Harassment, bullying exposed in Parliament

A landmark investigation into the workplace culture at NSW parliament has uncovered a toxic and ‘‘devastating’’ combination of bullying, sexual harassment and assault, with MPs identified as the main perpetrators of some of the worst behaviour. The review, conducted by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, was to be published yesterday but MPs were provided briefings on Thursday which revealed one in three respondents had experienced bullying or sexual harassment in the past five years. One briefing, given to several MPs and seen by the Herald, said 52 per cent of bullying incidents were perpetrated by members of parliament.