a motion to release all documents related to the kill threat by cultural heritage manager Ian Brown.

Nationals MP Sam Farraway brought the motion on November 29 last year, two weeks after The Australian revealed that Mr Brown was allowed to stay in his contracted role despite the threat “because he is ­Aboriginal and a cultural knowledge holder”.

Mr Farraway raised the bid to discredit Ms Hicks in his address to parliament, saying he had been told “certain staffers of government ministers” had referred to her as being unstable.

“If that is the case, that is disgusting. That should not be used to convince the Greens not to support a Standing Order 52 (call for papers) motion.”

The Australian can confirm that a ministerial official suggested to at least one crossbench MP’s staffer that Ms Hicks was mentally unstable, with the subtext being that it would be damaging for her to have material placed on the public record.

On Friday, NSW Regional Transport Minister Jenny Aitchison said: “I reject the assertion. As I have said in parliament and media ­interviews multiple times, I feel great concern for Ms Hicks and members of my staff have a similar concern for her and anyone who may be in a similar situation to what she is going through. Everyone should feel safe at work.”

Ms Hicks told The Australian on Friday: “I’m extremely distressed that Transport for NSW and the minister are resorting to undermining me.

“I’ve never received feedback during my time in transport that I’m unstable, and formal reviews of my performance over the years consistently exceed expectations.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with being understanding and compassionate and admitting that they were wrong instead of personally attacking me.

“I hope the minister reads these documents and corrects the misstatements she made last year as a result of incorrect briefings.”

Ian Brown. Picture: Liam Mendes/The Australian

An examination of the documents this week by The Australian revealed that after Mr Brown threatened to kill Ms Hicks, Transport for NSW officials tried to have her removed from her job instead of sacking him and that a second female Transport for NSW executive was in fear of Mr Brown and believed she was being “punished” for reporting his threat to kill Ms Hicks.

The government’s bid to suppress the documents ultimately failed when several crossbenchers voted in favour of the call for ­papers, with the motion passing by a single vote.

Labor and the Greens voted against the motion, but an unlikely alliance of independents, ­including former One Nation MP Mark Latham, Animal Justice Party’s Emma Hurst and Legalise Cannabis Party’s Jeremy Buckingham joined with Liberal and National Party members to pass the order.

Labor claimed the order was being used “for political purposes” and that an internal Transport for NSW investigation was already under way. The documents produced by the call for ­papers reveal that many of the facts compiled for that internal review were lifted word for word from The Australian’s stories on the case.

Greens MP Cate Faehrmann claimed “huge concerns” about what had occurred but the call for documents was “a blatantly political motion that will further traumatise anybody involved.”

Ms Hicks says she fully supported the documents being released and that Ms Faehrmann never spoke to her, unlike several other MPs who reached out to her to get her views.