Greens leader Adam Bandt has cut short a press conference in Perth after ducking a series of questions about bullying allegations levelled at the party’s WA senator Dorinda Cox.
This masthead revealed on Thursday that 20 staff had quit Cox’s office in just three years, with several lodging formal complaints with the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service and Bandt’s office that alleged a hostile culture where employees felt unsafe.
A leaked copy of a formal complaint to the workplace support service detailed several alleged incidents of staff crying and becoming distressed after confrontations with Cox, while two of Cox’s former staff went public with their claims and another nine provided details anonymously.
Cox did not attend the press conference with Bandt and fellow WA senator Jordon Steele-John. When she was approached for comment at the WA Greens office in Perth, a visibly upset …