Coverage of Emma Husar claims is extraordinary: Anthony Albanese

Bill Shorten must say what and when his office knew about the allegations against Emma Husar, Malcolm Turnbull has said.

Lindsay MP Emma Husar leaves her home in Penrith on Thursday. Jane Dempster

Bill Shorten must say what his office knew and when they knew it, regarding the bullying, sexual harassment and misuse of staff and entitlements allegations against NSW Labor MP Emma Husar, Malcolm Turnbull said.

The Prime Minister’s comments came after Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese slammed media coverage of the Husar investigation, claiming the reporting of “rumours and unfounded allegations” is “extraordinary”.

Moves to dump federal Ms Husar as a party candidate could start late next week, with the NSW ALP determined to head off a worsening political ­crisis as more allegations surface about the backbencher’s bullying of staff and other conduct.

Yesterday, excerpts from a May 16 letter written to Ms Husar by barrister John Whelan — who has been appointed by NSW Labor in March to conduct an investigation into the allegations against Ms Husar — were published by BuzzFeed News.

The extensive allegations detailed in the letter included that Ms Husar exposed herself in the company of staff and Labor frontbencher Jason Clare, and that she had diverted thousands of dollars into her personal bank account.

Mr Turnbull said Mr Shorten had questions to answer as Labor leader.

“His claim that this has all come as a surprise to him is simply not credible,” the Prime Minister said.

“The allegations are very, very serious. It shows that there is enormous enmity — there’s like a civil war going on in the NSW Labor Party — that this correspondence, this lawyer’s letter to Emma Husar would be leaked.

“There are very serious allegations of financial misappropriation of money and other allegations of harassment and bullying.

“Mr Shorten has got to be upfront and tell us exactly when he or anyone in his office knew about this, when they knew it, and what did they do about it?”

Mr Albanese said there was a process in place to investigate Ms Husar.

“The idea that you should have a running commentary while there is an independent investigation taking place is not fair, either to Emma Husar or to the people who have made complaints about her,” the Labor frontbencher told the Nine Network.

“What is extraordinary, I find this week, is the amount of coverage that rumours and unfounded allegations at this point are getting.”

Mr Albanese compared the coverage of the allegations against Ms Husar with revelations uncovered by a Senate committee that no tender process was involved when not-for-profit corporate-funded environmental organisation the Great Barrier Reef foundation received $444 million in federal funding following a private meeting between its chairman, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.

“That, we know, is fact. It has had very little coverage. It should be receiving more, because that is the story of this week,” Mr Albanese said.

Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne said he was not responsible for environment policy.

“It is a good attempt on Anthony Albanese’s part to try and flick the switch to another subject,” Mr Pyne told the Nine Network.

“I do think the situation with Emma Husar, originally of course we were saying from the government it needed to go through the proper investigative process and Jack Whelan is doing that on behalf of the Labor Party.

“Unfortunately for Bill Shorten he is the leader of the Labor Party and I think that he needs to take personal responsibility for solving a crisis.”

Asked whether Ms Husar should be a candidate at the next election, Mr Pyne said that would be determined by the outcome of the Whelan investigation.

“If this was a Liberal MP the media and the Labor Party would be demanding that Malcolm Turnbull take personal responsibility for solving it, and I think we’re at that point now where Bill Shorten needs to step up as the Labor leader and deal with a serious series of issues, ensuring that Emma Husar gets the rights that all Australians should have to protect her own reputation,” Mr Pyne said.

“I don’t think that he can allow this to drag on as long as it has so far.

“Time will tell and Lindsay a crucial seat.”

Labor ready to dump Husar

Party sources have told The Australian that Ms Husar’s status as preselected candidate for the western Sydney seat of Lindsay could be overturned quickly at a special meeting of NSW Labor’s candidate review committee.

The committee, which has the power to disendorse candidates and call for fresh preselections, is ­expected to receive from ALP head office next week a report by barrister John Whelan on allegations Ms Husar bullied staff and misused entitlements.

If Mr Whelan’s report finds her behaviour unacceptable, the response will be quick, sources say.

Ms Husar, whose denial of any wrongdoing suggests she may ­resist efforts to dump her, was forced to defend herself yesterday against new accusations on the BuzzFeed website, including one that money running to ­“several thousand dollars” and “intended for other users” was ­diverted to her personal bank ­account.

It was also claimed in a document leaked to BuzzFeed — purportedly a letter Mr Whelan sent to Ms Husar on May 19 outlining allegations staff had made against her — that she sexually harassed male staffers and struck a cross-legged pose similar to Sharon Stone in the movie Basic Instinct while sitting in the parliamentary office of Labor frontbencher Jason Clare as he played with his children on the floor. Yesterday Mr Clare “categorically” rejected this happened, but the Husar staffer present at the time stood by the claim, saying Mr Clare possibly did not see what transpired.

Ms Husar lashed out on Twitter yesterday at BuzzFeed’s claims: “This smear is completely and utterly untrue, unfair and hurtful beyond belief — 100 per cent false.”

The Labor MP took the extraordinary step of naming on Twitter one of 20 former staffers interviewed by Mr Whelan, accusing Jeremy Anderson of working against her with his father, former NSW Labor police minister Peter Anderson. “These are absolute lies that have been fabricated by Jeremy Anderson, who’s working with his father to leak against me and ruin my reputation.

“I have done my best to co-­operate with the investigation and clear my name, but it’s clear these people will stop at nothing to ­destroy me.”

Both father and son declined to comment.

One senior figure in the NSW party who will figure in any move to disendorse Ms Husar questioned the appropriateness of publicly outing a former staffer “who could potentially be a victim”.

Bill Shorten did not respond to the question of whether it was ­appropriate for Ms Husar to name a former staffer while the Whelan ­investigation was under way. The ­Opposition Leader did not comment on whether he had ­concerns about the BuzzFeed allegations.

Ms Husar also faces claims that she locked in a meeting with a charity during a ­taxpayer-funded trip to Brisbane, which included attending a Bruno Mars concert, only two days before the meeting took place.

The Daily Telegraph reports today that Micah Project chief executive Karyn Walsh said the charity accepted Ms Husar’s meeting request via email on March 13, the day before the concert. Ms Husar attended the concert with a friend, Penrith police chief inspector Tracy Stone, on March 14 after receiving the ticket as a gift, and met with Micah Project the next day.

Yesterday Ms Husar’s troubles dominated a NSW ALP officers’ meeting that included general secretary Kaila Murnain and state president Mark Lennon. Party sources confirmed all seven wanted a quick resolution but there was agreement they “wanted to look at the report first”.

A decision by the candidate ­review committee on the report, commissioned by head office, would depend on whether Mr Whelan found Ms Husar’s behaviour unacceptable. The crisis has thrown up a dilemma for Mr Shorten: Ms Husar could make life politically difficult if she fights moves to dump her, but he is thought not to want a by-election in her seat, held with a 1.1 per cent margin.

No alternative candidate is ready if such a by-election is forced by Ms Husar resigning from parliament. One scenario raised is that she might accept no longer being the endorsed candidate for Lindsay, then see out her term before quietly bowing out at the election.

The prospect of Ms Husar staying in parliament if the report makes adverse find­ings is unacceptable to some ex-staffers, who say she should quit immediately in those circumstances. The NSW ALP’s administrative committee will discuss the case today but will await the report before acting.

Business groups yesterday called for intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman into the allegations against Ms Husar. Small-business ombudsman Kate Carnell said the matter needed to be resolved quickly, and if a private business owner had faced the same allegations, the FWO would have looked into the matter “in about one minute”.

Federal Workplace Minister Craig Laundy said the case should go to the Fair Work Commission.

A spokeswoman for Mr Shorten said the NSW ALP had informed the Opposition Leader of the investigation on July 18.

“Why can’t Mr Turnbull say whether or not his Jobs Minister is being investigated?” the spokeswoman said, in an attempt to deflect attention to the ongoing AFP investigation into leaks to the media about raids on union premises from Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash’s office.

Additional reporting: Greg Brown