Staffer speaks out: working for Emma Husar was ‘brutal and bizarre’

A former employee of Emma Husar speaks publicly and claims the MP was ­involved in ­“bizarre events” that led to the staffer’s daughter disappearing.

Lindsay Labor MP Emma Husar and domestic violence victim Angela Zena Hadchiti. Picture: Wolter Peeters/The Sydney Morning Herald.

A former employee of Labor MP Emma Husar claims she received “insensitive and ­brutal” treatment during six months of working as a staffer, and alleges that her ex-boss was ­involved in ­“bizarre events” that led to the sudden month-long disappearance of her daughter.

Angela Hadchiti told The Australian she had decided to speak out because she was infuriated that Ms Husar was publicly dismissing allegations of alleged ­office bullying and harassment by blaming disgruntled ex-staffer Jeremy Anderson for a political “stitch-up”.

“There is not one staffer ­involved in this,” said Ms Hadchiti, who is the first former employee of Ms Husar to speak publicly about working for the federal MP for Lindsay in Sydney’s west.

“I want to take the burden off Jeremy Anderson and his father. There are 22 of us, and we are in this together. We have been speaking to Bill Shorten’s office, to NSW Labor and to the union for months.”

Ms Hadchiti was recruited by Ms Husar in late August last year — and started work in September at the MP’s electorate office after they met about a year earlier through their involvement with a White Ribbon charity event.

While appalled at Ms Husar’s alleged abrupt treatment of other staff, Ms Hadchiti said personal difficulties became extreme in ­November when the MP allegedly verbally abused her, ostracised her from office activities and cut her off from Facebook and Instagram. What she did not know at the time, Ms Hadchiti said, was that Ms Husar had befriended her eldest daughter, Elissa, then a 20-year-old law student who lived with Ms Hadchiti and had recently come out as gay. Ms Hadchiti said ­“bizarre events” started on ­November 11 when Elissa came home from her Saturday part-time shift at a supermarket, packed an overnight bag and without explanation attempted to reverse her car out of the home garage.

Ms Hadchiti said she tried to use the garage remote to block her daughter’s exit. “All the while I was repeatedly asking Elissa what she was doing, where she was going, etc, to no avail,” she said.

Police were called, but left after speaking to Ms Hadchiti. She did not hear from Elissa for almost a month, she said, and feared her daughter was missing.

According to Ms Hadchiti, she learned from the electorate office manager in early December that her daughter had been living with Ms Husar “the whole time”. She said she confronted Ms Husar, angry the MP had ­allegedly not told her about her daughter’s whereabouts. She claimed Ms Husar allegedly told her she was “too Catholic”, ­“homophobic” and “not understanding” about her daughter’s sexuality when same-sex marriage was about to be legislated. Ms Hadchiti said she had known about her daughter’s “coming out” for 18 months, and said the pair previously had a good relationship despite her admitted difficulty in coming to terms with her daughter’s sexuality.

The situation became more ­bizarre in December, Ms Hadchiti claimed, when her daughter went to the office and did some volunteer chores for Ms Husar. “She ­ordered me not to talk to her,” Ms Hadchiti said.

Ms Hadchiti first had time to talk alone with her daughter, she said, when Elissa went home in late December to give Christmas gifts to her two young sisters.

She said Elissa, who had lived rent-free at Ms Husar’s home but was required to perform tasks such as childminding and looking after the pet dog and a rabbit, appeared unhappy. Elissa returned home to live with her mother and sisters in the first week of January and remains there.

Last night, Elissa told The Australian that she was frightened of Ms Husar.

“It got to the point that I was afraid of her — of the retaliation I might face if I didn’t obey her. She (Husar) is always trying to suit her own agenda, and she made me feel like she was always right and I was wrong. She told me I had ADHD,” Elissa said.

Elissa Hadchiti, daughter of Angela Hadchiti.

Ms Hadchiti said she was ­“really saddened” to resign from her position in early February ­because she loved her job, but she said the stress was too much.

“I was subjected to Ms Husar’s bullying, harassment and obscenities in the office. She asked me on a daily basis to walk her dog and to pick up dog droppings. I saw her behaviour towards other staff. She called some ‘useless’ and said I was mentally unstable.”

Ms Hadchiti, a single mother of three, is one of 22 former staffers interviewed by barrister John Whelan for an inquiry into Ms Husar’s alleged bullying and ­intimidation of staff that was ­ordered in March by the NSW ALP’s head office.

With Mr Whelan expected to hand an interim report to the NSW ALP this week, senior Labor sources have confirmed Ms Husar is likely to be disendorsed as the candidate for Lindsay at the next election if there are findings of wrongdoing.

Ms Husar vigorously denies allegations against her, and appears set to resist any efforts to push her out. She has hired barrister Sandy Dawson SC to represent her. In tweets and in documents aired by Fairfax Media, Ms Husar says allegations against her only surfaced after she dismissed Mr Anderson. She has blamed him and his father, former NSW police minister Peter Anderson, for campaigning against her since.

The position of Mr Shorten on Ms Husar’s future is unclear, with the Labor leader saying he only learned of allegations on July 18, and that he will not comment further until the results of the Whelan inquiry are known. It is understood Ms Husar’s legal team has sought to have large sections of ­allegations against her struck out because they were reported on condition of “anonymity”.

Ms Hadchiti said she quit in February because her life was ­almost “wrecked” and she could not continue despite needing the job to survive financially. She said Ms Husar appeared caring at first, and was welcoming to her children when she sometimes took them to the office. But problems that allegedly began with demands upon her and other staff to walk Ms Husar’s dog and clean up its excrement escalated.

Ms Hadchiti now worked as an executive assistant for the legal and governance team of a community housing group, and was getting on well with her daughter.

The Australian asked Ms Husar for comment with detailed questions on Ms Hadchiti’s allegations. Ms Husar told The Australian: “I reject completely this ludicrous fabrication of the facts. If a friend comes to me in a time of crisis seeking support, I help them. I don’t turn my back on them.

“I’m not going to comment on the specifics of someone’s private life and their difficult family circumstances. I’m disappointed but not surprised that The Australian would breach someone’s right to privacy in this way.”

The Australian can confirm Ms Hadchiti came to the newspaper of her own accord to volunteer her account. She said she believed it was important to speak out. The Australian has also heard accounts from Ms Hadchiti’s daughter, with her permission, of what transpired when she lived with Ms Husar.

Ms Hadchiti first came to Ms Husar’s attention as the victim of domestic violence, an issue the MP has made a key campaigning issue. Ms Hadchiti was so badly bashed in 2014 she had a spinal fracture. Her ex-husband, to whom she was married for 19 years, was jailed for 12 months and deported to Lebanon in December, following intervention by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, while Ms Hadchiti was working for Ms Husar.

Last night, Ms Hadchiti said: “I did go through a hard time in that office, and we (my family) went to counselling afterwards, but we’re over it.”