Australian scandal over videos of sex acts in Parliament’s offices

Broadcasting videos in which you see Australian Conservative government employees engaging in sexual acts in Parliament, one of them masturbating in a deputy’s office, put the executive in a compromising position, amid great unease over the sexism of the political class.

Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison called these behaviors “scandalous“. Morrison had been criticized for his handling of various issues, such as an employee rape charge against a former colleague.

The videos and photos, which were said to have been shared in a panel discussion between Conservative government employees before being disclosed by an anonymous whistleblower, were first revealed Monday evening. by the newspaper The Australian Yes Channel 10.

They caused a stir, not least because they were preceded by a series of cases that tarnished Australian political circles and sparked protests across the country.

The plaintiff, identified only as “Tom”, told both media outlets that government employees and MPs sometimes used the parliament’s prayer room for sex and that prostitutes were brought into the building “for the sake of the public. coalition deputies “..

He also explained that group of employees exchanged pornographic photos of themselves and that he received so many that he had “become immune”.

I’m talking about a “culture of men who believe they can do what they want” and although he believes the employees probably haven’t broken any laws, “morally they’re done.”

Women’s Minister Marise Payne, who is also head of the external relations portfolio, told media that the revelations are “more than disappointing” and reinforce the need for the government-ordered investigation into the culture of the Workplace. in Parliament.

An advisor has already been fired and the government has promised to take more action.

Many voices denounce the sexist culture of the Australian political class, in cases of harassment against women. In mid-March, tens of thousands of people took part in a campaign of protests called “# March4Justice” to denounce sexual violence and demand gender equality.

Rape charges

Industry Minister Karen Andrews said she was “completely fed up” with sexism and added that “her conscience no longer allowed her to be silent.” She told reporters in Canberra that the ruling Liberal Party, to which she belongs, should consider quotas for posts.

Two cases involving ministers recently hit the center-right government.

First there were the accusations of a former government employee. Brittany Higgins, who claimed last month that a colleague raped her in 2019 in the parliamentary office of Linda Reynolds, then Minister of Defense Industry.

Converted to Minister of Defense, the latter has been criticized for the way his cabinet accepted the accusations of the young woman.

In early March, Christian Porter, who is the government’s main legal adviser, denied raping a 16-year-old girl he was studying with in 1988. The woman died last year. Filed a libel action against the public broadcaster ABC, the first to spread the accusations.

The Labor opposition, which has a quota system, is not immune to accusations of sexism and harassment either.

(With information from AFP)

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