Queensland Labor MP Jim Madden target of bullying inquiry

A Palaszczuk government backbencher has been under investigation for months by his own party over allegations he bullied a female electorate office staffer.

Labor MP Jim Madden. Picture: Liam Kidston

A Palaszczuk government backbencher has been under investigation for months by his own party over allegations he bullied a female electorate office staffer.

The Queensland ALP was forced to order an unprecedented investigation into Ipswich West MP Jim Madden, after receiving a formal complaint in March last year about his alleged bullying and harassment of the woman.

Labor law firm Holding Redlich partner Rachel Drew, a workplace relations and safety specialist and Queensland Labor’s complaints manager, engaged respected Brisbane barrister Kylie Hillard to conduct the investigation.

Prior to the formal complaint being lodged with the ALP, the complainant’s workplace bullying claim to WorkCover was approved.

Mr Madden hired Maurice Blackburn to represent him during the ALP investigation process.

The investigation report and recommendations are expected to be handed to ALP state secretary Kate Flanders, who will make a final decision on the matter.

The Weekend Australian is not suggesting Mr Madden has done anything wrong, just that the allegations are being investigated.

Ms Hillard recently acted for the Women’s Legal Service Queensland at a commission of inquiry into the police handling of domestic violence, and represented Hannah Clarke’s parents at an inquest into the murder of Clarke and her three children.

Under Labor’s rules, if serious complaints are upheld, the party has the capacity to suspend a person’s membership, or expel them from the ALP.

Separately, at least two of Mr Madden’s former staffers have received financial settlements from the Queensland Parliamentary Service – which employs electorate office staff – on their departure from the MP’s office, after allegations of bullying.

The settlements do not mean the allegations were proven.

Before he was elected to parliament in 2015, when the Palaszczuk government came to power, Mr Madden was an agronomist, solicitor and local councillor.

He is currently a member of the state development and regional industries committee, and has not been promoted above committee member level in his eight years in parliament.

He did not respond to The Weekend Australian’s questions.

Ms Flanders declined to comment. “Any complaints are investigated if they are made, and we take any complaints very seriously,” she said.

“I don’t have a comment about these particular matters.”

Queensland Labor state secretary Kate Flanders. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The Weekend Australian asked Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office whether she was backing Mr Madden to remain in her caucus.

The Premier did not answer. Instead, a government spokesman said: “Questions surrounding matters that relate to employees of the parliament should be directed to the Speaker (Labor MP Curtis Pitt).”

Ahead of the next state election in 2024, Mr Madden, 64, is already facing the threat of forced resignation to meet the ALP’s gender quota rules.

Under the party’s rules and its affirmative action policy, women are required to be preselected in 45 per cent of seats held by Labor. At least three men will have to quit before the election to lift the caucus numbers from 40 per cent.

Last year, Mr Madden told The Weekend Australian he believed Ipswich West was a “must-win” seat for Labor, despite holding it on a safe 14.3 per cent margin.

“For every day leading up to the 2024 election, I will be doing everything I can to ensure that I retain the seat for the ALP,” Mr Madden said in July.

In May 2020, Mr Madden defected from Ms Palaszczuk’s right faction to the dominant left faction, with the motion moved by powerful faction leader and United Workers Union boss Gary Bullock.