Lawyer Natalie Baini takes Liberals to court

One-time Liberal Party member Natalie Baini was verbally abused by the wife of her former lover and minister Craig Laundy after she overheard a phone call, court documents reveal.

Natalie Baini, the ex-lover of one-time minister Craig Laundy, is suing the Liberal Party, alleging it blocked her preselection in the Sydney seat of Reid. Picture: Alexi Demetriadi

One-time Liberal Party member Natalie Baini was verbally abused by the wife of her former lover and Liberal cabinet minister Craig Laundy after she overheard him professing his love on a phone call, court documents highlighting the “culture of abuse within the party” have revealed.

Ms Baini, a lawyer and former vice-president of the Reid Liberal Party branch in Sydney’s inner west, is suing her former party for blocking her bid to run in the ­federal seat of Reid and ignoring her attempts to raise concerns about powerful operators within the party who were “dangerous to women”.

The former Liberal who lost her independent tilt at the seat of Reid in this year’s federal election, has criticised the party’s informal processes which “punish only the victim and not the offender” and allow a “small but powerful group of men” to perpetuate a “pattern of behaviour” that was harmful to women, court documents show.

She has named Liberal NSW state director Chris Stone and Scott Morrison’s principal private secretary Yaron Finkelstein in the injurious falsehood and breach of privacy claim lodged in the NSW Supreme Court.

Ms Baini alleges she was overlooked for preselection after she broke off a two-year extramarital relationship with former member for Reid and pub baron Craig Laundy when she learned that his claims that he had left his wife Suzie were false.

The case has uncovered new details about Ms Baini and Mr Laundy’s relationship in the lead-up to the contested preselection for Reid, which led to Scott Morrison’s captain’s pick Fiona Martin being parachuted into the seat at the 2019 federal election.

Ms Martin lost the seat to Labor’s Sally Sitou at the May ­federal election.

Ms Baini, who is representing herself in the matter, alleged Mr Laundy had “attempted to convince (her) to change her mind about ending the relationship”.

“(Ms) Laundy’s wife overheard him telling (Ms Baini), ‘I love you’ during a phone call,” the documents allege.

“(Mr) Laundy and his wife called (Ms Baini) on December 2 2017 and the wife verbally abused (Ms Baini).”

Ms Baini also disputed Mr Laundy’s description of their relationship as his “one night stand that went on for two years”, on the grounds that he had keys to her house, would stay with her almost every day when he was in Sydney and that he would call her up to 30 times a day.

She also claims she tended to his “numerous mental health issues and would abandon her work as a lawyer when he would call in a distressed state”.

During the relationship, Mr Laundy regularly told her she was “the love of (his) life”, would “never want for anything while (he is) alive” and he would “spend the rest of (his) life” with her. He also told her he “would always have (her) back”.

Ms Baini also accused Mr Stone of ignoring multiple complaints from her over the course of two years after she told him about her relationship with Mr Laundy, and how it had been marred by ­elements of “coercive control”.

“The nature of the relationship including the secrecy, repeated communications and control of what was disclosed to others … today is often described as ‘coercive control’,” the statement of claim alleges.

Craig Laundy with his wife Suzie. Picture: John Appleyard

Ms Baini later wrote to Mr Stone after no action was taken in relation to her complaints about Mr Laundy even though the matter was of a “serious nature” because it related to a “power imbalance between a minister and a staffer”.

Ms Baini had worked in Mr Laundy’s office between August and December 2017.

In March 2021, when the party unveiled a new code of conduct in the wake of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation, Ms Baini said she went to Mr Stone again to ask if her case would be eligible for review under the new process, the court documents allege.

Ms Baini also alleged Mr Finkelstein acted in an “inappropriate behaviour” in her legal claim.

Ms Baini has previously accused Mr Finkelstein of behaving in a “sexually inappropriate ­manner” in a witness statement tendered at the Fair Work Commission as part of a case brought against Labor senator Kristina Keneally.

Ms Baini claims her thwarted preselection bid for this year’s election and the involvement of Mr Finkelstein in the selection process, which was determined by a “roundtable”, caused her significant distress and loss of income for which she is seeking damages.

“The denial of the opportunity to be heard, or any procedural fairness on the matter, has not only perpetuated (Ms Baini’s) sense of a culture of abuse within the party, but has contributed to significant health and trauma issues for (Ms Baini),” the documents state.

Mr Laundy has denied the claims, describing them as a “work of fiction”.

“I vehemently reject what is being alleged and look forward to having this entire matter fully tested in court,” he said.

The Liberal Party NSW branch said the division would vigorously defend the claims in court. It has disputed Ms Baini’s claims she was blocked from preselection for the seat of Reid, and had been offered “the opportunity to nominate for the seat of Reid on two occasions in 2019, but she did not”.

“As a senior office holder in the conference, she was consulted regarding the endorsement of the candidate,” a spokesman said.

“There is no basis to her claim that she was blocked from preselection.”

The party has also denied that any group within the Liberal Party was “dangerous to women” and maintained that her concerns were treated confidentially.

Ms Baini, Mr Stone and Mr Finkelstein were contacted for comment.