Coalition staffer sacked over lewd sex acts after group ‘filmed sex acts in Parliament House’

Coalition adviser who filmed himself performing lewd act on desk of MP he worked for has been sacked, as PM describes behaviour as ‘sickening’.

A Coalition adviser who filmed himself performing a lewd act on the Parliament House desk of the MP he worked for has been sacked — and others may follow — prompting Scott Morrison to describe the behaviour as “disgusting and sickening”.

The man left his job after The Australian and Network Ten reported a group of Coalition staff was swapping graphic videos of their sexual encounters in parliamentary offices.

The material shows at least four Coalition staffers swapping the images and videos on Facebook Messenger over a two-year period ending last year.

The material was supplied by a whistleblower who agreed to disclose their activities on condition of anonymity.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. Picture: Gary Ramage

The whistleblower, who admitted to some of the conduct he was revealing on Monday, also said staff and parliamentarians often had sex in a Parliament House room reserved for meditation or prayer.

“I don’t think they’ve broken any laws, but morally they’re bankrupt,” he said. “It’s a culture of men who think they can do whatever they want.”

The Prime Minister said: “It’s not good enough, and is totally unacceptable … the people who come to work in this building are better than this.”

“The actions of these individuals show a staggering disrespect for the people who work in parliament, and for the ideals the parliament is supposed to represent,” Mr Morrison said.

“My government has identified the staff member at the centre of these allegations and has terminated his employment … I will have more to say on this and the cultural issues we confront as a parliament in coming days.”

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins is leading a review of workplace culture in Parliament House at the request of Mr Morrison and Finance Minister Simon Birmingham. It will conclude in November.

Mr Morrison requested Ms Jenkins’ review after former Liberal staff member Brittany Higgins publicly alleged she had been raped by a colleague in a ministerial office in March 2019.

“It needs to start with the removal of this toxic, powerful, privileged boys club that does what it wants, when it wants, where it wants,” the whistleblower said of the review.

Senator Simon Birmingham. Picture: Getty Images

In another video shared among the group, one Coalition staffer performs a sex act on another man in a room he claims is the Parliament House office of an MP he works for.

It is not the first time that it has been claimed the Parliament House prayer room has been used for sexual encounters.

Former Labor senator Sam Dastyari told a Brisbane radio station in early 2019: “The only thing the prayer room is used for is for people having sexual relations with each other.”

Asked about Mr Dastyari’s comments one day later, Mr Morrison said he had “no idea but only someone who scrapes along the bottom of the bucket, of the chum bucket, would know that”.

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said the behaviour was “disgusting, degrading and utterly disrespectful of female MPs”.

“Coming on the heels of Brittany Higgins’ brave revelations, the behaviour of these male staffers, with their depraved mockery of a Coalition female MP’s desk as a prop in their obscene videos, is reprehensible … I’m revolted,” Senator Keneally said.

Ms Jenkins was unavailable for comment when approached.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, whose department oversees the employment of political staff, earlier had said those performing and documenting the sex acts in parliament should “prepare to pack their bags and leave the building for good”.

“It shows a complete disregard for all that our parliamentary democracy stands for,” he said.