James Ashby: Christopher Pyne knew about Peter Slipper allegations
The
former political aide tells 60 Minutes Christopher Pyne promised him a
lawyer and political job when he asked for advice about Peter Slipper
former political aide tells 60 Minutes Christopher Pyne promised him a
lawyer and political job when he asked for advice about Peter Slipper
Christopher Pyne has denied having any prior knowledge of James Ashby’s allegations Peter Slipper sexual harassed him.
Photograph: Mike Bowers/Mike Bowers
Christopher Pyne promised James Ashby – the staffer who made a
sexual harassment claim against former speaker Peter Slipper – that he
would receive a lawyer and an ongoing job in either state or federal
politics after the young man sought advice about his situation, Ashby
has claimed.
Pyne, now the education minister, has always denied prior knowledge
of Ashby’s explosive 2012 allegations and has said “the first time I
knew about the unfortunate federal court application was when I read
about it in the News Ltd press”.
But in an interview on Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes on Sunday night,
Ashby claimed he did discuss the issue with Pyne, after confiding his
concerns about the speaker’s behaviour to another Coalition MP, Wyatt
Roy.
“I sat down at his desk and I said to [Pyne], ‘Wyatt’s discussed my
situation with you.’ He didn’t really acknowledge the question. He sort
of just allowed me to continue talking. And I said to him, “I just need
to know that my job is safe and that a lawyer will be provided.” And he
said they would. He did say to me, though, that I may never want to come
back to Canberra, that I may choose to take up a job within state
politics instead,” Ashby alleged.
“I think what he was trying to do is pre-warn me that things are
gonna get hot. And I remember the conversation didn’t last too long at
all. We literally got up from his table, he walked me towards the door,
he said to me, “You’re a braver man than I am,” as we exited and said,
“If you discuss or tell anyone we’ve had this discussion, I’ll be forced
to come out publicly and call you a pathological liar.”
Ashby said he had gone to see Pyne under the guise of picking up a
bottle of wine, in order to double check Roy’s claim that he had been
discussing Ashby’s situation with the then shadow minister.
After Ashby lodged his legal claim and allegations were raised that
he had met Pyne, the then shadow minister issued a statement saying; “In
the course of my work ... I have had cause to meet Mr James Ashby three
times – twice in the Speaker’s office and once when he came to my
office to collect wine being given to a former Coalition staffer as a
farewell gift.
“On no occasion did he raise the matters canvassed in the federal
court action that have subsequently come to light with me. I have had no
telephone contact with Mr Ashby at any time. Attempts by the Labor
Party to suggest a political conspiracy are fanciful.”
In the interview, Ashby insisted that he had discussed the matter
with Pyne, and that the assurances about legal help and a job had been
made, but he said by the time he lodged his claim, it had been “made
very clear to me there would be no jobs, no lawyer, no preferential
treatment ... it was made very clear to me there was no offer.”
Late last night Pyne issued a statement to say: “I had no specific
knowledge of the allegations made by Mr Ashby and the first I knew that
he was suing Mr Slipper was when I read it in the newspapers.
“This is a dispute between two individuals – not a dispute that
includes me or any other member of the government.” He said all the
matters “have been aired over and over again for the last three years”.
Sexually explicit emails revealed in the course of Ashby’s subsequent
legal action forced Slipper to resign from the speaker’s position,
which he had controversially taken up after defecting from the Coalition
in a move that bolstered Labor’s precarious position in the hung
parliament and angered his former colleagues.
In June, Ashby dropped his legal case against the former speaker two
years after he first alleged Slipper had sexually harassed him.
The case was first thrown out of court as a “scandalous” abuse of
process. Justice Steven Rares found Mal Brough, who at the time was the
LNP’s candidate for Slipper’s Queensland seat of Fisher, had acted “in
combination” with Ashby and a second Slipper staffer “to cause Mr
Slipper as much political and public damage as they could inflict upon
him” in a bid to advance Brough’s political interests and those of the
LNP.
After initially denying it, Brough admitted he had also met Ashby at
least three times in March and April 2012, shortly before Ashby lodged
his sexual harassment claim, and had urged him to go to the police and
get legal advice regarding his allegations.
Brough said it “would have been a poor reflection on my values as a
human being” if he had not talked to Ashby about his sexual harassment
claim or helped him get legal advice.
On Sunday night’s program Brough refused to say whether he had discussed Ashby’s case with anyone else in the government.
“If you were making an allegation that I or anyone else worked with
anybody to make this happen, then I can tell you quite categorically,
zero – no. I supported James Ashby, and James Ashby went off and got his
own legal advice and the rest is history,” Brough said.
In February an appeal found that the case should be heard, and at
that time Ashby said he would pursue his claim because of the “offence,
humiliation, distress, anxiety and stress … and dislocation to life” due
to the alleged “unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome sexual comments
and unwelcome suggestions of a sexual nature” that he had suffered.
Then in June, shortly before the case was to be heard, Ashby said
that “after deep reflection and consultation” he had decided not to
proceed with the case after all, in part because of the government’s
decision to pay Slipper’s legal fees and in part because of concern for
Slipper’s health.
At that time Slipper said in a statement, “the allegations brought by
Mr Ashby have caused enormous personal stress which has required
ongoing psychiatric and psychological treatment and many weeks of
inpatient hospital care. My mental illness is both ongoing and
debilitating.
“The impact of these allegations on me personally and everyone close
to me is both immeasurable and irreparable. That the allegations have
been withdrawn is vindication for myself, my wife and my family.”
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