
This post deals with sexual assault and might be triggering for some readers.
This is not going away anytime soon.
For weeks now, Canberra has been experiencing a reckoning; spurred on by the allegation from former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who said a colleague raped her in Defence Minister Linda Reynolds' office.
Since then, a horrific number of women have come forward with tales of a toxic, sexist workplace at Parliament House, with thousands marching across Australia in March demanding change.
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But it's not just Parliament House. We know there are cultural issues right across Australia, and state government ministers are also now telling their stories.
Here are all the fresh allegations to come out in the past day.
NSW MP takes leave after rape allegation.
On Wednesday night, NSW Nationals MP for the Upper Hunter Michael Johnsen announced he was taking leave immediately while a police investigation into a 2019 rape accusation against him took place.
Earlier in the day, NSW Labor MP for the Blue Mountains Trish Doyle told the lower house an MP, whom she did not name, raped a sex worker after she did not consent to penetrative sex.
"It is all the worse that this man who raped her is a government member of this chamber ... his power and privileged position as a civic leader make that fear, anger and hurt all the worse," she said.
Doyle added she had been contacted 18 months ago by the sex worker who told her she had responded to an advertisement.
In one day, two women - Sue Hickey (Tas) and Trish Doyle (NSW) accuse colleagues of a. slut shaming & b. rape. What next? Will women MPs use the only space where not inhibited by defamation laws - the privilege of parliament - to call out misogyny & assault? What a prospect. https://t.co/OOCIXMh1Dm
— 💥Dr💥 Julia Baird (@bairdjulia) March 24, 2021
Johnsen said he had - "without admission" - stepped aside from the role and would not sit in the Nationals party room or the joint party room
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