The release of the report into Parliament’s culture was pretty dramatic. The basic conclusion is that the halls of Parliament is full of awful people who treat their staff and workers very poorly.
I was not surprised. Politics has this unfortunate habit of attracting some really base people.
This morning Trevor Mallard decided to apply a blowtorch to the allegations. From Radio New Zealand:
Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard says it’s his impression from the report on bullying at Parliament that people have been raped there, and he is urging the victims to go to police or support agencies.
The independent report by Debbie Francis – ordered by Mr Mallard after a series of cases of bad behaviour – was scathing in its denouncement of a culture of serious bullying and harassment at Parliament.
As well as rife bullying and harassment since at least October 2014, the first-of-its-kind report found sexism, racism and unreasonably aggressive behaviour by and between staff, managers, MPs, media and the public – and a system that protects the perpetrators.
Some of the most serious accusations included allegations of sexual harassment, including three cases of serious sexual assault.
Mr Mallard told Morning Report‘s Susie Ferguson it was his interpretation that people had been raped at Parliament.
“We’re talking about serious sexual assault, well that, for me, that’s rape … that is the impression I get from the report, yes.”
And as can be expected politics is now being played.
Please no speculation about particular people or incidents.
How about we discuss what can be done to change the way that Parliament operates?
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