Libs accused of burying allegations
Two former NSW Liberal staffers have made public allegations of assault by senior figures of the Party.
Dhanya Mani has told the Nine Network that she was sexually assaulted in 2015 when a Liberal staffer forced himself onto her in her home, at a time that she was working for the party.
Ms Mani says she met with Liberal Party NSW director Chris Stone last December and told him what happened.
“He was sympathetic during the meeting and suggested to me that he would look into the matter further and attempt to assist me,” she said, but added that after the meeting, “nothing happened”.
She has joined another former Liberal staffer and alleged victim of sexual assault, Chelsey Potter, in calling for an end to a toxic Liberal Party culture.
Ms Potter says she was working for a sitting minister in Canberra when the man restrained her and removed her underwear.
“It was very quick and very sudden and quite forceful,” Ms Potter told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
“It wasn't until I started to really yell that he stopped and left the room.”
Both women say they tried to have the matters dealt with internally rather than going to police, but found the party highly unwilling to respond.
Federal Liberal Party vice-president Karina Okotel says the party is meeting on Friday to finalise a code of conduct to improve procedures.
“At the moment we don't have a code of conduct in place and the implementation of that will be something that will need to be done through the state divisions,” Ms Okotel told the ABC.
“The code of conduct review is to identify best practice. We are a party that strives to operate in the most excellent way.
“Lawyers have been engaged [and] other industry professionals have been engaged to make sure that there is a thorough code of conduct put in place.”
Liberal veteran Kathryn Greiner says the Prime Minister should lead the push for cultural change.
“My phone kept going ‘ping, ping, ping, ping, ping’ as this story was going online and I was called by more than one senior woman within the party who said; ‘This happened to me too’,” she said.
“Now this is our moment of defining ourselves, this is our line in the sand.”
Two former NSW Liberal staffers have made public allegations of assault by senior figures of the Party.
Dhanya Mani has told the Nine Network that she was sexually assaulted in 2015 when a Liberal staffer forced himself onto her in her home, at a time that she was working for the party.
Ms Mani says she met with Liberal Party NSW director Chris Stone last December and told him what happened.
“He was sympathetic during the meeting and suggested to me that he would look into the matter further and attempt to assist me,” she said, but added that after the meeting, “nothing happened”.
She has joined another former Liberal staffer and alleged victim of sexual assault, Chelsey Potter, in calling for an end to a toxic Liberal Party culture.
Ms Potter says she was working for a sitting minister in Canberra when the man restrained her and removed her underwear.
“It was very quick and very sudden and quite forceful,” Ms Potter told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
“It wasn't until I started to really yell that he stopped and left the room.”
Both women say they tried to have the matters dealt with internally rather than going to police, but found the party highly unwilling to respond.
Federal Liberal Party vice-president Karina Okotel says the party is meeting on Friday to finalise a code of conduct to improve procedures.
“At the moment we don't have a code of conduct in place and the implementation of that will be something that will need to be done through the state divisions,” Ms Okotel told the ABC.
“The code of conduct review is to identify best practice. We are a party that strives to operate in the most excellent way.
“Lawyers have been engaged [and] other industry professionals have been engaged to make sure that there is a thorough code of conduct put in place.”
Liberal veteran Kathryn Greiner says the Prime Minister should lead the push for cultural change.
“My phone kept going ‘ping, ping, ping, ping, ping’ as this story was going online and I was called by more than one senior woman within the party who said; ‘This happened to me too’,” she said.
“Now this is our moment of defining ourselves, this is our line in the sand.”