Prime minister criticises paper and Coalition members involved in the leaking of a photo of the woman who complained about inappropriate behaviour of Jamie Briggs

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This article is more than 4 years old

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Malcolm Turnbull has criticised the Australian newspaper for publishing a pixelated photo and identifying details of a woman who complained about the inappropriate behaviour of Jamie Briggs, which led to his resignation as minister.

Briggs resigned as cities minister last week after an investigation found he acted inappropriately with a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar.

The Australian newspaper published a front-page pixelated photo on the weekend of the woman and Briggs’ chief of staff at the bar, as well as her age and position in the public service.

The prime minister has criticised the newspaper and Coalition members involved in the leaking of the photo, warning their behaviour could deter other women from coming forward with complaints of inappropriate behaviour.



“From the outset I have sought to ensure the privacy of the public servant concerned has been protected,” he said in a statement released late on Monday.

“Publishing the identity of a complainant in a case like this not only infringes their privacy, it serves actively to discourage other women who are concerned about the conduct of a superior from raising a complaint in the future.

“I urge all parties to respect the public servant’s privacy.”

Briggs has admitted the photo was taken on his phone and was circulated to colleagues before and after the complaint, though he says he did not leak it to the Australian.

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Turnbull’s reproach comes after the public sector union criticised the sending of the photo as a “gross breach of privacy”.

The prime minister also said Peter Dutton’s language was “clearly inappropriate” when he called a journalist a “mad fucking witch”.

“As I advised the minister yesterday his language was clearly inappropriate as he recognised by apologising immediately to Ms Maiden,” Turnbull said in a statement released on Monday evening.

Dutton texted the political editor for Sunday’s News Corp papers, Samantha Maiden, calling her a “mad fucking witch” in a message which was supposed to be sent to Briggs on Sunday.

Maiden had written a column critical of Briggs and authored the story which revealed he had sent the photo of himself with the public servant to colleagues before and after her complaint.

Dutton apologised for the text message and Maiden accepted it.

Asked if it could be guaranteed the complainant would not face any career-limiting repercussions, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) said her privacy was being respected.

“Dfat takes seriously the welfare of all its staff,” the statement said.

“Dfat has exercised its duty of care responsibilities for the officer concerned, including providing appropriate support and seeking to protect her privacy. For privacy reasons, we will not comment further.”

Briggs called his behaviour towards the public servant an “error of professional judgment” but has not detailed publicly what happened in what he described as a “very crowded bar”. Briggs’s chief of staff, Stuart Eaton, was also present during the night and text messages between Eaton and the public servant were also published by the Australian.

“We interacted between the three of us and with others in what I believed at the time was an informal manner,” Briggs said when he resigned.



“However, in the days following the evening, the public servant ... raised concerns about the appropriateness of my behaviour towards her at the venue.

“I’ve apologised directly to her but after careful reflection about the concerns she raised and the fact that I was at a bar late at night while on an overseas visit, I have concluded this behaviour has not met the particularly high standards for ministers.”