Barnaby Joyce denies allegation he shouted at Nationals staffer

Barnaby Joyce has denied an allegation that he shouted at a female staffer of a fellow Nationals MP, with the issue having been taken to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.

Joyce allegedly confronted the woman on Wednesday after she asked him to fill out a parliamentary leave form to attend a funeral, Sky News reported.

Joyce said on Thursday: “I deny the allegations, and respect the PWSS process which is now in train.”

Nationals MP Michelle Landry’s office, where the staffer works, and leader David Littleproud’s office issued matching statements.

“The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service has trusted confidential processes and support to deal with workplace issues in Parliament House,” they said.

“Therefore, it would not be appropriate to comment.”

Landry is the Nationals’ chief whip in the House of Representatives and handles procedural matters such as leaves of absence.

Joyce this month said he would not recontest the seat of New England in northern NSW at the next election after this masthead reported Joyce was planning to join Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. Joyce has chosen not to sit in the Nationals party room since the announcement, but still represents the party as an MP and sits on the opposition benches in the House of Representatives.

The backbencher’s Coalition colleagues said they did not want to pre-empt the confidential PWSS process by commenting on the issue.

Nationals MP Bridget McKenzie said the matter should be handled by appropriately trained staff.

“We’ve worked very hard to … stand up an organisation like the PWSS that can give support to both parliamentarians and staff should allegations arise, which seems to be what’s occurring within this particular instance. So I’m not going to be commenting further on this matter,” she told Sky News.

Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie said she was not aware of the details of the incident but noted that the parliamentary complaints process had improved over time.

“We have a much more robust system in this building now. It will take its course. We should respect those processes,” she told Sky News.

“We will see what the findings are … the PWSS can make recommendations as to what it believes the appropriate conduct is if allegations are borne out, and we will leave things appropriately in their hands to make those recommendations if they feel that they need to.”

PWSS declined to comment.

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