Emma Husar on the hunt for source of leaks

The embattled MP is demanding an investigation into how a letter related to her dealings with former staff was leaked.

Emma Husar’s complaint has raised questions about whether she is paving the way for legal action against the ALP. Picture: Adam Yip

Federal Labor MP Emma Husar has made a formal complaint to the NSW ALP, demanding an investigation into how a confidential letter including “the most ­malicious and damaging of alle­gations” related to her dealings with former staff was leaked.

Ms Husar has asked the NSW party’s ombudsman to find out who else, besides herself, might have received copies of a letter sent to her by barrister John ­Whelan on May 16 that set out 44 allegations of staff bullying and other misconduct.

An investigation will be conducted for the NSW party by its ombudsmen appointed to handle complaints from party members, former senior federal Labor MPs Leo McLeay and Daryl Melham.

Ms Husar’s supporters say her main purpose is to smoke out the source of the leak to the BuzzFeed website on August 2, which she claims was a deliberate attempt to damage her before Mr Whelan released the findings of an inquiry he was conducting for the NSW ALP.

Few had access to Mr Whelan’s letter. He delivered it by hand to Adam Searle, a barrister and NSW Labor frontbencher who had been helping Ms Husar, to pass on to her.

It is accepted Mr ­Whelan and Mr Searle were not responsible for the leak. The letter was not given to Ms Husar’s former staffers and party general ­secretary Kaila Murnain has told colleagues she was not given a copy.

Senior party sources told The Australian the NSW ALP had “no interest in destroying one of our own”. The party believed the letter was leaked by someone on Ms Husar’s side — possibly without her knowledge — in an attempt to undermine Mr Whelan’s inquiry process. “They detonated this and it turned into a god-awful mess,” one source claimed.

Ms Husar did not respond to a request for comment. Her backers say the leak, which resulted in Buzzfeed publishing allegations of lewd conduct and sexual harassment in addition to staff bullying claims already made public, was one of the tipping points for Ms Husar’s announcement on Wednesday last week that she would not contest her western Sydney seat of Lindsay at next year’s election.

When a summary of Mr Whelan’s findings was released two days later, Ms Husar noted she was cleared of the salacious allegations but said she was “gutted” by the willingness of “certain individuals and certain parts of the media” to defame her on “vexatious and unfounded accu­sations” that had caused “much personal, emotional and professional damage”.

Ms Husar’s complaint has raised questions inside the ALP about whether she is paving the way for legal action against the party.

Her relationship with the NSW ALP’s head office appears to have seriously deteriorated, especially after a message was relayed to her via Bill Shorten’s office that her departure could be “her way or their way”. Ms Husar believes she retains Mr Shorten’s support, which would be critical if, as some NSW party sources believe, she is reconsidering her decision to bow out.

ALP head office says it has accepted Ms Husar’s resignation.