EDITORIAL: Labor candidate Georgia Tree’s comments on party’s ‘skeletons’ raise questions that need answering

For years we heard about the Liberal Party’s “women problem”.

It has been used at times to describe how the party needed more women in its ranks or had to do more to attract women voters.

The term was widely used during the time of the Morrison government after the bombshell allegation in February 2021 by Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins that she was raped by a colleague at Parliament House in 2019.

The then-Coalition government was accused of covering up the allegation to protect itself. Scott Morrison’s government was swept from power in 2022

But the issue has become politically relevant again.

This time through a by-election for a State seat in Western Australia that would not have even moved the political dial in the rest of the country but for 2021 comments made by former Federal Labor policy adviser, now the Labor candidate for Secret Harbour, Georgia Tree.

Ms Tree made the comments on the “In The House and In The Senate” podcast in July 2021, while working as a policy adviser to Federal Labor MP Madeleine King — now the Minister for Resources.

Ms Tree told the podcast the ALP had its own problems.

“It’s like the Catholic Church, right, like we don’t want to taint the brand, so let’s deal with everything in house, and everyone just shut up,” she told the podcast.

“It’s like, ‘oh, don’t make any fuss from our side, because like, look, the government’s shooting itself in the foot,’ and it’s like, hello, guys, like as if it’s not happening here,” she said.

“The culture of party political culture is like you, as a staffer, you need to stay silent.

“So, already this powerlessness of sexual harassment, essentially, in the workplace is happening, further compounded by the fact that we’re not allowed to talk about it because of this silence.”

Ms Tree also spoke about how the Labor Party, at times, would tread carefully to protect its members.

“You would have people (in the party) offhand say, ‘oh God, like we probably shouldn’t go too hard on X (politician) because what about like the skeletons in our closet’,” Ms Tree said.

“If we lose a couple of people in the process in terms of you know f...ing cancel culture and they need to resign, so be it, frankly if they’ve done the wrong thing, they’ve done the wrong thing.”

Ms Tree said on Monday she stood by her comments and was proud to have pushed for change that had resulted in improvements.

Ms King and WA Premier Roger Cook said they were proud of Ms Tree for speaking up.

Ms King said there had been many positive changes in the way women were treated in politics and in Parliament House.

But there was always more work to do, Ms King said.

That speaks for itself.

But beyond the generalisations many questions still need to be answered.

What exactly did Ms Tree know? Did she raise it with anyone?

Was action taken? What was the outcome?

Are those she alluded to still in Canberra? What is their role now?

We have been told of a culture of workplace harassment and cover-up.

Brushing aside Ms Tree’s comments will not suffice.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore