‘Men will always see us as up for grabs’: Crossbench MP alleges harassment in parliament

Victorian Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell has alleged she has been sexually harassed in Victorian parliament when working as a politician and a staffer.

Purcell’s comments, made in parliament on Thursday, make her the latest female parliamentarian to speak up during two weeks of harrowing stories while debating laws related to family violence and sexual harassment.

Purcell made the allegations while speaking about the government’s proposed laws limiting the use of non-disclosure agreements to cover up harassment and assault in the workplace.

She said one of her own experiences of harassment happened during her first months as a political staffer when she bent over to get something out of the fridge in her office.

Purcell said a man present, who did not work in that office, said to her, “if you do that again I won’t be responsible for what happens next”.

“This is just one of many ... examples that have occurred while I worked in this building,” she said.

“Perhaps naively ... [I thought] I would be safe from this treatment when I became a member of parliament as well.

“But that just hasn’t been the reality, and it hasn’t been the case.”

Purcell said she had also reported sexual harassment in the halls of parliament and did not feel like her complaints were taken seriously by her parliamentary colleagues.

“The immediate questions were: what did she expect?” she said.

“Look how she dresses, look at the tattoos, look at her past. You can’t sexually harass a stripper.

“I heard the whispers when I walked past in the hallway, and I heard all of the rumours, and I know the slut-shaming far too well.

“Members of this place are not beyond it, and we need to reflect on that today.”

Purcell also spoke about how harassment extended beyond physical offices or places of work and beyond nine-to-five hours.

She said someone else in the Victorian parliament had harassed her with late-night messages, phone calls and demands to meet up under the guise of work.

“It doesn’t matter how successful or senior you can become, one thing I have learned is that men will always see us as up for grabs,” Purcell said.

The government’s proposed laws would prohibit non-disclosure agreements for workers alleged to have been sexually harassed unless they request it themselves.

Employers would also be banned from pressuring or influencing a worker to sign an agreement.

Purcell’s comments were based on her experiences with staffers and MPs over her seven years working in Victorian parliament.

She has not been the only woman to share a difficult story of harassment while debating the government’s legislation.

Last week, Minister for Women Natalie Hutchins revealed that she was groped as a 15- or 16 -year-old by AFL football players while working her first job as a waitress, where she was required to wear a short skirt while carrying large trays.

“I dreaded Thursday nights because there were actually AFL players at my restaurant that had been to training and would come in every Thursday night, and they would run their hands up my legs while I was carrying the trays,” she said.

“It was actually about two weeks into my job that I dropped a tray of food when this happened, to which my boss at the time suggested that I might need to pay for what I had dropped, despite the fact that I had complained about the situation before.”

Hutchins said she had to take matters into her own hands by arranging for her brother and cousins to sit at a nearby table the following Thursday – who made sure it would never happen again.

Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Treasurer Jaclyn Symes thanked Liberal MPs Bridget Vallence and Moira Deeming, Labor MP Daniela Di Martino along with Purcell and Hutchins for sharing their personal stories of sexual harassment as part of the debate.

Mildura MP Jade Benham also gave an emotional speech on Thursday about her own experiences while talking about a separate bill that would broaden the definition of family violence to include stalking.

“Survivors of stalking … know that feeling of going to the letterbox, for example, and this is just one example, and finding an envelope with no postmark, no stamp, with whatever it might be,” she said.

“I cannot express enough that feeling of fear.

“If that happens, please report it. I cannot express enough: do not try and rationalise it.”

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