The barrister Charles Waterstreet, who has denied allegations he sexually harassed a 21-year old paralegal at his Sydney chambers, will be a panellist on a special episode of Q&A next month to discuss sexual harassment and the #MeToo campaign.

Hosted by Virginia Trioli, the 15 February show will be a special midweek edition of Q&A live from Southbank in Melbourne. It was convened to examine the social media campaign sparked by the Harvey Weinstein scandal in the US which has engulfed Australian celebrities including Don Burke and Craig McLachlan.

The ABC has confirmed that Waterstreet will be a panellist on the special episode and, according to emails from producers seen by Guardian Australia, he will be joined by the actor Rachel Griffiths, the Macquarie University gender studies professor Catharine Lumby and the employment lawyer Josh Bornstein.

Virginia Trioli will present the episode. Photograph: Ben King/ABC

“Q&A often produces specials – we’ve done two domestic violence ones in recent years, and we feel they are very important for encouraging and spearheading national debate around these issues,” a producer told a potential audience member.

Waterstreet, who claims to be the inspiration for ABC TV’s drama series Rake starring Richard Roxburgh, has strongly denied he acted inappropriately towards a law student, Tina Huang, at a job interview and on her first day at work.

New Matilda published a series of articles last year alleging that Waterstreet showed Huang sexually explicit material on his mobile phone during the August interview for a paralegal position.

Huang told the online publication that Waterstreet had told her during the interview that he liked to go to sex parties and asked if she “loved threesomes”.

Regarding @QandA including Charles Waterstreet on its #MeToo show panel: inappropriate. — marquelawyers (@marquelawyers) January 23, 2018

“In speaking out I’m hoping to reassert some control over this narrative and turn a disempowering experience into an empowering one,” Huang said last year. “I want other women to feel less alone and more supported, I want to encourage every woman who has been a victim of harassment to speak truth to power.”

Waterstreet, who wrote columns for Fairfax Media for several years, responded to the allegations in an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“The circumstances of Miss Huang’s exit are not accurately reported by New Matilda and subsequent articles,” Waterstreet wrote. “The facts are, on August 24 I asked Miss Huang if she could help me prepare notes for my talk as panellist on ‘Post Porn’ at Sydney Contemporary, and attached the relevant invitation. Miss Huang replied on that she was ‘excited to talk about this with you!’, and sent some preliminary thoughts in full paragraphs. She ended the email with ‘Hope this is what you were after! See you soon.’”

A journalist who worked on the New Matilda investigation, Nina Funnell, was contacted by Q&A and asked to be in the audience for the episode and to ask a question about sexual harassment at universities.

Funnell said she believed she should be on the panel as a survivor of sexual assault and an advocate for women, and not merely asking a question.

Nina Funnell says Waterstreet’s inclusion is ‘appalling’

“I think it is absolutely appalling and deeply inappropriate that they would invite Charles Waterstreet on to discuss #MeToo,” Funnell told Guardian Australia.

“We should giving a platform to victims and survivors and, when the ABC chooses to give that platform to Waterstreet, it sends the message to women in the community that men’s voices are more important.

“The ABC has invited me as a sexual abuse survivor to sit in the audience and not on the panel, reserving the panel position for someone who has been accused of sexual harassment of young women.”

The ABC has responded to the criticism by saying the Q&A panel always represents a variety of views.

“The #MeToo movement has raised highly sensitive and strongly emotive issues – and an important conversation to have,” a spokeswoman for ABC News said. “In its special 15 February episode, Q&A will bring together a panel to discuss these issues.

“As always, the panel will represent a variety of perspectives and experiences, exposing Australian citizens to a range of views and ideas they may oppose, as well as those they support.”

A portrait by Nigel Milsom of the controversial Sydney barrister, who has represented the family of Islamic State fighter Khaled Sharrouf, won the Archibald art prize in 2015.