Property leaders condemn abuse as Colliers executive faces trial

Property heavyweights have defended the sector in the wake of the Colliers sexual harassment case.

Property heavyweights such as Carol Schwartz and Ken Morrison have come to the defence of the sector after a senior executive at Colliers International was accused of forcing a colleague’s face to his crotch.

Colliers International chief ­financial officer Sean Unwin will face court next month to fight ­allegations of sexual harassment brought against him by former colleague Alexandra Marks.

Ms Marks, who served as Mr Unwin’s executive assistant, ­alleges the executive committed multiple acts of harassment during her 20-month stint at the company, including undressing in front of her, offering to organise for her to have sex with someone in the office, and at one point trying to force her head down to his crotch area.

The group has responded to the claims, arguing that they are being taken very seriously and the firm will defend them “vigorously”.

“Out of respect for the privacy of both individuals involved and the court process, it would be ­inappropriate for us to comment further except to say that providing a safe and professional workplace for our more than 1000 employees is our highest priority,” a spokesman said.

The property sector has been perceived in recent years as one of corporate Australia’s biggest laggards in boosting diversity and the visibility of women on its top rungs, yet senior executives such as Ms Schwartz and Property Council of Australia chief Mr Morrison argue that this alleged event was not specific to the sector, or even Australia.

“I don’t think alleged events like this are restricted to property or restricted to Australia ... these incidents are happening globally and unfortunately way too frequently,” Stockland director Ms Schwartz said.

“From a property industry point of view and Male Champions of Change, we are absolutely focused on making sure that the industry takes ­advantage of well qualified men and women, and we’re doing everything we can to get them working together in a productive way.”

Mr Morrison added: ­“Obviously, there’s still a tremendous gap in achieving the aspirations of the industry for diversity, but there’s also been an enormous lift in awareness over the past 18 months which has been very pleasing.”

Colliers chief executive John Kenny could not be contacted yesterday but executives said he had been in touch with members of the Male Property Champions of Change program to alert them to the case. The program sets out to boost diversity and ­female participation in the sector.