It’s the optics that hurt, Monique Ryan

Federal MP Monique Ryan leaves court on Friday afternoon. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Monique Ryan ran hard on a ­political platform that, among other things, vowed to restore “integrity and honesty” – and presumably transparency – to parliament.

But the teal independent, who won the inner suburban Melbourne seat of Kooyong from ­former treasurer Josh Frydenberg in May 2022, is now facing claims from one of her senior staff members that risk seriously tarnishing her reputation as a champion of these very principles.

The allegations raised on Friday in affidavits to a court case over the termination of her chief of staff – the activist Sally Rugg – raise serious questions about what was going on inside the ­independent MP’s office.

It goes beyond what Rugg claimed was her poor treatment by the pediatric neurologist – to allegations that Ryan could be in breach of workplace laws.

Rugg claims that she was unfairly dismissed last December on the grounds that she refused to work excessive overtime.

The commonwealth and Ryan, the two respondents, deny that Rugg was asked to work ­unreasonable hours.

Her lawyers are now trying to establish the litigation as a test case for the exploitation of all parliamentary staff.

The issue for Ryan appears now to be deeper than that.

It is what has come out in the process that is potentially politically damaging for Ryan, who is less than a year into her first term as a parliamentarian.

Some of what Rugg has claimed in affidavits to the Federal Court in Melbourne is amusing enough; namely that Ryan had once told her that she wanted to be prime minister.

Ryan claims that she was clearly joking, and that she often jokes about things.

Then there is the claim that Rugg had been given a formal warning by Ryan, a dutiful mask wearer, for boarding a flight last year while she had Covid-19.

But the other workplace claims made by Rugg are potentially more consequential for Ryan’s reputation, bearing in mind that these are untested ­allegations.

The most damaging is an alleged conversation that suggests Ryan was willing to consider bending the rules in regard to Rugg’s employment contract.

Ryan on Friday issued a statement saying that it would not be appropriate for her to comment on the case other than to say politicians and their staff were paid more than most Australians and it was a privilege to serve.

As Ryan is quickly learning, optics in politics are everything – and the risk for Ryan is the ­reputational damage that could flow from all of this, particularly if it drags on for another six months.