And still, it seems, Robert Doyle doesn’t get it. After a 100-page report overseen by a QC that made four adverse findings against him, that found he seriously sexually harassed two fellow councillors, that they occurred when the then lord mayor had consumed “substantial amounts of red wine”, Doyle denies everything.



Along the way, he felt the need to have a swipe at the inquiry and the women who complained about his behavior – at significant personal cost to themselves.



The one thing that Doyle will own up to is that his friendliness might be out of fashion in 2018.

“Robert informed the investigation that he now recognises that his cheerful and oftentimes animated personality and manner towards people, both men and women alike, may no longer be appropriate by today’s standards,” a statement from his wife, Emma Page-Campbell, said.

He was “sorry for any misunderstanding” that may have caused others but fervently rejects that any such conduct was intended to be inappropriate or sexual in nature. Page said Doyle remains seriously ill in hospital.

Perhaps, as the earnest Melbourne city councillors said after the summary report of the inquiry was delivered to them just after 4pm on Tuesday, everyone had learned something, and improvements would be made to processes, and women would feel more confident to speak out about workplaces that made them intensely uncomfortable.



Perhaps. The best rejoinder to Doyle’s statement was from Cathy Oke, a Greens representative whose voice shook several times as she explained what sexual harassment has always been about: power, who has it, who doesn’t and who will be believed.



“I know that power and powerful connections loom large in this sorry saga,” she told the council meeting. “I had a real fear that speaking to someone in the powerful connected networks in this city, on this matter, would lead to a media smear or attack on my reputation.



“Though perhaps ridiculous to some, that fear was real and paralysing.”



It was indeed. That is exactly what happened to councillor Tessa Sullivan, whose reputation and character was smeared by selective leaks to the media after she resigned in December, alleging sexual harassment and assault.



It is known that most women who are harassed do not report it. Oke knows that, too, and with raw honesty said she was ashamed that when Doyle first harassed her in 2014, she did not report it.



“I am ashamed that despite being a smart, driven woman and one who would normally call out bad behaviour and have certainly reported inappropriate behaviour in the past, that I didn’t stand up … I accept this and own this – and I do feel ashamed about this.”



Doyle, Melbourne’s longest-serving mayor and a former state Liberal leader, feels no shame, accepts no responsibility.



The summary document is a bare nine pages of the full 100 page-report, the rest to be forever secret on the grounds of privacy and the protection of medical information. But it was clear.



It found that the investigators reached “a high level of satisfaction” about four incidents. That Doyle had grabbed the breast of Sullivan on 2 May last year, after his driver had dropped him off at his home after a Tuesday night council meeting. It did not find that level of satisfaction about other claims by Sullivan, although the report stressed that that doesn’t mean they are not true. Doyle’s wife seized on that. “We note that only one of the eight initial allegations concerning Ms Sullivan has been upheld. This finding, however, is not accepted by Robert.”



The inquiry found that on or about 4 December 2014, Doyle placed his hand on Oke’s thigh “and moved his hand in a sexually inappropriate manner on her inner thigh”. Oke had brushed his hand away on each of the four times he did this.



On another occasion, Doyle asked Oke to come to his office after a Tuesday post-council meeting dinner. “Before she could leave he embraced her and attempted to kiss her on the mouth, causing her to push him away”.



The fourth finding that was each of these incidents happened “in the context of the lord mayor having consumed substantial amounts of red wine”. It concluded that Doyle’s conduct amounted to “sexually inappropriate conduct”.



Doyle continued his denials. “Robert was never provided with sufficient detail of the evidence provided to the investigation such that he could effectively defend himself,” his wife’s statement said.



Yet the council is trying to move on. Doyle resigned several weeks ago, after all. On Tuesday, councillor after councillor spoke of their shame, and their belief that this tawdry affair would lead to lasting changes at the council, and be a beacon for change across the nation.



“I actually feel ashamed that my fellow councilors had to go through this,” said Susan Riley. Councillor Nick Reece thanked Oke and Sullivan “for their bravery in being prepared to stand up and say #MeToo.”



There were earnest commitments to update the council’s code of conduct and the Local Government Act, which makes no specific mention of sexual harassment constituting misconduct.



Yet Oke insisted that all this could not be easily put away.



“Now that this report is in, “she said, “I want the organisations and individuals tasked with supporting the local government sector to bring their heads out of the sand and take this situation seriously.”



And councillor Jackie Watts, who complained several years ago that Doyle had bullied her, dismissed the idea that, somehow, all this was a surprise to the council. “It’s not as though the problems with our code have been unknown,” she said.

Watts said she regretted that more of the report had not been released publicly. It would be interesting to know what the investigation concluded about the council beyond the few pages deemed acceptable for public consumption.

What other councillors knew about the harassment of the two women, and did they do anything about it? Had anyone ever said anything formally about the boozy culture, which is now under review? What was Doyle’s defence and why was it dismissed?

Will this saga be the start of big change, or is it the sacrifice of a former lord mayor who got lecherous when he drank too much? Oke said she hoped it would be the start of something, and she was proud that she and Sullivan had spoken up.



“I hope I am not being too naïve in wanting my daughter to grow up in the post #metoo era where speaking out doesn’t cause so much pain,” she said. That is a valiant hope, indeed.

