Remember the sex scandal last year at the Young Labour summer camp? You do? I’m surprised you do, because no one knows what happened, who was responsible and what the outcome was. Labour is a master at ‘reviewing policies around the issue’ – it is all they ever seem to do as a government – but fronting up and admitting liability is not their strong point.
And here we are… again.
At least four members of the Labour Party have reportedly resigned over an investigation into allegations against a staff member.
Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper says the allegations involved not only sexual assault but rape, offers to pay for sex – and that there were 12 alleged complainants.
“What they’re saying is, the party is telling them not to comment. They say people incredibly high up are on the side of the accused in the Beehive,” Soper said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is keeping tight-lipped about the party’s handling of the matter.
The party is telling them not to comment… nothing like being ‘open and transparent’, is there?
She told reporters this morning that Labour had to make sure that when serious allegations were made that they were taken seriously and when the process was questioned, it could be independently reviewed.
Ardern would not comment on whether the alleged offender worked in her office, and said the matter was currently one for the party, and not an employment matter.
Oh well, fair enough, after all, it is a party matter, so there would be no reason for the leader of the party, who also happens to be prime minister, to get involved, would there?
It was about the conduct about a member of the party, and not about the employer or workplace. The Prime Minister would not comment on whether the alleged culprit still worked for the party.
As far as she was aware police had not been involved.
Well, the police damned well should be involved. It seems that the allegations include rape, which is a serious crime. There is no way that Labour can brush this one under the carpet, although they will try their hardest.
Labour had already reviewed its processes after sexual assault allegations at a Young Labour summer camp, and this was a chance to see if Labour learned anything from that process.
What was being looked at in the current review included whether there was a process of natural justice, she said.
See what I mean? All they ever do is ‘review their policies’. Clearly, they did this after the Young Labour Summer Camp, and nothing changed. Disgraceful.
MediaWorks yesterday reported seven party members and officials laid complaints this year accusing the senior party staffer of “unacceptable behaviour ranging from bullying and intimidation to sexual harassment and sexual assault”.
When pressed by Hosking, Ardern said she wouldn’t be commenting on the investigation, labelling it a “party matter”. She also refused to comment on the number of people who had left.
Jacinda is making light of some very serious allegations here. We all know that people can sometimes overreact to anything that they believe to be sexual harassment. Remember the parliamentary staffer who was called a rapist by Trevor Mallard when it seems that all he did was to give unwanted hugs? But this is much bigger than that.
However, Newstalk ZB’s Barry Soper said the allegations involved not only sexual assault but rape, offers to pay for sex and that there were 12 alleged complainants.
Soper said those allegedly affected were “frightened” of talking to the media as they claimed they would have their support withdrawn if they spoke out.
“They talked about not just sexual assault but rape, they said that this person worked in the Beehive for two years, he was offering promotions for sex. They said there was a huge power imbalance, they said the person was well known to Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson.
“They said one victim was hospitalised, two were still working at Parliament, six others were junior party members and there were 12 victims in all.”
Soper said the complainants just want the party to be held to account.
After the Young Labour debacle, we all know that is not going to happen. No one will be held to account, and the media will certainly never get any details about it.
Soper said the alleged offender worked for the Labour Party as opposed to Parliamentary Service.
The whistleblower said they wanted to speak out as the Labour Party had already investigated and with the alleged offender having support of people “high up in the party”, “they’d felt that this matter was not going to go any further”.
“But these allegations are very serious indeed. When I originally got the first email about a month ago it couldn’t be ignored but any attempt to follow it up with the party was fruitless.”
Soper said it appeared the claims were separate from those made in relation to a summer camp which involved a 20-year-old accused who had two charges against him dropped following a police investigation into an incident at a Labour Party summer camp at Waihi in February last year.
A NEWSPAPER
Labour has form on this. This is only the latest sex scandal to come out involving the Labour Party. The previous one was, of course, the Young Labour Summer Camp, where there were 4 charges of indecent assault. A report on the issue, and how Labour should review its code of conduct, and policies around sexual harassment and bullying was published, but Jacinda refused to release it.
As I said, there is nothing like being ‘open and transparent’ is there?
And of course, if you look back to 2011, there was the Darren Hughes Swiss ball saga, where he had a complaint brought against him by a student. Nothing happened there either.
There is a pattern here… of sexual assault and bullying, and of lies and cover-ups. Both are reprehensible to our most ‘open and transparent’ government. Someone needs to break ranks and throw some sunlight on the rot that exists within Labour. Otherwise, we’ll just be discussing another sexual assault case in a few months time.