Scandal in Australia for sex videos, pornography …

Australia is the scene of a political scandal due to the recent release of videos showing leaders of that country’s Conservative government performing sexual acts in Parliament. In one of the movies, an employee appears masturbating in an MP’s office.

While Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the behavior “outrageous,” he had previously been criticized for his handling of various issues, such as an employee rape charge against a former colleague.

The videos and photos, which were shared in a group chat between government employees before being leaked by a whistleblower, were first revealed Monday evening by the Australian newspaper and Channel 10.

It is scandal joins another string of sexism cases affecting Australian political circles and sparking protests across the country.

The whistleblower, identified only as Tom, told media that Government employees and MPs were using the Parliament prayer room for sex and they even brought prostitutes into the building. “For the pleasure of the members of the coalition.”

Tom also pointed out that a group of employees exchanged pornographic photos of themselves and received so many of them that he “became immune”.

In turn, he described the situation as a “culture of men who believe they can do what they want” and although he believes that the employees probably haven’t broken any laws, he said that “morally, they are finished “.

An adviser has already been sacked following the release of the footage, while the government has vowed to take further action.

For her part, the Minister for Women and head of the portfolio of external relations, Marise Payne, told the media that the revelations are “more than disappointing” and that they reinforce the need for the investigation ordered by the government into the workplace culture in parliament. .

Meanwhile, Industry Minister Karen Andrews told reporters in Canberra that she was “completely fed up” with sexism and that her “conscience no longer allowed her to be silent.” In this sense, she assured that the Liberal Party in power, to which she belongs, should consider quotas for positions.

In mid-March, tens of thousands of people took part in a series of protests called “# March4Justice” (March4Justice) to denounce sexual violence and demand gender equality.

Rape charges

It should not be forgotten that there were already two cases of sexism and gender-based violence that involved ministers from the center-right government.

A former government employee, Brittany Higgins, who claimed last month that a colleague raped her in 2019 in the office in Parliament of Linda Reynolds, then Minister of Defense Industry.

Reynolds, for her part, when she served as Minister of Defense, has been criticized for the way her office has resolved the young woman’s accusations.

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.

Porter then sued public broadcaster ABC, the first to broadcast the charges, for libel.