Star Liberal candidate named in ‘discrimination’ settlement

Star Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian was named in a $650,000 settlement former political staffer Rachelle Miller reached with the Commonwealth over discrimination and harassment claims.

Miller worked for then-cabinet ministers Alan Tudge and Michaelia Cash from 2016 to 2018 but disclosed in 2020 that she had an affair with Tudge and complained that the two, along with Cash’s one-time staffer Kapterian, had discriminated against her and failed to provide a safe work environment.

Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian defeated high profile Indigenous businessman Nyunggai Warren Mundine to run for the party in Bradfield.Credit: Rhett Wyman

In July 2022, the Commonwealth, which manages complaints against ministers and staffers, settled Miller’s claims for $650,000 without admission of liability from anyone she had accused of wrongdoing.

The emergence of the claims against Kapterian, an experienced former lawyer and political staffer, come as she faces a difficult fight for the northern Sydney seat of Bradfield against teal independent candidate Nicolette Boele, who has faced her own issues in recent weeks.

Kapterian was accused by Miller of contravening the Disability Discrimination Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Workplace Health and Safety Act and the Fair Work Act by discriminating against Miller because of her disability, her gender and family responsibilities, failing to provide a safe work environment and of taking adverse action against Miller because of her sex, disability and family or carer’s responsibility. Miller’s legal documents do not make clear how Kapterian is alleged to have done that.

A Coalition campaign spokesman said: “Gisele was not a party to the proceedings, so it is not possible for her to comment on this matter, settled by the Albanese government in July 2022.

“No findings had been made against any of Ms Miller’s former employers or colleagues, but those who had been party to the proceedings had all strongly disputed her version of events,” the spokesman said.

Miller declined to comment.

Tudge quit politics months after the 2022 election and the Liberal Party lost the seat of Aston at a byelection, while Cash remains on the opposition frontbench as shadow minister for employment, legal affairs spokeswoman and senate leader.

When this masthead revealed the $650,000 settlement in September 2022 and the claims against Cash and Tudge, the pair denied the claims against them.

Tudge, who was contacted for comment, released a statement at the time that said: “I was not a party to these matters or any payment sought and have no knowledge of them. I categorically reject these latest allegations, just as I rejected Ms Miller’s previous allegations, which I was cleared of by two independent inquiries”.

Former Coalition minister Alan Tudge and Rachelle Miller, who worked as his media adviser for 15 months from August 2016.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A spokesperson for Cash also said at the time that she “strenuously rejects claims of any adverse treatment of Ms Miller and strongly disputes Ms Miller’s version of events. At the time of her employment, between late 2017 and mid-2018, Senator Cash and her office understood Ms Miller’s personal circumstances, which is why support, leave and flexible work arrangements were offered to her.”

Kapterian is contesting Bradfield after the retirement of former cabinet minister Paul Fletcher, and the seat of North Sydney, which she was the preselected candidate for, was abolished by the Australian Electoral Commission in a redistribution. She beat high-profile Indigenous businessman and anti-Voice campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine to run for the Liberals in Bradfield.

Boele is running for the seat of Bradfield for a second time after securing a huge swing towards her in 2022. The margin in the seat is just 2.5 per cent in the two-party preferred vote.

The independent was forced to apologise last week after making a sexual joke to a 19-year-old female hairdresser, after she allegedly told the women that her hair wash “was so good and I didn’t even have sex with you”.

The $650,000 payment to Miller by the Commonwealth included $100,000 for Miller’s loss of future earning capacity, $10,000 for past loss of earning capacity, $28,000 to reimburse past medical expenses, $62,000 for future medical expenses, $300,000 for hurt, distress, humiliation, dislocation of life, loss of professional standing and impairment of personal dignity and $150,000 for Miller’s legal costs.

Tudge stepped back from the Morrison government’s front bench in December 2021 after Miller publicly claimed he had been emotionally, and on one occasion physically, abusive towards her when the pair were having an affair and travelling together for work.

Tudge denied the allegations at the time, saying he had “accepted responsibility for a consensual affair that should not have happened many years ago. But Ms Miller’s allegations are wrong, did not happen and are contradicted by her own written words to me”.

An inquiry into Miller’s allegations that the Morrison government commissioned from law firm Sparke Helmore did not find sufficient evidence to substantiate allegations of inappropriate behaviour. A second inquiry, by investigator Vivienne Thom, found Tudge had not breached ministerial standards, but Miller did not participate in that inquiry.

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