“I found it unbelievable. And I momentarily froze,” Julia Banks recounts of the unwelcome contact experience she alleges having had at a 2016 function at Parliament House, with a senior minister sitting next to her sliding his hand up her thigh.
The alleged event is among those detailed by the former Liberal MP in her book, an extract of which was published in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday.
“This was a senior MP, a cabinet minister, in the prime minister’s wing,” Ms Banks writes without naming the Coalition MP at the centre of the allegation.
“I kept thinking to myself over and over: ‘if he was prepared to do that to me – a 50-something corporate lawyer MP – in that room, what must he do to women he has real power over?'”
Ms Banks describes a toxic culture “underpinned by sexism and misogyny” in Parliament following her election in 2016 as well as well as being subjected to ageism during her preselection, when she was allegedly told by a local preselector she was too old to run for Parliament at 52.
The businesswoman resigned from the Liberal Party after the leadership spill that led to Malcom Turnbull’s replacement as a Prime Minister.
The decision to move to the crossbench, came after what she terms the “most distressing, gut-wrenching period” of her career.
Ms Banks accuses Scott Morrison of trying to dissuade her from recontesting her seat, and his office of attempting to portray her as a “weak, over-emotional woman who had not coped with the coup week.”
Maybe he’s waiting for the delivery of my book ? Much cheaper than empathy training 🤷🏻♀️
# PowerPlay #BreakingThroughBiasBarriers&BoysClubs #auspol pic.twitter.com/8vSPORoVZB— Julia Banks (@juliahbanks) July 1, 2021
The Greek Australian’s book is not yet available to bookshops, but has already made headlines.
READ MORE: Julia Banks on being a Greek woman and her new role at GenVic
The publication of the blistering extract has prompted reactions by Liberal MPs and the Leader of the Opposition.
In a statement released by the PM’s office, a spokesman for Scott Morrison says that he “absolutely rejects claims about the nature of those conversations” with Ms Banks, and that the Prime Minister was “not aware” of the sexual harassment allegations.
“Any such behaviour is completely inappropriate,” the spokesman said. “Everyone has a right to feel safe in their workplace.”
“The Prime Minister was disappointed in Ms Banks’ decision to quit the parliamentary party and had several conversations with her to understand what she was going through to see what support could be offered before she made her decision,” the statement said while also pointing to the Jenkins review of Parliament’s workplace culture and the release of a report into processes of handling Parliament workplace incidents.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese, when asked to comment on the allegations by reporters, spoke of Ms Banks as “someone of real integrity and someone who always tried to represent her constituents and represent her values in this Parliament and certainly in her private life”.
Meanwhile, Liberal MPs who have gone public with reactions to the allegations about the party’s culture include first-termer Victorian federal MP Katie Allen and Victorian Liberal Party’s deputy leader Cindy McLeish who reported having had a different experience to Ms Bank’s.
