Bill Shorten says Emma Husar’s dog is a therapy dog for her son

Bill Shorten says Emma Husar’s dog is a therapy animal but admits he wouldn’t ask someone else to pick up ‘my dog’s poo’.

Emma Husar in Question Time. Picture Kym Smith

Bill Shorten says the dog at the centre of staff bullying and misuse allegations against Emma Husar is a therapy dog for the Labor MP’s autistic son.

Describing Ms Husar as a “good person” who is “going through a tough time”, the Opposition Leader declined to address the allegations against her until an internal Labor investigation has been completed.

Ms Husar is facing an internal NSW Labor inquiry, run by barrister Jack Whelan, involving statements from 20 people formerly in her employ, including complaints that staff were forced to pick up dog excrement, perform household chores, that she gave her nanny a job in her office and has a staffer, Vanessa Song, living with her performing domestic duties.

There are also claims she ­referred to staffers as “c … s” and “f. kwits”.

The Australian has published photos of a woman picking up after the dog outside Ms Husar’s office yesterday, and today revealed Ms Husar is alleged to have used the taxpayer-funded Comcar limousine service to visit her divorce lawyer, according to sensational claims understood to be before the internal Labor Party inquiry into her conduct.

Ms Husar announced last night she was taking “personal leave” in light of the mounting ­allegations against her, and threatening messages, including threats of violence, she has received since the story broke.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that Ms Husar’s eldest daughter has moved in with her ex-husband following a verbal altercation that sparked a police investigation. Ms Husar denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Shorten maintained he had first learned of the complaints against Ms Husar last Wednesday, despite the Whelan investigation having been underway since March.

The Labor leader refuted claims published in today’s Australian that Ms Husar’s former staffer Blake Mooney complained to Mr Shorten’s former Chief of Staff Andrew Thomas about Ms Husar’s conduct as long ago as last October.

“To my knowledge, there hadn’t been complaints. To the best of my knowledge, I am certainly of the view that the complaints of this nature were not made any earlier than I am aware of,” Mr Shorten said.

Emma Husar’s staff member picks up its excrement. Picture: Seven News

Asked whether it had been appropriate for a staff member to be picking up the dog’s excrement yesterday, Mr Shorten said he was “genuinely not aware” of the circumstances.

“Obviously in the heat of the investigation, I’ll treat the investigation process with respect, and anyone who has any complaints or concerns,” Mr Shorten said.

“But I will just make this one additional comment: you may or may not be aware that Emma Husar entered parliament because she was a disability advocate.

“She became a disability advocate because one of her children, her son, was diagnosed with autism. As I understand, before people go looking down at the issue of the dog, this is her support dog for her son.”

Asked whether the dog’s role as a support dog had any bearing on the propriety of a staff member being asked to pick up its faeces, Mr Shorten said he was not across the circumstances.

“I do not know all of the circumstances behind that event, I genuinely don’t,” he said.

“I’m not going to leap to any conclusions, positive or negative.

“There is an independent investigation, but the reason why I did choose to explain a little bit about Emma Husar’s circumstances, is that she’s a single parent, one of her kids is diagnosed and living with autism, the animal is a part of her son’s therapy and treatment, and just for that fact, and I only put it in, I suspect there’s more to this whole situation.

“I don’t know all the circumstances. That’s what I’m saying to you. I wouldn’t ask you or anyone else to pick up my dog’s poo, but that’s probably just what dog owners do. But I’m not walking the dog.

“But again, I’ve got to say, and people will form their conclusions at the end of the investigation, but there seems to be a lot of internal family turmoil here, and I just don’t know if everything is out there and I am happy to let the investigation get to the bottom of that.”

Mr Shorten said a lot of “family law stuff” had been dredged up concerning Ms Husar.

“I don’t know if all of you have ever been through messy breakups, and this doesn’t excuse any waste of taxpayers’ money and it doesn’t excuse anything else, but I do get the sense that there is more to this situation than meets the eye,” he said.

“That is why I actually think it’s respectful to all of the complainants, to Emma Husar and her family, to let an independent investigation take place.”

Asked how the investigation into Ms Husar could be independent, given it is being run by the Labor Party, Mr Shorten said it was not unusual for organisations to run their own investigations.

“Political parties have independent processes, just like corporations do, just like I’m sure media organisations do. I think you’ll find that media organisations when there have been complaints, will have an independent investigation, which is auspices under their protocols,” he said.

“But let me go to the heart of where I think your question is going. First of all, I think that Emma Husar is a good person. I certainly think that she’s going through a very tough time.

“I also think that other people have a right to fair treatment in the workplace and respectful relationships.

“What Emma has done is she’s putting her family first with all of this attention. She’s going to take a little bit of leave. That’s not unprecedented, and I think that’s the appropriate course of action.

“Having said that, I do think that the people are entitled to respectful workplaces and respectful treatment.

“Clearly, there are complaints, and so there are protocols in place and there is an independent investigation.”

Asked whether he would disendorse Ms Husar if she was found to have breached workplace law, Mr Shorten said he did not want to pre-empt the investigation.

“If people breach the law, well then we’ll deal with that when that happens,” he said.

“What I’m not going to do, is pre-empt an investigation, and I think that that is actually fair on all of the parties.

Asked whether the Fair Work Ombudsman should investigate Ms Husar, Mr Shorten said complainants could follow that process if they wanted to.

“But what I would say is that there is an independent investigation, and people are availing themselves of those protocols,” he said. so I’m going to back the systems.
“That’s why organisations have systems in place when people have complaints. I think it’s fair to all the parties involved that we respect that investigation process.”

Mr Shorten said the parliamentary expenses authority had jurisdiction over misuse of parliamentary expenses.

“I’m sure that Emma Husar won’t object to the parliamentary expenses authority having a look or double checking if someone is raising a concern,” he said.

‘If claims true, Husar must go’

Education Minister Simon Birmingham earlier said Mr Shorten should immediately return to Sydney to address the allegations against Ms Husar and disendorse her if the claims are substantiated.

“If Bill Shorten is serious about the concerns he says he has for worker exploitation, has he spoken to Emma Husar’s staff about their claims and allegations that they were bullied in the workplace?” Senator Birmingham told a press conference in Caboolture last night as he campaigned in the by-election seat of Longman, north of Brisbane.

“Does Emma Husar still have a place on Bill Shorten’s team, given the allegations that she bullied her staff, abused her staff and misused taxpayer funds in the use of her staff?

“Put simply, Bill Shorten seems to have been saying one thing about his years of commitment to keeping workers safe and secure and yet when one of his own Labor MPs is accused of exploiting those workers, he seems to have turned a blind eye.

“Well, if the allegations are true — if any of the allegations are true — Emma Husar has no place on Bill Shorten’s team.

“He should go to Sydney, dismiss her as a Labor MP, disendorse her as a candidate, and ensure that he takes responsibility for a member of his team where the allegations are clear — that they have been doing the wrong thing with their taxpayer funded staff, but worst still, they’ve been exploiting and abusing staff in terms of the work that they’ve had them do.”

Asked whether he was jumping the gun given the investigation was ongoing, Senator Birmingham said the real question was whether the internal Labor investigation was a “Labor Party cover-up”.

“We don’t know because it’s all happening behind closed doors in Sussex Street,” he said.

“There clearly needs to be transparency given to this and Bill Shorten needs to take responsibility.

“Emma Husar is a Labor MP, who Bill Shorten has campaigned alongside of, she’s now seriously alleged to of abused taxpayer entitlements, to have abused and misused her staff, to have exploited workers.

“Bill Shorten has spent his career saying he cares about worker exploitation, well if he does, has he spoken to Emma Husar’s staff, will he go and meet with them, will he take responsibility as Labor leader for a Labor MP who is alleged to have done the wrong thing?”

Bill Shorten should be “cleaning up mess”

Treasurer Scott Morrison said Mr Shorten should be “cleaning up” Ms Husar’s “mess”.

“I note she’s taken leave for personal reasons and I hope she is well,” Mr Morrison said.

“But I would hope that the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, has shown as much concern about the welfare of her staff as he’s expressed for the member.

Mr Morrison called for the findings of Labor’s investigation to be made public.

“(It) should be made available to the appropriate Department of Finance authorities as well because this goes to the welfare of members of staff of parliamentary members,” he said.

“The Labor Party talks a big game when it comes to looking after workers but they can’t look after their own workers.”

Laundy: Take Husar claims to Fair Work

Workplace Relations Minister Craig Laundy called Labor to refer the investigation into Ms Husar to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Mr Laundy said every employer in Australia should take workplace relations seriously, whether an MP or not.

“Bullying in the workplace, no matter who you are, shouldn’t be tolerated,” Mr Laundy told Sky News.

“The part that I don’t understand is the process here that the NSW branch of the Labor Party are going through.”

Screengrab of footage showing a Emma Husar staff member taking Emma Husar's dog for a walk. Picture: Seven News.

Mr Laundy called on NSW Labor General Secretary Kaila Murnain to pass the investigation on to the Fair Work Ombudsman to guarantee independence.

“I mean Jack Whelan, he’s not independent. He’s a nice guy, but he’s formerly a chief of staff to Julia Gillard doing an investigation that Bill Shorten’s hiding behind,” he said.

“The appropriate place for claims of these sort to be considered is by the Fair Work Ombudsman, and the procedure here, it’s a complete dropped ball.

“I don’t know where (Labor workplace relations spokesman) Brendan O’Connor is on this and why he wouldn’t be insisting that everything be handed over to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

“My message to those staff is clear: if you have any confidence in a Labor Party process versus your rights, I would be instructing you to make contact with the Fair Work Ombudsman, as I would any employee around the country that has concerns with the way they’re being treated by their boss.”

Asked whether it was fair for Labor to go through internal processes before referring the investigation to an independent arbiter, Mr Laundy said Labor had form in hiding behind internal investigations.

“Doesn’t that sound familiar? I mean we’ve got five by-elections on Saturday at the back end of internal processes that were used to make sure that Bill Shorten could give a rolled gold guarantee that no one on his side of the fence had an issue, whereas we did the right thing. This is the latest example of it being one rule for Bill Shorten and the Labor Party, and one rule for the rest of Australia, no matter who you are,” Mr Laundy said.

Asked whether there was a “grey zone” in terms of what it was reasonable for MPs to ask their staff to do, and why some commentators had indicated it was OK for staff to pick up dry-cleaning but not to mind children, Mr Laundy said it was “common sense”.

“The rules are there for us to follow and we choose the common sense application of them, but as for babysitting — and these are allegations, obviously — but as for nannies and whatever, I think there’s some, the pub test would tell you, that that doesn’t pass, so I think we need to deem what’s appropriate,” he said.

“It’s down there in the guidelines, and having people do domestic duties for you as members of parliament, I don’t think is appropriate.”

Questioned over whether Fair Work has jurisdiction over MPs, Mr Laundy said the body did have jurisdiction over their staff.

‘Probe Husar’s use of public cash’

Liberal MP Tony Pasin said the investigation into Ms Husar must focus on whether public funds were used in accordance with the rules.

Mr Pasin said there appeared to be daily updates regarding the allegations against Ms Husar.

“Much of this material has come from very close to the Member for Lindsay’s camp, I’d suggest inside the camp,” Mr Pasin told Sky News.

“What government needs to be focused on, what I’m concerned about are not the personal issues.

“Those are matters for Emma, and if she’s suffering through some difficulty I hope she gets the support she needs, but what we need to ensure is that public funds are being expended in accordance with the rules.

“These are scarce public resources that are provided to Members of Parliament to go about their parliamentary duties.

“Obviously there will need to be an investigation in relation to that to ensure that no issues were out of order.”

Labor frontbencher Jenny McAllister has refused to comment on the investigation into Ms Husar.

“I’m not going to comment on the specifics of that investigation,” Senator McAllister told Sky News.

“As you say, it’s ongoing, and actually, for all of the participants in that process, it’s important that it finishes its course without all of us providing a running commentary on it.

“It’s a tough week for Emma, she’s taken a step back.

“I think it’s always pretty sad when people’s families get brought into the public domain, and I’m unsurprised she’s taken a decision she wants to take a step back.”