Scott Morrison has fought back tears as he pledged to improve the treatment of women in Parliament.
But he drew scorn for “weaponising” a previously unreported complaint in a tense exchange with a journalist without consideration for the woman at the centre of that matter.
Holding a press conference inside Parliament House, the Prime Minister defended himself against criticism stemming from his justification for his response to the Brittany Higgins rape allegation and how his wife had told him to imagine it was his daughter.
“Criticise me if you like for speaking about my daughters, but they are the centre of my life. My wife is the centre of my life,” he said.
But he also angrily rejected questions from journalists suggesting he may have lost control over the ministerial staff.
The Prime Minister said he was stunned and disgusted after it was revealed Coalition staffers were accused of filming and sharing sex acts in Parliament House.
One staffer was last night fired after allegedly engaging in a lewd act on the desk of a female Liberal MP.
Mr Morrison said he would address all Coalition staffers on Tuesday to discuss the matter and the broader issue of the treatment of women.
PM raises harassment allegation
In a fiery exchange at the press conference today, Sky News reporter Andrew Clennell put it to the Prime Minister that the situation made it look like he had lost control of ministerial staff.
“Right now,” Mr Morrison responded, “you’d be aware in your own organisation, that there is a person who has had a complaint made against them for harassment of a woman in a women’s toilet and that matter is being pursued by your own HR department.
“Let’s not, all of us who sit in glass houses here, start getting into that.”
Sky News later said no employee was subject to such an investigation.
Sky News is owned by News Corp. The ABC has approached News Corp for comment.
Mr Morrison said “no one individual” could control what happened in Parliament, and that the incident involving the staffer and the desk happened before he became Prime Minister.
“What I am held accountable is for what I do now, and that’s what I’m outlining to you today,” he said.
“You’re free to make your criticisms, and to stand on that pedestal, but be careful.”
During a Senate committee, Labor senator Katy Gallagher said Mr Morrison was “weaponising” the Sky complaint as a defensive strategy.
“It’s just unbelievable, and it’s no wonder women are so angry because you say one thing and then the Prime Minister goes out and retaliates like that when he’s questioned,” she said.
“What about the woman at the heart of that complaint now? National news.”
In Question Time, Mr Morrison rejected the notion that his raising of the confidential complaint might make other women afraid of coming forward.
He said he was trying to make the “broader point” that all parties and all workplaces had work to do in this area.
“The way I referred to these matters today was an anonymised way.”
Close to tears
Earlier, the PM became emotional when explaining how important the female members of his family were in his life.
He has faced criticism over his handling of the Brittany Higgins rape allegation and the historical rape allegation denied by Attorney-General Christian Porter.ABC News