Richard Marles’ chief of staff Jo Tarnawsky launches legal action over claims she was forced out of her job after raising bullying complaint

The deputy prime minister’s chief of staff is suing the government over claims she was forced to resign after raising a bullying complaint.  

Jo Tarnawsky resigned last month amid bombshell allegations of bullying in the nation’s highest offices. 

Now she has launched legal action in the federal court, claiming she was forced out of her job after complaining to Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles about being bullied by her colleagues. 

She has not suggested that Mr Marles bullied her. 

Ms Tarnawsky is reportedly still employed in her role but on miscellaneous leave. She claims that after raising her complaint she was locked out of the office.  

Delivering a statement from Parliament House, Ms Tarnawsky told reporters that she wasn’t aware of any investigation into the alleged bullying she reported. 

‘It has now been more than 200 days since I raised my concerns privately with the deputy prime minister about bullying behaviour in his office,’ she said. 

‘I was then exiled as a result. My workplace situation remains unresolved. Not a single member of the government has reached out to check on my wellbeing.

‘After the window dressing of parliamentary workplace reforms has been put in place, the government is testing in real time what it can get away with.’

Ms Tarnawsky’s lawyer, Michael Bradley, said last month that Mr Marles made the call to dismiss her after she made the bullying report.

‘So what happened was Jo raised a legitimate concern about issues within the office of the deputy prime minister, including bullying behaviour, and the response to that was to effectively drive her out of her job,’ he said.

‘Jo accepts that it’s a relationship of trust and confidence, and if that trust and confidence isn’t there, then of course, it can’t continue.

‘She’s like every worker in the country, entitled to fair treatment, procedural fairness and her rights as as an employee had not been respected.’

The allegations come after the government passed legislation establishing a new independent body to crackdown on bad behaviour in parliament.

Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) began operations on October 1.

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