Chelsey Potter, who joined the Liberal Party aged 16, was working for a minister when at a home during a sitting week in Canberra the man restrained her and removed her underwear. "It was very quick and very sudden and quite forceful," Ms Potter told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "It wasn't until I started to really yell that he stopped and left the room." Chelsey Potter is calling for a new process to deal with complaints in the Liberal Party. Credit:Ben Searcy Ms Potter says that she raised the incident with a senior party colleague and that initially he was supportive. "A few months later down the track he called me again and said 'we are considering this guy for preselection, would you feel compelled to speak out if he was preselected?'" she said.

Dhanya Mani, who worked for the former speaker in the NSW Parliament, alleges another NSW Liberal parliamentary staffer came to her house in 2015, forced himself on her, tried to undo her jeans and began masturbating. "I couldn't do anything else because my mind just became entirely empty and I was just really afraid because he was on top of me," she said. "At one point he put his hands around my neck and started choking me. At that point I became incapable of moving." Ms Mani said she was advised by a senior Liberal woman that her complaints were unlikely to lead anywhere. She claims she was told: "All that I can tell you is that if you decide to tell anyone else about this you are going to be slut shamed and your reputation will be ruined. Maybe you should just go along with it." "There was a strange narrative of you should just be flattered," Ms Mani said. "If a moderate women's leader is saying this, I have no hope of getting a good response from anybody.

"I felt completely disempowered." For legal reasons, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have chosen not to identify the two men, who strongly deny the allegations. Dhanya Mani is speaking out after growing frustrated at a lack of progress. Credit:Janie Barrett Neither Ms Mani nor Ms Potter went to the police or raised it with their MP following the incidents, while searching for an independent resolution mechanism. The Members of Parliament (Staff) Act details a complaints procedure for workplace bullying and harassment run by the Department of Finance. While it was updated mid-last year to incorporate harrassment, it does not explicitly state avenues for allegations of sexual assault and does not cover members of the party who are not employed in Parliament.

A NSW Liberal staffer told Ms Mani that if it was considered a crime, it would be handled by the appropriate authorities. The view was echoed by a spokesman for the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who said any allegations of this nature were very serious and should be referred to police. Ms Potter did not raise the matter with anyone in her office. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has confirmed friends of the women were told about the incidents soon after they allegedly occurred. "I felt like I wouldn't be able to withstand that from a mental health perspective," said Ms Mani of making a formal police complaint.

Ms Potter said she "wasn't prepared to stake my career or all my hard work" at the time and there were no independent party avenues to raise her concerns. "If you are distressed there it can impact all aspects of your life," she said. Ms Potter said she felt compelled to speak out now "to prioritise women's safety at work over protecting the party from controversy". "I love my party and I only talk about these things to make my party better. I want to attract more women. If we don't make it a safe place to work then we are not going to be able to retain them," she said. "This behaviour can't continue. I don't think I am special. I don't think I am the only person out there."

A spokesperson for the Morrison government on Tuesday said: "These allegations are deeply concerning and distressing. We would encourage Ms Potter to contact the police so those claims can be investigated. "There is no place for any form of bullying, intimidation or sexual harassment in any workplace, and the Australian Parliament has strict protocols to eliminate or minimise the risks of such acts. "Where a crime has been committed, it should be referred to the police." After a year of lobbying for a new internal complaints process, Ms Mani said she was fed up and wanted to go public so that other women had somewhere to go. Ms Potter and Ms Mani are establishing a network for sexual assault survivors who have worked on both sides of politics and they have the backing of Ms Greiner.

"If they don't see those complaints being addressed then they are not going to come forward," said Ms Greiner, who is separated from Nick Greiner but is still close to the Liberal Party president. Kathryn Greiner is calling for change inside the Liberal Party. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer "I take the view that every woman that comes forward with a complaint is probably representing at least five more. "It's management by benign neglect. Very strong conversations need to be had with staffers, what their language is, what their attitudes are. "The fact that people say we haven't had any other sexual harassment claims in the Liberal Party to me says somebody is asleep at the wheel.

"The leadership has to come from within the Liberal Party from the PM down." Three separate reviews into the party's culture at state executive, federal and Young Liberal level are now under way. Prime Minister Scott Morrison requested a party review in September following allegations sitting MP Ann Sudmalis was bullied during a bitter preselection contest but no findings have been announced. A party source described progress on the review, which is being led by party elders Brian Loughnane and Chris McDiven, as "tough going". A formal code of conduct does not exist despite being referenced in the Liberal Party constitution for two decades.

The party began drafting one last year after a string of controversies including a Young Liberal Facebook group that described a female Tinder profile as a "potato" they could "root and boot". Loading NSW Young Liberal president Harry Stutchbury said the organisational wing of the party "needs to take issues of harassment and assault seriously". Senior NSW Liberal minister Matt Kean said no one should join any organisation – whether it be a political party, a business or community group – and feel intimidated, bullied or harassed. The state executive is also looking to establish an independent code of conduct committee to rule on inappropriate behaviour and harassment with the power to kick people out of the party.

In March, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull described the party's attitude to women as reminiscent of a 1980s boardroom and "far, far too blokey". A federal party spokesman said an interim report from the McDiven-Loughnane review was provided to the federal executive earlier this year. "The final report will be delivered shortly," he said. A NSW party spokesman said the Liberal Party takes allegations of such conduct very seriously. "While party procedures deal with conduct issues by party members, on allegations of criminal matters people are encouraged and supported to go to the appropriate authorities."

1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732 You can also contact Eryk Bagshaw via the encrypted messaging app Signal on +61411463731