Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff claims MP’s aide had gay orgies in Parliament House
Sky News host Peta Credlin speaks publicly about incidents which occured during her time working in Parliament House. (Sky News)
Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff Peta Credlin claims MP’s aide had gay orgies in Parliament House.
Credlin, who is now a host of Sky News in Australia, spoke out for the first time publicly on live TV about the incidents which occurred during her 16 years working in Parliament House Canberra. She served as the chief of staff to prime minister Tony Abbott from 2013 to 2015 and was also chief of staff to Abbott as leader of the opposition.
Credlin claimed a Liberal staffer held gay orgies in Parliament House during her time as chief of staff to Abbott while he was prime minister.
She described how she “had reason to recommend” the sacking of a staffer for “lying and disloyalty”. Later, the MP who employed him “cleaned out” the man’s desk and computer and uncovered the individual had sexual encounters with other men during the working day.
“When the MP cleaned out the former staffer’s desk, and the computer, that MP uncovered evidence that for many months, that staffer had regularly met with other men during the middle of the day – while the MP was in Question Time – for orgies in political offices,” Credlin said.
Peta Credlin also claimed to know another man who was sacked by the current prime minister Scott Morrison’s government for masturbating on the desk of a female legislator.
The act, which occurred more than two years ago, came to light on Tuesday (23 March) when a whistleblower told news outlets that government staff and legislators often used a Parliament House prayer room to have sex and alleged that sex workers had been brought into the building “for the pleasure of coalition MPs”.
The whistleblower also said a group of staffers routinely swapped explicit photos and videos of sex acts performed in government offices in a Facebook Messenger group. He said he received so many that he had “become immune to it”.
Peta Credlin claimed on her Sky News segment that the staffer who was fired for allegedly masturbating was a “bloke I demanded to be sacked years earlier for disloyalty, for lying, for leaking against his boss”.
“That bloke is not the same as the man I told you about in the orgies – that was another circumstance,” Credlin clarified. “But the bloke that was sacked this week was someone I sacked many years earlier.”
She added that the staff “never forgave me” for sacking him, and she was smeared as “b***h” in the media.
“He backgrounded to journalists about me that I was a b***h, too tough, all the things you’ve never heard before,” Credlin said.
“You never heard my side of it, did you? I sacked him, and I said he would never be back again in that building. Turnbull rolled Abbott, I was gone and he was back.”
Peta Credlin said she knew the names of other Liberal staffers involved in the sexual acts at Parliament House. She said: “The other three that Peter Van Onselen broke in his story earlier this week, I know who you are. I see you.”
Throughout her segment, Credlin did not name any names.
Peta Credlin’s revelations follow several sex scandals that rocked the world of Australian politics
The BBC reported a few weeks ago that a letter had been sent to the prime minister which alleged Australia’s attorney general Christian Porter had raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988. Tragically, the woman died by suicide last year.
The Australian media widely reported the allegation against a cabinet minister but did not previously reveal his identity.
However, Porter identified himself as the minister at the centre of the rape accusation, but said the “things that are being claimed did not happen”.
The New South Wales Police told the BBC that they closed their investigation into the matter.
On 15 February, former political staffer Brittany Higgins told News.com.au that she was raped by a male colleague in a minister’s office two years ago. Higgins claimed she felt pressured at the time to choose between her career and reporting the allegation to the police.
Morrison has been asked more than 10 times in the parliament whether or not he has investigated allegations of negative background by his staff. The claim was raised first publicly by the Network Ten journalist Peter Van Onselen in February. He claimed the prime minister’s office was deliberately backgrounding journalists to smear Higgins and her loved ones.
According to The Guardian, Higgins has made a formal complaint to the prime minister’s chief of staff John Kunkel, asking him to examine whether government staff have backgrounded against her and her loved ones.
