Bullies, nasty, gaslighters: Nine things Broderick review revealed about NSW parliament’s culture

More than a third (38 per cent) of the incidents people had heard about or witnessed occurred in NSW Parliament House itself. The next most common location (18 per cent) was at a work-related social event, such as after-work drinks or a function.

2. One in five people experienced sexual harassment

Twenty per cent of workers experienced sexual harassment in the past five years and 21 per cent heard about or witnessed incidents. “This represents a significant proportion of the NSW Parliamentary workforce,” the report said.

Sexual harassment was experienced mostly by women, people who identified as having a diverse sexuality and younger people. Female MPs were the group most likely to say they had experienced sexual harassment in the past five years (46 per cent).

Most sexual harassment was perpetrated by a man (85 per cent) and someone at a more senior level (67 per cent).

The most common behaviours were intrusive questions about someone’s private life or comments on physical appearance (52 per cent), sexually suggestive comments or jokes (43 per cent) or inappropriate staring or leering that made the person feel intimidated (40 per cent).

The amount of MPs that I saw try to make sexual advances on young men and women at party social events was pretty much constant. Unfortunately, when the people seen as leaders in political parties are acting in such a manner it permeates to a culture that is hard to fix.

3. MPs were perpetrators of bad behaviour, and most occurred in Parliament House itself

The review found that half of the bullying incidents took place at NSW Parliament House itself. Just over half (52 per cent) of all bullying incidents were perpetrated by a member of parliament.

When it came to sexual harassment, 44 per cent of incidents occurred in NSW Parliament House and 41 per cent were perpetrated by an MP.

Female MPs were often on the receiving end of bad behaviour. “Several of these described experiences of bullying both from within their own party and from other MPs across the political spectrum,” the report said.

There is a real drive among some MPs to humiliate staff in front of others. They are pretty dismissive, with an attitude of “I’m elected, and you are not.”

4. More than a quarter of workers were bullied

More than a quarter of workers in a parliamentary workplace said they were bullied in the past five years (28 per cent), with men and women reporting their experiences at a similar rate.

Almost one-third of those people said they were bullied for a year or longer, in a pattern of long-term and sustained behaviour.

The most common forms of bullying involved frightening, humiliating, belittling or degrading someone, including criticism that was delivered by yelling or screaming (74 per cent). Three-quarters of people who experienced bullying said they were subject to unjustified criticism or complaints, while 54 per cent reported abusive, insulting or offensive language.

In 81 per cent of cases, the bullying was perpetrated by someone at a more senior level.

The report said bullying was “systemic and multi-directional” and workers had low confidence in protections that would stop it happening.

In a nutshell, my [MP] is highly emotional, super aggressive, rude and abusive towards staff. To give you some examples, [they] will walk into the office and won’t acknowledge or talk to you at all, go straight to [their] office and just shut the door... The Member set up a toxic work environment. It was very hierarchical with [them] at the top and [they] would pit staff against one another.

5. ‘Devastating’ impact on staff wellbeing

Many review participants said these behaviours affected their mental health, wellbeing, relationships and careers.

“The impact was profound, devastating and long-term, with many electing to move away from parliamentary workplaces,” the report said.

“This was often because of their lack of confidence in, or poor experience of, reporting mechanisms and a resulting lack of confidence that it was possible to protect workers against harmful behaviours.”

The report said the cost to NSW parliament was also high because it was losing smart, talented and passionate individuals from the workplace.

6. Uneven power dynamics a ‘driving factor’

The majority of participants said the unequal distribution of power in parliamentary offices was a “key driving factor both in problematic cultural dynamics and in the patterns of harmful behaviours”.

More than half of the NSW parliament workforce (60 per cent) agreed that the hierarchical nature of parliamentary workplaces made it difficult to call out unacceptable behaviour.

The groups most likely to agree with that statement were women (65 per cent) and younger staff (64 per cent).

I would say the culture, as a whole, is very hierarchical, exclusionary, brutal and elitist. I mean, you only have to look at how [Members] behave towards each other in Question Time and how such behaviour is celebrated to see how that culture is set from the top, which then flows down to the staff and others in Parliament.

7. Well-known hotspots of bad behaviour

Some MPs’ offices were described as “well-known hotspots” with high rates of staff turnover linked to harmful behaviours.

Many people linked this to low levels of leadership skills held by parliamentarians and, occasionally, their senior staff.

“Participants spoke of a range of office environments that included those where ‘staffing needs and interests were overlooked’, to those that were ‘overtly toxic’, led by parliamentarians who were variously described as ‘bullies’, ‘nasty’, ‘gaslighters’ and, on occasion, ‘sexual harassers’,” the report said.

“For many staff of MPs, in particular, working for a good leader was akin to a ‘leadership lottery’. In other words, the type of leadership that staff experienced was dependent on the Parliamentarian for whom they worked.”

Some offices have a revolving door of staffers and nothing changes. People leave traumatised, there is no justice and no fairness. There are some MPs that are known to be the worst office to work in. Some MPs just don’t have any boundaries at all.

8. People from diverse backgrounds more likely to be affected

The Broderick review said the impact of bad behaviours such as bullying and harassment was heightened for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and for those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

It said many people remarked that parliament did not reflect the cultural diversity of the community in NSW, while non-binary people who responded to the survey said they felt particularly vulnerable.

Almost three-quarters of heterosexual respondents said they agreed NSW Parliament workplaces were safe and respectful, and that people behaved respectfully towards others. However, this figure dropped to 57 per cent for people who identified as having a diverse sexuality.

The thought of going into Parliament House fills me with dread. There are MPs who don’t believe that non-binary people exist, they can walk into the Chamber and say literally anything about anyone. Would I ever feel safe in my workplace?

9. Low levels of trust in reporting mechanisms

There were low levels of confidence and trust in the formal policy and complaints process. The review said this needed to be addressed “as a matter of urgency”.

Half of people agreed that complaints about inappropriate behaviour were taken seriously, but only about a third thought fair and reasonable action was taken against people who engaged in that behaviour regardless of their status.

Just 4 per cent of people who were sexually harassed reported the incident – which the report said was an “extremely low” figure – while 25 per cent of people who were bullied made a complaint.

Of those who reported their bullying, only about a quarter said their report was finalised. The most common outcome of those addressed matters was an apology (28 per cent). However, 12 per cent of people said they were ostracised or ignored by colleagues as a result of reporting.

10. Recommendations to create substantial change

The review found there were “many areas where substantial change is required”. These were the six key recommendations:

• Make prevention and early intervention a priority in all NSW parliamentary workplaces, including through a statement of acknowledgement created with victim-survivors.
• Address the cultural factors that contribute to bullying, sexual harassment and misconduct. The parliament should strengthen its approach to diversity and inclusion, review staffer workloads and develop an alcohol policy.
• Review and strengthen MPs’ code of conduct and develop a standalone policy on bullying, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. Political parties should also review their internal policies.
• Encourage people to speak up and take action, including by improving training and leadership development for MPs and senior staff.
• Create a safe reporting environment that is human-centric and trauma-informed. This should involve formulating options for an independent body to receive and investigate reports.
• Transparent monitoring. There should be an audit of the actions taken by MPs to create safe work environments, with an annual report tabled in parliament. “Hot spots” of bad behaviour should be identified by monitoring data on staff turnover.

Support is available from the NSW Sexual Violence Helpline on 1800 424 017, National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line on 1800 737 732, and Lifeline on 131 114.

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