NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she is "shocked" about allegations government MP Michael Johnsen raped a woman in the Blue Mountains last year.
Key points:
- Mr Johnsen denies the allegation
- The NSW Premier said she was grateful that police were investigating
- Mr Johnsen will not sit in the Coalition partyroom, meaning the NSW government is now in minority
Mr Johnsen, the Nationals member for Upper Hunter, yesterday identified himself as the man accused of sexually assaulting the woman.
It came after Labor MP Trish Doyle used parliamentary privilege to accuse an unnamed Coalition MP of rape.
Police are investigating the allegations and Mr Johnsen has resigned from his role as a parliamentary secretary while that takes place.
He denies the accusations, and in a statement released late yesterday said they had "devastated" him.
When asked about the allegations this morning, Ms Berejiklian said: "First of all I join everyone else in being absolutely shocked at the serious allegations that were raised, and somewhat relieved that it's subject to a police investigation."
Ms Berejiklian said she first learned of the allegations when Ms Doyle gave her explosive speech yesterday.
Ms Doyle told Parliament an MP assaulted the woman "in a way she had not consented to" when they met at a secluded lookout at Yellow Rock.
Ms Doyle said the woman now felt "fear, hurt and anger".
The ABC has spoken to the woman about Mr Johnsen's alleged behaviour both inside and outside of NSW Parliament.
In his statement, Mr Johnsen said: "I am devastated by these allegations."
"I have voluntarily spoken with NSW Police, and I have and will continue to fully cooperate with their enquiries.
"I am confident any investigation will conclude that I am an innocent party.
"Without admission, I have chosen to step aside from my parliamentary secretary role and will not sit in the Nationals party room nor the joint party room.
"I will be taking leave effective immediately for a short duration.
"As the matter is with the NSW Police I will make no further public comment."
Supplied: NSW Parliament
)The statement came just one hour after the ABC sent questions to Mr Johnsen and Nationals Party leader John Barilaro about a number of allegations.
In an interview with Nine Radio this morning, Mr Barilaro said he first learnt of the allegation at 7:00pm yesterday.
"I rang Michael at 7:20, to ask him directly," he said.
Mr Barilaro said he subsequently spoke to the Premier and his own leadership team.
"This a very serious matter, I feel for all involved and I don't think I could have done anything more or sooner [than] within a couple of hours having a statement from Michael and asking him to stand aside."
Mr Barilaro said Mr Johnsen was "not in a great way".
Lorna Knowles/ABC Investigations
)While Mr Johnsen has not resigned from the Nationals, he will not sit in party room meetings while the police investigation takes place, effectively plunging NSW's Coalition government, which had previously had a one-seat majority, into minority.
Ms Berejiklian said that did not concern her.
"I think all of us want to make sure justice is served well and properly and the alleged victim needs to be able to have a processed where nothing is prejudiced, so I'm going to be really careful about what I say," she said.
"I'm grateful that the police are investigating the matter and I think all of us want to get to the bottom of it."
Commenting more broadly on recent allegations of sexual assault in politics, Ms Berejiklian said "we needed everyone working together to make change".
"Otherwise this will be another ripple, people will forget about it and nothing happens, and I don't want to see that."
She said she hoped people would think about "culture, unconscious or subconscious bias and how we can respect each other".
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTAzLTI1L25zdy1wcmVtaWVyLWdsYWR5cy1iZXJlamlrbGlhbi1taWNoYWVsLWpvaG5zZW4tcmFwZS1hbGxlZ2F0aW9ucy8xMDAwMjczMzLSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAwMDI3MzMy?oc=5
2021-03-24 22:40:52Z
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