Facing fury over sex scandals, Australia’s leader fights tears — then retaliates in outburst at reporter

[flowerfan2020]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/23/australia-sex-scandal-morrison-murdoch/

By
Rachel Pannett
Foreign Correspondent
March 23, 2021 at 9:07 a.m. EDT
SYDNEY — Engulfed by sex scandals that have shaken the highest levels of office in Australia, the country’s leader sought to calm public anger on Tuesday — but ended up digging a deeper political hole after a disastrous news conference.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison summoned reporters to discuss the latest incident in which a government adviser was fired after reportedly sharing an image of himself performing a sexual act on a female lawmaker’s desk. Morrison appeared to fight back tears as he said it had been a “traumatic month” in Parliament.
In February, a former government staff member filed a police complaint alleging she was raped by a colleague nearly two years ago. Since then, four other women have come forward with similar claims. The country’s top law official identified himself as the subject of a rape allegation dating back three decades, which he has strenuously denied. Thousands of women took to the streets in protest across Australian cities last Monday. This week, local news outlets reported that a prayer room in Parliament House had been used for sexual encounters.
AD


“These events have triggered, right across this building and indeed right across the country, women who have put up with this rubbish and this crap for their entire lives, as their mothers did, as their grandmothers did,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra. “We must get this house in order.”

During a question-and-answer session, however, Morrison hit back at a reporter who asked whether his job would be in jeopardy if he were the boss of a business facing similar complaints. Seeming to go off script, the prime minister responded by divulging details of a supposed case involving harassment of a woman in a bathroom by someone in the reporter’s news organization.
“And that matter is being pursued by your own HR department,” Morrison said, adding that “all of us who sit in glass houses” should not “start getting into that.”
AD


The reporter, Andrew Clennell, said he was not aware of any such investigation at his employer, Sky News Australia.
“Why is the prime minister telling me to be careful? Is he threatening me?” Clennell said in a live broadcast following the news conference. “I think the PM has got a bit of explaining to do.”

Sky News Australia is controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. In a statement Tuesday, the media company said the prime minister was wrong to claim an investigation was underway into a complaint of the type he described.
News Corp. said that following the reports of sexually inappropriate behavior at Parliament House, it gave staff the opportunity to speak in confidence and learned of a verbal exchange between two employees in Canberra last year. The exchange was not of a sexual nature, it did not take place in a bathroom and neither person made a complaint.
AD


“The prime minister appears to have joined these two matters and conflated them into an episode of harassment in a toilet that is under current investigation,” said News Corp. Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller. “This is simply untrue.”

Sparring so publicly with a News Corp. reporter was all the more extraordinary because Murdoch has long been seen as a supporter of Morrison. The prime minister’s predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, has suspected the media mogul of helping unseat him in one of the many internal coups that have characterized Australian politics in recent years. Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox Corp., landed in Australia this month.
In a statement on Facebook later Tuesday, Morrison said he accepted the publisher’s account and added that he deeply regretted his “insensitive response” earlier during the news conference. “I was wrong to raise it, the emotion of the moment is no excuse,” he said, apologizing for his actions.
AD


Michael Bradley, a lawyer who has acted for sexual assault victims, said whether he intended to or not, the prime minister had divulged the erroneous experience of harassment “as a weapon for purely political purposes.”
“Once he went off script, things went very badly, very quickly,” Bradley said. “I think the government is in deep trouble on this subject. The issue is not going away. Every time it starts to quiet down, fresh revelations emerge.”
Bradley was the lawyer for a now-deceased woman who had said she was sexually assaulted by the country’s top law official in January 1988, when she was 16. Christian Porter, the attorney general, who would have been 17 at the time, has strenuously denied the allegation. His lawyers last week launched a defamation action against the state broadcaster, saying he had been subject to “trial by media.”
AD


Support for the ruling Liberal Party — the main conservative party in Australia — has been slowly declining among women for years, even before the assault allegations emerged, said Sarah Cameron, a lecturer in politics at the University of Sydney. At the last election in 2019, the party had a 10-point advantage among men — the biggest gender gap for the party on record.
“The Liberal Party has long been perceived as having a ‘women problem,’ ” Cameron said, adding it “ignores this trend at their peril.”
The conservatives are governing with a wafer-thin majority and must hold an election by 2022. The latest Newspoll of voting intentions showed Morrison’s party trailing center-left Labor by 52-48 percent on a two-party preferred basis.
Kirstin Ferguson, a leadership and culture specialist who advises the leaders of large corporations, said companies have long been told to hold leaders to account.
“The fish rots from the head. Boards are holding CEOs to account, they’re sacking them, they’re reducing their pay,” she said. “I just can’t imagine what would happen if there was a board responsible for Parliament House.”



Today’s Headlines
The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Comments are not available on this story.
Have a question about our commenting policies? Review our community rules or contact the commenting team.

Sex acts filmed in Australia’s parliament rock Morrison’s gov’t

News outlets say male staff set up a Facebook group to share images and video of sex acts performed in Parliament.

www.aljazeera.com

Sex acts filmed in Australia’s parliament rock Morrison’s gov’t
News outlets say male government staff set up a Facebook group to share images and video of sex acts performed in Parliament.

Protesters attend a rally against sexual violence and gender inequality in Sydney on March 15, 2021 [Steven Saphore/ AFP]
23 Mar 2021
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he was “shocked” and “disgusted” by leaked videos of male government staff performing lewd acts in Parliament, including one of a man masturbating on the desk of a female legislator.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Morrison – who is already under pressure for his handling of sexual assault allegations involving members of his staff – called the behaviour “absolutely shameful” and pledged to do more to attract women to politics
KEEP READING
Sexual consent app proposal sparks criticism in AustraliaThousands march across Australia demanding justice for womenIs this Australia’s turning point on sexual harassment, assault?Australia parliament debates motion on Uighur abuses in Xinjiang
His comments came hours after The Australian newspaper and Channel 10 reported that several staff had set up a Facebook Messenger group that enabled them to share images and video of sex acts performed in the Parliament House.
The videos and photos were leaked by a whistleblower, who told the news outlets that government staff and legislators often used a Parliament House prayer room to have sex, and alleged that sex workers had been brought into the building “for the pleasure of coalition MPs”.

He also said a group of staffers routinely swapped explicit photos of themselves and he received so many he had “become immune to it”.
He said there was a “culture of men thinking that they can do whatever they want” and while he did not think the staffers had broken any laws, “morally, they are bankrupt”.

One aide was immediately fired and the government has promised further action.
‘We must do better’
The ruling Liberal/National coalition has come under sustained pressure in recent weeks after three former staff members of the ruling Liberal party alleged that they had been sexually assaulted by the same unidentified colleague.
One victim, Brittany Higgins, went public last month, saying the man raped her in a minister’s parliamentary office in 2019.
Separately, earlier this month, Attorney General Christian Porter, the country’s chief law officer, identified himself as the subject of a historical rape allegation and vigorously denied the claim.
The controversies spurred tens of thousands of people to rally around Australia last week and led to a slump in Morrison’s standing in opinion polls.
The prime minister has sought to defend his government’s actions in working to improve gender equality, but on Tuesday he accepted there was broad dissatisfaction with his handling of the allegations of mistreatment of women in politics.

“I acknowledge that many Australians, especially women, believe that I have not heard them, and that greatly distresses me,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

“We must do better… we must get this house in order.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison stood by an unnamed cabinet minister against calls for him to step down from office over an allegation that he raped a 16-year-old girl more than 30 years ago [File: Rick Rycroft/ AP]He grew emotional as he talked about the importance of his wife, mother and daughters, and said women had endured a “very traumatic” month.

“These events have triggered, right across this building and indeed right across the country, women who have put up with this rubbish and this crap for their entire lives, as their mothers did, as their grandmothers did,” he said.
However, Morrison offered few concrete proposals to improve the workplace culture in Parliament, insisting that changes would be announced in the coming weeks.

Minister for Women Marise Payne said the revelations were “beyond disappointing” and highlighted the need for a government-ordered inquiry into Parliament’s workplace culture.
Cabinet minister Karen Andrews said she had had an “absolute gutful” of sexism in politics and her “conscience will no longer allow me to remain quiet”.
She told reporters in Canberra that the ruling Liberal Party should consider gender quotas for its political representatives.
The fresh sexism revelations on Tuesday prompted Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe to disclose alleged sexual harassment by four male politicians since she took office just six months ago.
Thorpe, a representative for the Greens party, told the Canberra Times the “brazen” harassment had included “suggestive” remarks and unwanted touching.
“These are men that write our laws – men that should know better,” she tweeted. “What they’ve done is violating behaviour. It’s physical. It’s sexualising, objectifying behaviour – it makes me feel physically sick.”

Australia’s parliament has been repeatedly criticised for a “toxic” workplace culture that has allegedly spawned persistent bullying, harassment and sexual assault of women – particularly in the ruling coalition.
The opposition Labor party, which already has gender quotas in place, has not been immune from similar allegations. A Facebook group of female workers recently detailed alleged sexual harassment by male colleagues and politicians.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

RELATED

More evacuations amid ‘catastrophic’ floods in eastern Australia
Authorities extend flood and severe weather warnings to more areas, send helicopters to rescue stranded people.
23 Mar 2021

Sexual consent app proposal sparks criticism in Australia
The proposal by a top police officer to use a phone app to record sexual consent has caused an uproar.
18 Mar 2021

Thousands march across Australia demanding justice for women
Protests follow allegations of sexual misconduct in the country’s parliament that shocked the country.
15 Mar 2021

Is this Australia’s turning point on sexual harassment, assault?
Multiple allegations of rape, sexual harassment against politicians and their staffers have sent shockwaves nationwide.
12 Mar 2021
MORE FROM NEWS
Georgia Republicans enact sweeping bill to restrict voting

At least 3 dead after large tornadoes cause damage across Alabama

Ethiopia’s Tigray: Men forced to rape family members, UN reports

Thousands of Venezuelans flee to Colombia amid violence on border

MOST READ
‘Beached whale’ ship could block Suez Canal for weeks

What Joe Biden said in his first presidential press conference

Ship blocking Suez Canal prompts flood of memes

Suez Canal suspends traffic as tug boats work to free ship: Live

 

[Beidou2020]

Australian deep state trying to bring down Scott Morrison and his party. Australian business community unhappy with Morrison over damage he has done to China trade relations. Deep state always keep their blackmail material and use it whenever they want change. Same thing being done to Andrew Cuomo in New York.

 

[GumNaam]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/23/australia-sex-scandal-morrison-murdoch/

By
Rachel Pannett
Foreign Correspondent
March 23, 2021 at 9:07 a.m. EDT
SYDNEY — Engulfed by sex scandals that have shaken the highest levels of office in Australia, the country’s leader sought to calm public anger on Tuesday — but ended up digging a deeper political hole after a disastrous news conference.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison summoned reporters to discuss the latest incident in which a government adviser was fired after reportedly sharing an image of himself performing a sexual act on a female lawmaker’s desk. Morrison appeared to fight back tears as he said it had been a “traumatic month” in Parliament.
In February, a former government staff member filed a police complaint alleging she was raped by a colleague nearly two years ago. Since then, four other women have come forward with similar claims. The country’s top law official identified himself as the subject of a rape allegation dating back three decades, which he has strenuously denied. Thousands of women took to the streets in protest across Australian cities last Monday. This week, local news outlets reported that a prayer room in Parliament House had been used for sexual encounters.
AD


“These events have triggered, right across this building and indeed right across the country, women who have put up with this rubbish and this crap for their entire lives, as their mothers did, as their grandmothers did,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra. “We must get this house in order.”

During a question-and-answer session, however, Morrison hit back at a reporter who asked whether his job would be in jeopardy if he were the boss of a business facing similar complaints. Seeming to go off script, the prime minister responded by divulging details of a supposed case involving harassment of a woman in a bathroom by someone in the reporter’s news organization.
“And that matter is being pursued by your own HR department,” Morrison said, adding that “all of us who sit in glass houses” should not “start getting into that.”
AD


The reporter, Andrew Clennell, said he was not aware of any such investigation at his employer, Sky News Australia.
“Why is the prime minister telling me to be careful? Is he threatening me?” Clennell said in a live broadcast following the news conference. “I think the PM has got a bit of explaining to do.”

Sky News Australia is controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. In a statement Tuesday, the media company said the prime minister was wrong to claim an investigation was underway into a complaint of the type he described.
News Corp. said that following the reports of sexually inappropriate behavior at Parliament House, it gave staff the opportunity to speak in confidence and learned of a verbal exchange between two employees in Canberra last year. The exchange was not of a sexual nature, it did not take place in a bathroom and neither person made a complaint.
AD


“The prime minister appears to have joined these two matters and conflated them into an episode of harassment in a toilet that is under current investigation,” said News Corp. Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller. “This is simply untrue.”

Sparring so publicly with a News Corp. reporter was all the more extraordinary because Murdoch has long been seen as a supporter of Morrison. The prime minister’s predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, has suspected the media mogul of helping unseat him in one of the many internal coups that have characterized Australian politics in recent years. Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox Corp., landed in Australia this month.
In a statement on Facebook later Tuesday, Morrison said he accepted the publisher’s account and added that he deeply regretted his “insensitive response” earlier during the news conference. “I was wrong to raise it, the emotion of the moment is no excuse,” he said, apologizing for his actions.
AD


Michael Bradley, a lawyer who has acted for sexual assault victims, said whether he intended to or not, the prime minister had divulged the erroneous experience of harassment “as a weapon for purely political purposes.”
“Once he went off script, things went very badly, very quickly,” Bradley said. “I think the government is in deep trouble on this subject. The issue is not going away. Every time it starts to quiet down, fresh revelations emerge.”
Bradley was the lawyer for a now-deceased woman who had said she was sexually assaulted by the country’s top law official in January 1988, when she was 16. Christian Porter, the attorney general, who would have been 17 at the time, has strenuously denied the allegation. His lawyers last week launched a defamation action against the state broadcaster, saying he had been subject to “trial by media.”
AD


Support for the ruling Liberal Party — the main conservative party in Australia — has been slowly declining among women for years, even before the assault allegations emerged, said Sarah Cameron, a lecturer in politics at the University of Sydney. At the last election in 2019, the party had a 10-point advantage among men — the biggest gender gap for the party on record.
“The Liberal Party has long been perceived as having a ‘women problem,’ ” Cameron said, adding it “ignores this trend at their peril.”
The conservatives are governing with a wafer-thin majority and must hold an election by 2022. The latest Newspoll of voting intentions showed Morrison’s party trailing center-left Labor by 52-48 percent on a two-party preferred basis.
Kirstin Ferguson, a leadership and culture specialist who advises the leaders of large corporations, said companies have long been told to hold leaders to account.
“The fish rots from the head. Boards are holding CEOs to account, they’re sacking them, they’re reducing their pay,” she said. “I just can’t imagine what would happen if there was a board responsible for Parliament House.”



Today’s Headlines
The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Comments are not available on this story.
Have a question about our commenting policies? Review our community rules or contact the commenting team.

Sex acts filmed in Australia’s parliament rock Morrison’s gov’t

News outlets say male staff set up a Facebook group to share images and video of sex acts performed in Parliament.

www.aljazeera.com

Sex acts filmed in Australia’s parliament rock Morrison’s gov’t
News outlets say male government staff set up a Facebook group to share images and video of sex acts performed in Parliament.

Protesters attend a rally against sexual violence and gender inequality in Sydney on March 15, 2021 [Steven Saphore/ AFP]
23 Mar 2021
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he was “shocked” and “disgusted” by leaked videos of male government staff performing lewd acts in Parliament, including one of a man masturbating on the desk of a female legislator.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Morrison – who is already under pressure for his handling of sexual assault allegations involving members of his staff – called the behaviour “absolutely shameful” and pledged to do more to attract women to politics
KEEP READING
Sexual consent app proposal sparks criticism in AustraliaThousands march across Australia demanding justice for womenIs this Australia’s turning point on sexual harassment, assault?Australia parliament debates motion on Uighur abuses in Xinjiang
His comments came hours after The Australian newspaper and Channel 10 reported that several staff had set up a Facebook Messenger group that enabled them to share images and video of sex acts performed in the Parliament House.
The videos and photos were leaked by a whistleblower, who told the news outlets that government staff and legislators often used a Parliament House prayer room to have sex, and alleged that sex workers had been brought into the building “for the pleasure of coalition MPs”.

He also said a group of staffers routinely swapped explicit photos of themselves and he received so many he had “become immune to it”.
He said there was a “culture of men thinking that they can do whatever they want” and while he did not think the staffers had broken any laws, “morally, they are bankrupt”.

One aide was immediately fired and the government has promised further action.
‘We must do better’
The ruling Liberal/National coalition has come under sustained pressure in recent weeks after three former staff members of the ruling Liberal party alleged that they had been sexually assaulted by the same unidentified colleague.
One victim, Brittany Higgins, went public last month, saying the man raped her in a minister’s parliamentary office in 2019.
Separately, earlier this month, Attorney General Christian Porter, the country’s chief law officer, identified himself as the subject of a historical rape allegation and vigorously denied the claim.
The controversies spurred tens of thousands of people to rally around Australia last week and led to a slump in Morrison’s standing in opinion polls.
The prime minister has sought to defend his government’s actions in working to improve gender equality, but on Tuesday he accepted there was broad dissatisfaction with his handling of the allegations of mistreatment of women in politics.

“I acknowledge that many Australians, especially women, believe that I have not heard them, and that greatly distresses me,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

“We must do better… we must get this house in order.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison stood by an unnamed cabinet minister against calls for him to step down from office over an allegation that he raped a 16-year-old girl more than 30 years ago [File: Rick Rycroft/ AP]He grew emotional as he talked about the importance of his wife, mother and daughters, and said women had endured a “very traumatic” month.

“These events have triggered, right across this building and indeed right across the country, women who have put up with this rubbish and this crap for their entire lives, as their mothers did, as their grandmothers did,” he said.
However, Morrison offered few concrete proposals to improve the workplace culture in Parliament, insisting that changes would be announced in the coming weeks.

Minister for Women Marise Payne said the revelations were “beyond disappointing” and highlighted the need for a government-ordered inquiry into Parliament’s workplace culture.
Cabinet minister Karen Andrews said she had had an “absolute gutful” of sexism in politics and her “conscience will no longer allow me to remain quiet”.
She told reporters in Canberra that the ruling Liberal Party should consider gender quotas for its political representatives.
The fresh sexism revelations on Tuesday prompted Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe to disclose alleged sexual harassment by four male politicians since she took office just six months ago.
Thorpe, a representative for the Greens party, told the Canberra Times the “brazen” harassment had included “suggestive” remarks and unwanted touching.
“These are men that write our laws – men that should know better,” she tweeted. “What they’ve done is violating behaviour. It’s physical. It’s sexualising, objectifying behaviour – it makes me feel physically sick.”

Australia’s parliament has been repeatedly criticised for a “toxic” workplace culture that has allegedly spawned persistent bullying, harassment and sexual assault of women – particularly in the ruling coalition.
The opposition Labor party, which already has gender quotas in place, has not been immune from similar allegations. A Facebook group of female workers recently detailed alleged sexual harassment by male colleagues and politicians.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

RELATED

More evacuations amid ‘catastrophic’ floods in eastern Australia
Authorities extend flood and severe weather warnings to more areas, send helicopters to rescue stranded people.
23 Mar 2021

Sexual consent app proposal sparks criticism in Australia
The proposal by a top police officer to use a phone app to record sexual consent has caused an uproar.
18 Mar 2021

Thousands march across Australia demanding justice for women
Protests follow allegations of sexual misconduct in the country’s parliament that shocked the country.
15 Mar 2021

Is this Australia’s turning point on sexual harassment, assault?
Multiple allegations of rape, sexual harassment against politicians and their staffers have sent shockwaves nationwide.
12 Mar 2021
MORE FROM NEWS
Georgia Republicans enact sweeping bill to restrict voting

At least 3 dead after large tornadoes cause damage across Alabama

Ethiopia’s Tigray: Men forced to rape family members, UN reports

Thousands of Venezuelans flee to Colombia amid violence on border

MOST READ
‘Beached whale’ ship could block Suez Canal for weeks

What Joe Biden said in his first presidential press conference

Ship blocking Suez Canal prompts flood of memes

Suez Canal suspends traffic as tug boats work to free ship: Live

oh nooo, whose gonna fight China nooow...

 

[Han Patriot]

Australian deep state trying to bring down Scott Morrison and his party. Australian business community unhappy with Morrison over damage he has done to China trade relations. Deep state always keep their blackmail material and use it whenever they want change. Same thing being done to Andrew Cuomo in New York.

It's pretty obvious.

 

[flowerfan2020]

Where is all those human right fighter and freedom fighter gone?

 

[Beast]

Where is all those human right fighter and freedom fighter gone?

Becos Morrison is their sidekick for anti-China campaign so it ok those women are raped. Anti-China is more important, women get raped is secondary for those fake human right champion.

 

[CAPRICORN-88]

I would like to share this funny video on anti-Asians racism in USA and in the 5 eyes Anglo-Saxon nations.

https://fb.watch/4sVEEw7yz2/

 

[ARMalik]

One thing I have learnt from the politicians here is to NEVER trust them, and that they always come up with these scandals when they WANT TO HIDE SOMETHING REALLY BIG.

 

[Beast]

Never vote for morrison and his party. They are a bunch of crooks and liar.

Australian lawmaker's online bullying leave Morrison fighting political fires

SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, already under fire over his handling of rape accusations in the ruling party, reprimanded one of his lawmakers on Saturday for downplaying an apology for bullying two women constituents.

www.todayonline.com

 

[hualushui]

They sexually assaulted women in the office, which shows that they have a lot of power and it is easier for them to reach orgasm.

 

[Juggernaut_Flat_Plane_V8]

Australia's top 10 cabinet posts and Prime Ministership should be reserved for the "real" Australians----The Aborigines...eventhough I am wary of China, I laud China's relentless crusade against this White Supremacist country..keep up your pressure on these Boomers, and they will eventually crack and give away their racist misogynistic selves